Travel ban on doctors as woman loses uterus

The Health Affairs Department in Jeddah has imposed a travel ban on the medical team of a private hospital which has allegedly committed a grave medical error, which resulted in removing the uterus of a 17-year-old woman. The health authorities have directed the hospital management not to allow the doctors to leave the Kingdom until completion of the ongoing investigation. The department has formed a medical panel to probe the incident, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.   In a complaint lodged with the department, Ahmad Al-Shalawi, husband of Nada, urged the authorities to take stringent punitive measures against those responsible for negligence. He said that the grave medical error on the part of the hospital staff had resulted in his wife Nada losing her uterus in addition to sustaining serious health complications, including cardiac and pulmonary disorders. Al-Shalawi claimed that Nada was admitted to the hospital for a normal delivery. “Following delivery, she had profuse bleeding that continued for 24 hours. The consulting doctor was not attentive to her health condition, and that resulted in worsening her condition and eventually a hysterectomy was done,” he said. Dr. Sami Badawood, director general of Jeddah Health Affairs, said that he had sent a letter to the hospital management asking them to impose a travel ban on the medical staff involved in treating Nada. The investigation committee had obtained the medical file of the woman as part of a thorough probe into the case.    Speaking to the newspaper, Al-Shalawi said that he took his wife to the hospital where she gave birth. “After being discharged from the delivery room, the female doctor told me that Nada had a normal delivery but experienced minor bleeding, and that she had put a gauze bandage to stop the bleeding. Nada was then taken to the room,” he said. Al-Shalawi said that Nada’s condition later worsened. “Nearly 10 hours later she fainted and fell to the floor. I called the nurses and the doctor on duty as well as the female doctor who attended her case. When the doctors removed the gauze, blood came gushing out, and so Nada was rushed to the operation room where she underwent a laparoscopy,” he said. Nada’s blood level fell to 1.7 when it should have been the normal range of around 12. Shalawee was able to procure 30 bags of blood after the hospital authorities asked for the same.  “Even though more than 90 blood bags were used in the blood transfusion, Nada’s condition had not improved. I was compelled then to sign an approval form for a hysterectomy in order to save her life,” he added. Nada had to undergo treatment in the ICU for several days before being discharged with serious health complications. From : Arabnews