Surgeon, hospital director lose appeal

A plastic surgeon and a hospital director lost their appeal on Thursday after a court held them liable for a woman’s death following in a case of medical malpractice and negligence.The Dubai Appeal Court upheld the primary judgment and fined the 51-year-old American plastic surgeon and the 44-year-old Syrian hospital director Dh10,000 each for being responsible for negligently causing the 50-year-old Emirati woman’s death after she slipped into a seven-month coma.“The defendants will also have to pay Dh200,000 in blood money to the victim’s family,” said Presiding when he pronounced judgment in courtroom 17.According to the appellate court’s judgment, the general anesthesiologist, a 43-year-old Iraqi woman, was cleared of any responsibility in the case.Prosecutors accused the plastic surgeon, anesthesiologist and the hospital director of medical malpractice and negligence leading to the woman’s death following plastic surgery on her neck and eyelids.Abdul Moneim Bin Suwaidan who defended the anesthesiologist contended in court that she was not involved and had nothing to do with the plastic surgery.“Her role was limited during the plastic surgery. Witnesses testified before the court that my client gave the victim medication to stabilise her blood pressure and the situation went under control thereafter. The responsibility does not fall on the anesthesiologist… a doctor who performs a surgery, is the one who gives the go ahead to carry out the operation and not the anaesthesiologist,” said Bin Suwaidan.When the American surgeon appeared in court he pleaded not guilty and denied the accusations.The anaesthesiologist said: “I am not guilty… regarding the documentation of the blood pressure readings, I didn’t commit any mistake.”The hospital director pleaded innocent.According to the charge-sheet, the surgeon committed medical malpractice. Prosecutors said he was supposed to conduct basic medical examinations on the woman for vital signs, in addition to a chest and cardiac examination, during her repeated visits to his clinic prior to the plastic surgery.The operation was not urgent, according to prosecution records, and could have been postponed.The investigating prosecutor Shoaib Ali Ahli said the woman’s blood pressure was high prior to the surgery and despite knowing her condition, the American defendant failed to check on her following the surgery.Ahli charged the anesthesiologist with medical negligence for not paying attention to the victim’s hypertension.Court records show when the Iraqi checked the woman’s blood pressure, she failed to document it before giving the victim anesthesia.Preliminary investigations revealed that the director failed to provide specialised doctors around the clock to monitor the patient after surgery.The suspects also failed to provide the required post-surgery emergency medical care and intensive care, particularly after the patient fell into coma which lasted seven months before she died.Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 30 days.