On May 13, Rita Jebrail Zoughaib, who was 8-months pregnant, died 36 hours after being submitted to Saydit Lebnen hospital in Jounieh due to severe nausea. Her Doctor, Moussa Abou Hamad, stressed on Thursday after being released from pre-trial detention that he didn’t commit any medical error in dealing with his patient. [Naharnet]
I’ve been reading and watching reports about that incident and like everything else in Lebanon; it’s vague and unclear whether it was a medical error or a case of Amniotic Fluid Embolism.
According to the autopsy report, Rita suffered from Amniotic Fluid Embolism, which is a rare obstetric emergency, one of the most dangerous complications of pregnancy. According to the family, Rita was in pain for many weeks and the doctor was ignoring her and not answering her calls all the time.
The Doctors Syndicate in Lebanon protested against the pre-trial detention of Abou Hamad and stated that it wasn’t a medical error as confirmed by the autopsy report. Assuming the autopsy report can’t be manipulated, and that the doctor didn’t commit any medical mistakes, why was he arrested and released on bail set at LL50 million??
Is it so hard to appoint an independent committee to investigate what truly happened based on medical reports and publish an official report on the matter?
If she was in pain for many weeks, why did the family only call the doctor – and not take her to an emergency dept of any hospital – I think the family is more responsible than the doctor in this instance!
I am in no position to judge this particular incident, but I know that the medical sector in Lebanon needs serious reforms.
There are plenty of good doctors, but there are plenty of bad ones too. Some local doctors are nothing more than butchers with a license to kill, and the order of physicians won’t do anything about it because it cares more about the doctor than about the patient. Corporatism at his finest.
Also certain doctors get kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies for selling certain products, and it is quite common for a doctor to prescribe you something because he’ll make money on it, not because it’s the best for you. The cliche is that you go to your doctor for a flu, and you end up getting heart surgery. It’s not completely true, but it’s not completely wrong either.
If you don’t have the chance to have doctors in your entourage (I am lucky in this regard) you better get a second and even a third opinion before going through a medical procedure.
+1