Bahrain: Twin babies declared dead found to be alive
Doctors jailed for malpractice and negligence in tragic case involving premature babies
Bahrain’s Lower Criminal Court sentenced a doctor to three years in prison, and two others to one year in jail, and set 1,000 Bahraini dinars as bail for each of them to stop execution, after finding them guilty of causing the death of twin babies, the Bahrain News Agency reported on Tuesday.
The court issued its ruling after it the doctors were found guilty of malpractice and negligence contrary to the medical profession’s ethics.
The court acquitted a nurse who was involved in the same case.
According to court papers, the father of the twins filed a case against the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC), which had proclaimed his twin babies dead and handed them over to him for burial.
However, the twins were found to be alive at the time of their burial, so the father rushed them back to SMC, who told him that one of them was still alive, and transferred her to the recovery room where she died later.
The Public Prosecution launched an investigation into the case and reviewed the report of a technical committee that was set up by the National Health Regulatory Authority to determine the cause of the twins’ death.
It also reviewed the forensic doctor’s report, which confirmed that the twins were born prematurely, and could partially breathe, which would require their urgent transfer to the intensive care unit as long as they were alive.
The forensic report concluded that the twins’ lives could have been saved if they were taken to the intensive care unit immediately.