While the Sharia Health Authority in Jeddah issued a ruling acquitting a private hospital of medical error in the case of the death of twins, the twins’ father, Abdulaziz Shaker, revealed to Okaz that he will continue his private claim to demand the Sharia blood money and the exorbitant treatment costs for his wife and his third twin daughter, before the competent authorities.

The father of the twins told the story of his great joy that turned into great sorrow. The story began when his wife gave birth to triplets, two of whom died during premature birth. He accused a hospital of causing the death of two of his three children, demanding an investigation into his complaint in the private right, especially since he has incurred huge sums of money due to his wife’s treatment so far, in addition to the death of two of his children, which turned their birth certificate into a death certificate.

He indicated that he would continue to demand the overturning of the verdict in the public right case and the completion of the procedures related to the charges he leveled against the medical facility for negligence and malpractice, as he told Okaz newspaper. (In vitro fertilization cost 60,000 riyals)

The husband stated before the medical court that his wife became pregnant with triplets after a long treatment and IVF was performed at a cost of more than 60,000 riyals. When she consulted a specialist doctor at a private hospital, she confirmed that the pregnancy was with triplets and that the birth would be in the sixth or seventh month, and that it would be difficult to reach the ninth month.

According to him, the doctor stated – according to the father’s claim – that at the hospital they would resuscitate the children, place them in the incubator, and use artificial respiration, and assured him that there was a high probability of their survival.

The father said: “I asked the doctor if the medical facilities were available and suitable for the twins’ condition, and she replied: ‘Yes, we have great facilities available at the medical facility.’ Later, the doctor requested a cervical cerclage procedure to prevent the babies from being born, and she denied any risk in it. However, I consulted other doctors who were following up on the pregnancy, and they told him that it was unnecessary and that it was better not to perform the cerclage procedure.”.

According to the father, "Later, the doctor decided to admit the mother to the hospital and give her injections to promote lung development in the babies due to the possibility of premature birth in the sixth month." (Exhaustion, fainting, and insurance reports)

In his lawsuit before the court, the husband accused the hospital of delaying the submission of reports to the insurance company. He said, “The hospital decided to discharge my wife while she was suffering from complications and bleeding that did not stop. The next day, my wife entered the emergency department in a state of exhaustion, and we waited for the doctor to arrive until after noon without any medical intervention, despite her screaming and pain. Upon the doctor’s arrival, she diagnosed the condition as labor and requested that my wife be admitted to the delivery room. I requested intervention to stop the labor, as she was in her sixth month. The doctor replied that the price of the injection was expensive, reaching 2,500 riyals, and the insurance did not approve it. The condition worsened, and my wife entered a state of near-fainting, and her body turned blue. Although I informed the hospital that I was ready to sign a document stating that the injection would be at my expense, it later became clear upon checking with the insurance that there was no request submitted regarding approval of the injection for the patient. Then it was decided to remove the cervical cerclage, and the first child was born, amidst the hospital’s negligence and inaction, and it became clear that they did not have the capabilities appropriate for the case.”.

The father concluded his lawsuit by stating that his wife was dying before his eyes, bleeding profusely. He said he contacted other hospitals to transfer his wife, but all refused. After much persuasion, a hospital finally agreed, provided a negative COVID-19 test result was obtained and the swab test results were sent. His wife was then transported in an ambulance completely unequipped for transporting patients; it turned out to be a hearse. She arrived at another hospital where she received excellent care, but it was too late. Two of the twins had already died, but the doctors managed to save the third, who was admitted to intensive care under the second hospital's exceptional medical supervision. [The text then abruptly shifts to a seemingly unrelated topic: "Her uterus was tied and then removed."]

The attending physician at the medical facility responded to the lawsuit, saying: “The relevant department conducted the necessary examinations as soon as the patient arrived at the emergency room. A request was submitted to the insurance company to conduct tests and ultrasounds, and the request was rejected by the insurance on the grounds that the patient exceeded the credit limit. The patient was pregnant with triplets weighing 360, 490, and 502 grams. She was given the appropriate treatments for her condition, and it was found that she had uterine contractions with a cervical cerclage that was removed, after the patient and her husband agreed, to prevent uterine rupture or bursting and to preserve the mother’s safety.”.

The doctor added, "Due to the lack of available beds in the nursery and intensive care unit, we requested that the patient be transferred through insurance to another hospital with the necessary facilities. However, the insurance company refused our request to transfer the wife to another hospital after reviewing the medical reports on her case."

After further communication, the insurance company agreed to transfer the patient to another hospital. The necessary tests were conducted, revealing the presence of a partially formed fetal head. The following day, the mother miscarried twins and underwent a cesarean section, despite the pregnancy being only 23 weeks along. There were no beds available in the intensive care unit

The judicial department studied the reports attached to the case file and reviewed the opinion of the doctors affiliated with the Sharia Health Authority, as it was found that the patient was considered to be a high-risk pregnancy case, and was at risk of premature birth. The committee saw that the procedures provided to the patient during her visit to the emergency room were sound, without negligence, and it was found that there was no bed available in the neonatal intensive care unit for premature babies, so the transfer procedures to another hospital were completed, after the insurance company’s approval later.

The court ruled that the deaths of two newborns were due to complications from premature birth, given the very high mortality rate, especially for low birth weight infants, and dismissed the father's claim. (Compensation mechanism and institution liability)

The head of the Medicine and Law Forum, lawyer Majed Qaroub, confirmed that the proposal and discussion of the compensation mechanism and the responsibility of the medical institution with insurance companies has been the subject of study and discussion throughout the past periods; because the medical institution must bear the error of its employees, doctors and health practitioners, especially in cases that cause disability to one of the body parts, and that the compensation should be sufficient to compensate for the medical, social and human damage to the patient, his family and his profession, and that the presence of insurance companies is to develop the medical industry and improve services to reduce errors and disregard for work standards, quality and efficiency in operation, employment and training, especially since the medical sector, including institutions and insurance companies, achieves annual profits of several billion.