Dubai: Anger has engulfed Jordanian society after a five-year-old girl died due to a medical error while undergoing an appendectomy at Al Bashir government hospital in Amman, local media reported.
Leen Abu Hatab died of an appendix rupture that led to blood poisoning due to the negligence of doctors in diagnosing her condition. She died three days after she was first rushed into the emergency room suffering from severe abdominal pain.
Leen was first diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and was later discharged from the hospital. On the second day, the victim’s family took her again to the hospital where doctors diagnosed her with inflammatory bowel disease.
Leen’s father, Maher Abu Hatab, took his daughter to a private hospital because she did not show any improvement and her condition worsened. The girl was diagnosed with appendicitis, and surgery was recommended to be performed as soon as possible.
But the father took her again to Al Bashir hospital because he could not afford its expensive cost at the private hospital.
The appendectomy surgery was conducte, but her condition deteriorated, and a second surgery was scheduled in the next day. After the second operation, she was pronounced dead.
Her father is accusing doctors at Al Bashir hospital of medical malpractice and negligence, demanding legal action against the medical practitioners involved in his daughter’s death.
“It was due to the negligence of the doctors whose medical malpractice took the life of my daughter. “My daughter died because of a medical error,” Abu Hatab said.
“Her appendix ruptured after Al Bashir took four hours determining whether or not she actually had appendicitis, after which she was taken to the operating room,” he added.
The father said that the forensic department told him the cause of death was a ‘medical error’.
The incident has triggered nationwide anger amid growing demands to hold the hospital and doctors accountable, particularly because this is the second case reported within a week. A mother of three children died while undergoing a dilation and curettage procedure at the same hospital
The hospital formed a committee to investigate the incident. The committee accused five doctors of negligence in diagnosing the victim’s health condition.
