Health authorities in Madinah have ordered an investigation into allegations that doctors recently operated on a man’s wife without his permission.
Mazen Al-Saegh claims his wife, who gave birth to a baby two hours after she was admitted to Uhud hospital, was subjected to a mysterious procedure without his knowledge last week.
“The directorate has ordered the setting up of a committee to conduct a swift inquiry into the complaint. If any shortcoming or error is discovered, the official responsible will be brought before the law,” said spokesman for the Health Directorate in Madinah, Abdul Razzaq Hafiz.
Al-Saegh accused doctors and nurses at the hospital of behaving negligently when his wife started crying with pain three hours after the delivery.
“A doctor examined my wife and said she was crying for no reason at all and there was nothing wrong with her,” he said. “But when the pain persisted, her mother who was also present checked her body and discovered some bandages and bluish marks on her right hip and thigh.” He added that doctors did not listen to him or explain why the bandages were there. However, when the pain continued and she started crying very loudly, some doctors took her to a labor room at about 3 p.m. on Thursday, he said. “My wife remained in the labor room for 18 hours and when I asked the medical staff about her condition they gave different answers,” he added.
“One doctor told me that the woman was undergoing exploratory surgery, while another said there was inflammation caused by sutures,” he said. He added that when she was brought back to the ward at 9 a.m. on Friday, she was unconscious.
“We were astonished when we found her thumb had ink on it, suggesting that she underwent surgery without my knowledge, let alone my consent.”
He said hospital officials refused to show him the paper that had her thumbprint on it when he wanted to find out what surgery she had undergone. They also refused to give him a report on her health, he said.
“That is why I went to the Health Directorate and demanded an inquiry into the suspicious conduct of the doctors and hospital authorities,” he said. After his complaint, many doctors approached him offering their apologies, he added. “I will not take her out of the hospital until a committee starts an investigation,” he said.
By ARAB NEWS