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Private hospitals in Lebanon to stop taking patients to protest court ruling

Source: , Posted On:   11 May 2021

BEIRUT: Private hospitals in Lebanon have stopped receiving patients, with some exceptions, to protest the “unjust” verdict issued against two doctors in the case of Ella Tannous, a young girl who lost her limbs following a medical emergency in 2015, the head of the syndicate of private hospitals told The Daily Star Monday.

“All private hospitals will be closed, and will keep open whatever is needed for emergencies ... and chemotherapy or dialysis patients, and doing surgical operations that cannot be postponed,” Dr Sleiman Haroun said.

 

Hospitals including the American University of Beirut Medical Center, Hotel Dieu Hospital and the Notre-Dame des Secours Hospital in Byblos will not be admitting patients from Monday through Saturday, May 15.

AUMBC Sunday released a statement detailing that the move was due to “the newly unjust ruling of the Beirut Court of Appeal against Dr. Rana Chrara and the AUMBC.”

Last week, the Beirut Court of Appeal ordered Dr. Isaam Maalouf and Chrara, as well as their two respective hospitals Notre-Dame des Secours Hospital and AUMBC, to pay large sums of compensation to Ella and her family over what was deemed a case of medical malpractice.

But the ruling has been met with shock and anger by the medical community, and Dr. Sharaf Abou Sharaf, head of the Order of Physicians Friday issued a statement in response:

“The Syndicate Council expresses its astonishment and strong disapproval of the outcome of the judgment in terms of the compensations award, which are completely inconsistent with the economic standards prevailing in Lebanon.”

Judge Tarek Bitar has ruled that the AUBMC and the Notre Dame des Secours Hospital and Chrara and Maalouf, pay a fee of LL9 billion to Tannous, as well as a monthly stipend four times the minimum wage. Her parents, Hassan and Eliana, have also been granted LL500 million payout each.

The medical community has strongly supported the side of the practitioners, stating that the doctors took the decision to amputate to save Tannous’ life after she became infected with a rare bacterial disease.

Moreover, Abou Sharaf wrote that no doctor would be able to pay the demanded fees "even if he worked his entire life."

The acute economic crisis that has been engulfing Lebanon has caused the pound to lose over 90 percent of its value since October 2019, which has severly slashed the value of incomes, including those in the health sector.

Haroun revealed that the doctors would challenge the verdict at court again, and the “disproportionate” monetary penalty demanded by the judge.

“[The penalty] is disproportionate in a country like Lebanon, compared to what a doctor makes,” adding that a normal doctor’s consultation costs LL35,000.

The health sector in Lebanon has been under immense strain over the last year dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis, which has left hospitals both underfunded and understaffed.

As such the ruling comes at a particularly bad time for health care workers. It has also stoked concern that doctors will be reluctant to take medical risks in such cases of rare and complicated diseases, fearing accusations of criminal negligence.

“Such a penalty has never been given in Lebanon ... and it is very dangerous if it is considered a precedent in the future,” Haroun said.

The tragic case of Ella Tannous is well known in Lebanon after in 2015, aged just 10 months, she lost her arms and legs from an emergency amputation carried out to save her life. She was the victim of a highly rare bacterial infection called "Streptococcus."

She was initially diagnosed with the flu by Maalouf, a pediatrician, at Notre-Dame des Secours Hospital, but was later transferred to AUMBC to be taken into intensive care and cared for by Chrara, where a delayed diagnosis resulted in her four limbs being amputated.

Abou Sharaf’s statement on behalf of the Order acknowledges “sympathy for the affected child” while outlining the rarity of the girl’s infection.

According to Abou Sharaf, in 90 percent of cases of the disease, the outcome is either death or amputation, with the recovery rate of just 10 percent after treatment.

“In the event of medical errors, this fine imposed by the judiciary is unfair to those who did everything in their power to save the child’s life.”

 

 

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