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Series of Medical Negligence … An Ongoing Issue an FDHRD Report

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Press Release

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On Saturday, October 23, 2021, the Research and Studies Unit of the Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue issued a report titled “Medical Negligence… an Ongoing Issue”.

The report stressed that the cases of medical negligence are only discovered after they occur and that it is difficult to prove the crime on the doctor or hospital, and that the forensic report is the only factor for these cases.

The report explained that the crime of medical negligence is one of the crimes facing society due to medical errors during the work of the doctor, which leads to permanent disability to the patient or the death, and that there is a new phenomenon in medical neglect that has appeared in Egyptian society significantly, namely, the injury of girls and women with deformities as a result of cosmetic surgery in Egypt.

The report pointed out that Egyptian legislation addressed the crime of medical negligence, in article (244) of the Penal Code, through which it is clear that the penalty of negligence or medical error is a misdemeanour and not a felony, and the penalty is up to 3 years imprisonment, and more than that penalty in the case of major errors, and an estimate of medical error is made by a specialized examination committee of the prosecution, according to the circumstances and circumstances of the incident, and the court often gives 6 months or 8 months and often reconciles On appeal, it is presented to the court, and sometimes the prosecution does not refer the case to the court but merely the punishment and disciplinary penalty imposed by the doctors’ union.

The report also explained that after the increase in the number of incidents resulting from medical errors and doctors’ complaints  of malicious accusations often and the failure of victims to receive appropriate compensation in the event of medical error and recently a number of deputies have submitted amendments to the Medical Liability Act trying to fill the gaps and include the formation of a high committee of medical responsibility comprising a number of senior doctors to receive patient complaints and study the allegations of medical error.

The report included cases of medical negligence monitored by the Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue from January 1, 2021 to October 2021, which reached 34 cases in 15 provinces.  

The report monitored the following observations:

First: Giza governorate came in the lead in terms of the number of cases where it included the number of (6) cases, followed in the second place by the governorates of Al Gharbia, Cairo and Al-Sharqiya with (4) cases in each province, and the provinces of Qena came in third place with (3) cases, and the provinces of Al-Behira and Kafr Al-Sheikh in fourth place with (2) cases each.

Second: September came first in terms of the number of cases monitored by (7) cases, followed by June and August with (5) cases each, followed by January and July with (4) cases per month.

Third: The number of cases monitored in private hospitals came in the lead with 16 cases (47%) of the number of cases, while public hospitals came in second place with (13) cases (38%), followed by educational hospitals with 5 cases (15%).

Fourth: The number of cases of medical negligence in surgery came in first place with (16) cases,  while cases of women and obstetrics came in second place with (8)  cases,  and the esthetic in third place with (3)  cases,  brain  and nerves, bones,  children  and newborns  in fourth place with (2)  cases, and the specialization of heart disease in the last place with only one case.

As for what the report monitored on the number of cases according to the type of victim, it stated that the number of cases of women came first with 18  cases,  with 53% followed by men (10) cases (29%), and the number of cases of children (6) with 18%) in third place.

Fifth: With regard to the outcome of medical negligence, according to what was monitored during the reporting period,  there are 16 deaths,   5  permanent disabilities and 13 other various complications.

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