Saudi health authorities fined a doctor nearly $80,000 for committing a medical error that resulted in complete paralysis of a baby during delivery nearly eight years ago, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The father quickly objected to the verdict and demanded more than double the fine on the grounds the baby had grown up fully paralyzed and he had spent in excess of SR500,000 ($139,000) on her treatment, Okaz Arabic language daily said.
When asked why he had waited all these years to complain about the doctor, her father said the hospital told him that his baby, Jomana, was born paralyzed because of “marriage of relatives.”
“They did not tell me the real cause of my daughter’s paralysis…they said it could be because of marriage of relatives…but when I had two other healthy children, I realized they were not telling me the truth,” the paper quoted the father as telling a health commission set up to investigate the complaint about his daughter.
Okaz quoted officials at the hospital in the Red Sea port of Jeddah as saying that doctor had left Saudi Arabia long time ago. It said the hospital had also objected to the verdict.
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