Gaza lacks accountability for medical errors
A number of recent cases have shown that medical errors, often leading to the patient’s death, have gone without punishment in the Gaza Strip.
When Miriam al-Tawil, 75, entered the operating room in the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the central Gaza Strip Oct. 20 after breaking her left femur, she had no idea she would never return home. The medical staff had assured her family that it would be a simple procedure that would not take more than a couple of hours. However, four hours later, Miriam was transferred to the intensive care unit, where she went into a coma and later took her last breath. The doctors who had been present in the operating room turned off their mobile phones and disappeared.
This is how Ibrahim al-Tawil described what happened to his mother. He said, "We were shocked. All of the tests my mother had undergone before the operation confirmed that her heart was healthy and her blood pressure and blood-sugar levels were excellent. After we collected some information from the hospital, we learned that three medical errors had occurred. So we submitted a complaint."
Speaking to Al-Monitor, Ibrahim explained that the first error was that the doctors had not inserted a catheter to drain urine from his mother's bladder. Her family had noticed this. Second, they administered a half dose of anesthesia, and later on, they gave her a full dose. Then, "During the operation, a nurse came out, looking for a hospital worker to bring an oxygen tank. When he didn't find anyone, I went myself and brought him one from the ICU," said Ibrahim.
Miriam is not the only patient who has fallen victim to medical errors. Abdul Rahman Saliha, 4, died on Sept. 9 following an overdose of chemotherapy in the Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi Children's Hospital in Gaza City.
