Hospital sued for failure to spot husband’s Aids

Published Monday, December 26, 2011

A young Saudi woman is suing a government hospital in Qunfuda for failing to detect AIDS in her world-be husband, which led to the girl contracting AIDS after marrying the infected man, according to news reports this morning.

The patient’s lawyer Sultan Al-Harithy told Arab News his client married a man with the disease after being told by the hospital that the man was found perfectly healthy in the mandatory pre-marriage medical check-up.

Saudi law mandates men and women planning to marry must undergo medical tests to guarantee they are medically fit for marriage and free from contagious diseases. In this case, the hospital certified that the bridegroom did not suffer from any contagious diseases.

It has been reported that the Court of Grievances in Makkah is currently examining the lawsuit, in which the young woman has accused the hospital of causing it to contract AIDS.

The woman has alleged that she was shocked to learn that her husband had AIDS despite earlier getting a green signal from the hospital, post which she married him.

After she found out, the woman’s mother immediately got her daughter tested for HIV in the government hospital, where the results came positive.

The mother complained to the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), and on being questioned, the hospital admitted that at the time of the checkup, it was not equipped to conduct AIDS tests.

However, the hospital argued that when it later learned the man had AIDS, it summoned his wife and informed her, and even took a written declaration from the woman that she was aware of her husband’s disease.

The woman disputes the hospital’s claims, and has filed a lawsuit at the Court of Grievances, demanding damages for physical and mental distress.

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