Al-Houthi militia bury cases by arbitration ... lost rights for victims of medical errors in Sana'a
English - Thursday 19 November 2020 الساعة 05:59 pm
Sanaa, Newsyemen, Jalal Muhammad:
The issue of medical errors has become a worrying concern for patients in Sana'a after its increasing rates are encouraged by the Iranian arm, which is pressuring the victims' families to accept hospital arbitrations in order to bury cases.
NewsYemen was briefed on the details of an incident belonging to Ahmed Qasim, Al Mahwit governorate, who was suffering from heart disease and diabetes, and was referred to the largest private hospital in the capital, Sana'a.
After being exposed to a high blood sugar and he fell into a coma.
After a week, he began to regain consciousness and improve a little.
His son, Kamal, was surprised by calling him to the department to inform him that his father had passed away.
Kamal says, "The modern German hospital informed me that my father died, and he has costs, estimated at 800 thousand riyals, but their matter was soon revealed when one of the nurses, told him that his father had suffered a medical error caused by an injection with the wrong medicine that is not compatible with the heart disease he suffers, and that the nurse "understood the doctor's direction" wrongly.
He added: After I found out, I refused to take out my father's body and demanded an autopsy to find out the cause of death, and I was called to the hospital administration and threatened that I would bear the expenses of the refrigerator and rehabilitate the hospital, but I insisted on my position and expressed my readiness to bear the burdens.
The matter prompted the hospital administration to try to make excuses and that it was an unintended mistake and that the nurse would be referred for investigation, and I would be exempted from the rest of the costs and they will bear the expenses of transporting the body and funeral, but we refused that and went to the courts to file the case on the hospital.
And because the hospital is under the control of the Iranian arm, one of their supervisors intervened in order to arbitrate and pressured the family to concede, under the pretext that "the nurse is still a trainee, and most do make mistakes."
The father of Safwan Ali Saeed - a citizen of Taiz - was also subjected to a medical error in the Science and Technology Hospital, which is under the control of the Iranian arm in Sana'a, which consists of forgetting a "gauze" inside his stomach.
Safwan says that the doctors decided to perform a cholecystectomy, and despite the amount of money they requested, my father remained in pain, and upon returning a month after the operation, the doctor asked the father to do a x-ray that is when a foreign body in my father’s abdomen, consisting of "gauze" was discovered.
With all rudeness, the hospital sponsored the second operation, and asked us to waive the report that we had made in the Shumaila department against the hospital, on the pretext that they had " fired the doctor."
A number of citizens expressed their dissatisfaction with the recurrence of medical errors in various hospitals, pointing out that some errors reach the point of death or permanent disability, due to the lack of experience of doctors and the poor equipment of private hospitals.
Medical errors have increased dramatically since the Houthi militia took control of Sana'a, without a law protecting the rights of critically ill patients undergoing operations.
Natural childbirth and caesarean section were not exempt from medical errors, as the percentage of children affected by either deformities increased greatly as a result of medical errors or the lack of experience among doctors to adequately deal with birth cases.
Newsyemen found when speaking with a group of citizens who took their opinion in a report on "medical errors" that most of the patients do not have any information or awareness of their legal right in the event of a medical error that may cause harm to them.
They considered the continuation of medical errors due to the absence of severe penalties being implemented against doctors, or to the reliance of hospitals on incompetent doctors in exchange for "simple salaries" in a state of greed and criminality and with the cooperation of "leaders of the Ministry of Health in Sana'a" who are interested in obtaining "royalties" as citizens reported and the war effort in favor of the Houthi militia without any concern for the citizen's life and what he is exposed to.
For his part, Muhammad Abdullah Al-Adeeb - from Al-Qafr district in Ibb Governorate - said: We call on the concerned authorities to tighten supervision over the profession of "doctor" and to ensure that he is able to deal with sick cases that visit hospitals on a daily basis, stressing that medical errors and problems are still persistent and frequent and are due to medical negligence, and the absence of penalties for those responsible, whether doctors or others.
He stressed that some doctors in our hospitals still need rehabilitation, and that the rehabilitation and training plan for doctors at the present time has become "impossible under an authority that cares about money and not people's lives."
He said that hospitals force you to sign a paper before performing the operation that the hospital is not concerned or responsible for any matters that may happen to the patient in the event that the operation is performed for him, and if these hospitals were confident of their medical staff, they would not have resorted to oblige the patient to sign that paper that waives his right if he suffers any injury or damage as a result of any medical error.
Where is the experience and professionalism that we do not see among some doctors? Muhammad Al-Komani wonders in his speech to Newsyemen, and he added: My question does not mean that all doctors do not have experience and they cause major medical errors in hospitals, but there are experienced doctors and patients ask for them particularly either to perform operations for them or conduct the necessary tests, diagnose their disease and prescribe appropriate treatment for them.
Al-Komani pointed out that the absence of penal authorities or an investigation office in every hospital makes the problem of medical errors persist, calling for the presence of an office for immediate intervention and investigation with every doctor who initiates any actions or treatment errors that cause harm to the patient, and therefore this matter leads directly to improving the level and performance of medical services in all hospitals.
Types of medical errors
In this regard, Dr. Abdulmalik Ali - a general surgeon - says that medical errors are of two types (facility, and personal).
The facility error, which is the error caused by the public facility (government hospital, private hospital, private clinic), for example with regard to important devices or medicines and vitality that is supposed to be available in every health facility, as in the case of providing intensive care that contains all the basic equipment and providing the human device based on its management and operation in any hospital that has operating rooms.
As for the personal error, it is the actual and proven error of certainty that occurs by a doctor or a medical device that supports a certain matter.
In the case of a doctor, the mistake that he commits is the act that results from negligence in diagnosing or treating a patient due to ignorance of technical matters that should be known in such a scientific and functional degree, which results in harming the patient.
There are personal medical errors, such as a scientific error, as the doctor may take all kinds of caution on his part and be extremely careful, and he does not miss the use of all possible scientific means in the examination, and yet this does not prevent him from making a mistake, especially in the diagnosis.
Here, the error is the result of a scientific error.
