The investigation into the death of a nine-month old national boy at Saqr Hospital in May has produced a recommendation that a Somali anaesthetist and a Filipino nurse be fired, the medical committee set up by the Ministry of Health reports.
The committee also recommended deducting a certain amount from the salaries of two nurses, a Lebanese and another Filipino, who were involved in the operation.
The committee ruled the death was due to medical error after investigating the complaint lodged by the father and questioning everyone involved in the treatment of the boy.
The father accused the hospital staff of administering an overdose of anaesthesia and filed a complaint at the ministry and the emirate's public prosecution.
The infant had swallowed the paper sleeve from a drinking straw and started coughing. Worried when the coughing persisted for two days, the father took his son to the hospital to remove the paper sleeve.
The family assumed the procedure would take minutes. Instead, the infant was admitted to the hospital for a few days. The doctor in charge decided the child required surgery.
Rigid bronchoscopy was performed on the child under general anaesthesia, but nothing was found.
Following the operation, the child's condition deteriorated and he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit and put on a ventilator.
The child was clinically dead. He was then moved to Sheikh Khalifa Medical Centre in Abu Dhabi, where he underwent a series of comprehensive medical tests.
The report issued by the medical centre found the child was admitted to a hospital with a cough that had persisted for two days. There was also reason to believe something foreign had been inhaled.
Rigid bronchoscopy was performed under general anaesthesia but no foreign substance was found, the report said.
Following the decision of the medical committee, which held the anaesthetist and three other nurses responsible for the medical error that caused the death of the child, a number of hospital staff urged the medical committee and the ministry to review the case and to take their concerns into consideration during the investigation.
Medical panel's recommendations
* The medical committee set up by the Ministry of Health recommended that a Somali anaesthetist and a Filipino nurse be sacked.
* Deduction of a certain amount from the salaries of two nurses, a Lebanese and another Filipino, who were involved in the operation.
* The committee ruled that the death of infant was due to medical error.
* Rigid bronchoscopy was performed on the infant who swallowed the paper sleeve from a drinking straw and started coughing.
Gulf News
