Anesthesia mistakes led to the death of a dental consultant Dr.
Tariq al-Juhani in a hospital in Jeddah, bringing up the medical errors to the
light. And this case’s aftermath between
The Juhani’s and hospital officials as this case is considered one of more than 2,500 deaths
annually as a result of a medical error.
Despite the lack of accurate statistics considering the number of people affected from the
mistakes of doctors, however, the Undersecretary of the Ministry for Health
Planning and Development, Dr. Mohammed Khoshaim, revealed in his press statement, that "The total sum of medical
errors reached 670 cases in 2009, while the total number of decisions issued by
the condemnation 51, through 18 Legal health Institute."
It is confirmed that
medical errors taking place in Saudi hospitals are much greater than the
official statistics issued by the Ministry of Health, as many of the cases
where there is a medical error is not recorded or filed by the families of the
affected patients.
The Dr. Mohammed al-Khazen, the associate dean in the Applied
Medical Sciences College at King Saud Health University, that the problem lies
in the lack of accurate oversight and monitoring of the medical errors that
occur.
He says that "the bulk of the problem is due to the
many errors that are not monitored, due
to the lack of control over the doctors." He continues: "In a study in
one of the large medical hospitals turns out that only 41% of doctors are
committed to identifying the patient's pain is accurate, and that only 32% of
patient files is achieved well, and that most doctors do not write when did the
patient enter the hospital or the disease he suffered from, or the procedures that
were carried on him, not even correcting typing errors!"
And continues: "We have a bad system. More doctors do mistakes
and the doctors who are hired from the outside their potential is limited and
don’t even know the existing drugs in the country."
Al-Khazen who co-authored the book "The Saudi health
scene" issued a few weeks ago accuses the medical system in Saudi Arabia
being vague and imprecise. He said,
"There is no follow-up, and our systems are not good. Officials say that
even America's the advanced medical country witnesses errors, but they
determine the error caused it. While we can’t know the culprit, because we have
no system is able to detect these errors. Often mistakes are made in diagnosis
and treatment. And always they choose a
doctor or another to be a scapegoat because we do not have the accuracy in
determining the responsibility. "
Al-Khazen demands the existence of strict and accurate medical
system, and can detect error without the
need of a complaint, with the version of the legislation that makes the
punishment imposed on the doctor's fault largest.
He also says: "I do not have to wait until the patient progresses
a complaint. There must be follow-up and monitoring for each medical procedures
that are taken." "but our monitoring system is too weak, and that the
sanctions taken against the doctor who is at fault is weak, when the advisory fine
2000 while the average consultant wages
exceeds the 70 thousand so comparing wage to a simple fine. They must be
double those fines in order to make much more deterrent."
Medical errors don’t occur only on the kingdom, but
according to a global statistics that reveal that this type of error is
prevalent in all parts of the world. AS a Britain magazine specialized in
medical matters that the number of dead as a result of these errors reached 10
thousand deaths. In the United States, bringing the number of dead because of
these errors, annually, about 98 thousand, These numbers which caused panic
among Americans. As this ratio is higher than the total number of dead by car
accidents, aircraft and commit suicide, poisoning or drowning.
And for the Arab countries, and by some authorized numbers,
more than 1120 lawsuit over medical errors was raised in Saudi Arabia,
including 295 cases in 2005 which is enough to open a file of medical errors.