Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — A medical commission decided to adjourn for two months the case of an eight-year-old boy who died last November following a medical error at Dr. Erfan and Bagedo General Hospital in Jeddah, Al-Watan daily reported Sunday. In its first session held last week, attended by Salah Jameel's father Yusuf Abdullateef Jameel, the hospital's lawyer challenged the decision of the Ministry of Health's experts who wrote a report about the hospital following the incident. The commission's chairman said the boy's father called on the commission to prosecute those responsible for the infringement of the public right without referring to the private right. The Ministry of Health shut down the hospital for 60 days following Salah's death. The boy was admitted to hospital last November after a doctor at a private polyclinic noticed that he had been suffering from severe influenza for 15 days. He noticed that the boy's throat was bulging and he requested medical tests on his lymphatic gland. The boy's mother took him to Dr. Erfan and Bagedo General Hospital to perform medical tests. Doctors there told her that Salah needed an operation that would not take more than 30 minutes. However, she discovered after his death that the treating doctor had admitted Salah into an X-ray room that was not equipped for any kind of surgical operation, especially ones that required general anesthesia. The doctor also gave him by mistake a dose of oxidized nitrogen instead of oxygen. As a result it was difficult for the doctors to resuscitate his heart because the room was not well equipped. Salah went into a coma and died 24 hours later. The commission heard evidence from four people, three children and a young man, who were given the wrong medication or injected with syringes in the wrong spot and became partially paralyzed. The young man was paid SR35,000 to reach an agreement with the nurse who gave him the medication and drop the case against her. One of the children was given a shot in the wrong spot and as a result he became disabled. The commission's chairman said children under two should not be given any shots because their bodies are delicate.
