JEDDAH — The Directorate of Health Affairs in Jeddah has cleared Dr. Erfan and Bagedo General Hospital of malpractice that led to the death on Wednesday of a 17-year-old girl following an appendix surgery that her father claimed went wrong. Yasser Al-Sulaimani, Zubaida's father, had pointed the finger at the hospital for malpractice and accused it of killing his daughter. Al-Sulaimani took his daughter to the hospital on Sunday, with the latter complaining of stomach ache. They were told that an urgent operation was needed to remove her appendix. The operation was done on Wednesday morning and later Al-Sulaimani was informed that his daughter was bleeding. Zubaida was then moved to the intensive care unit where she slipped into coma. The father then filed a complaint with the Ministry of Health through its hot line 6267. The Health Affairs formed a committee consisting of a specialist in general operation, an intensive care specialist, a quality control department doctor and a doctor from the technical administration to investigate the case. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Abdul Rahman Al-Sahafi, spokesman for Jeddah Health Affairs, explained that the committee completed its investigations and did not find any issue with the surgical procedures and no bleeding was documented. This, he said, indicated that there was no case of medical malpractice. He, however, said there could be a possibility that the surgeon had touched one of the main veins during the operation that might have caused complications. The case, Al-Sahafi said, would be transferred to a medical commission to decide on private rights. Asked about possible punishments, he said if the commission finds that a mistake was committed by an individual he or she will pay compensation and their license to practice medicine would be revoked. However, if the hospital is found culpable and is charged then it will have to pay the compensation and will face closure. Sources at the hospital refused to admit any malpractice charges were brought against them. In a statement, they explained that the girl suffered from acute pain due to appendicitis and was placed under supervision for 24 hours. After that she underwent an operation. But post-operative complications arose and the necessary medical interventions were carried out. Later her brain was affected due to low blood circulation and then she was pronounced dead. Dr. Abdullah Awad, the doctor in charge of the case, said similar complications could happen in four out of 1,000 people undergoing appendectomy.
