Medical blunder costs Kuwaiti surgeon over $600,000

Cairo: A famous Kuwaiti obstetrician has been ordered to pay KD200,000 ($647,564 ) in compensation due to a medical error.

The order was made by a Kuwaiti court after the doctor was found to have committed a serious blunder to a 20-year-old Kuwaiti woman during natural childbirth that may cause her to lose her ability to become pregnant in the future, reported Alseyassah newspaper

The court said in its ruling that the doctor did not provide enough care and did not consult her surgeon colleague, negligence that makes the plaintiff deserve obtaining compensation.

The woman had also filed a complaint against the doctor, accusing her of filming a video of the birth procedure without her consent. The name of the obstetrician was not given.

In a separate case last year, a Kuwaiti appeals court ordered the Ministry of Health and two doctors to pay KD111,000 in compensation to heirs of an ex-lawmaker after they were convicted of committing medical blunders leading to his death.

Falah Al Sawagh, who was an elected member of the Kuwaiti parliament for two terms in 2009 and 2012, died in October 2016. He was 55.

Earlier, he was admitted to a Kuwaiti hospital to undergo a liposuction procedure, but later suffered chest pain after the operation and died, according to media reports.

In November 2022, a lower court ordered the Ministry of Health and the two doctors to pay compensation of KD156,000 for the family after they were found guilty of fatal medical negligence.

The court of Cassation, hearing the case, later issued a final ruling against both doctors convicting them of fatal mistakes during the operation on Al Sawagh. The top court also sentenced the two doctors to one year in prison and ordered them to pay a bail of KD5,000 to stay out of prison.

The conviction verdict was based on a report compiled by specialists from the Ministry of Health, medical forensic authorities and the Kuwait University’s medical school, mandated by the court.

The report concluded that the ex-parliamentarian had died due to medical blunders as the experts found he had suffered bacterial blood poisoning resulting from the operation.