Dubai Healthcare Company Under Fire After Patient Left Brain Damaged Due to Medical Negligence

Dubai based healthcare company, Mediclinic, are being sued for $55m by the family of a patient that was left permanently brain damaged due to “medical negligence” after what should have been a routine heart operation.

Husband, and father of four, Mohammad Imran Hussain, suffered permanent brain damage which has left him disabled, and in need of round the clock 24-hour care. The former development manager for US giant Dow Chemical checked in to Mediclinic for what should have been a routine heart operation. Although the initial operation was successful, a post-operative complication put Mr. Hussain into cardiac arrest where his heart stopped for 10 minutes, leaving him permanently brain damaged.

Commenting on the medical procedure, a US expert subsequently said that “it is clear to me that the confluence of events led to a completely avoidable catastrophe”, pointing to a lack of planning and preparation ahead of the operation, and a considerable delay in identifying the common post-operative complication, alleging that if it had been recognised and attended to sooner, the patient would not have been left brain damaged.

Mediclinic is the largest investor of The Dubai Healthcare City Authority (DHCA), a governmental regulator who attends to complaints from victims of negligence cases. Detained in Dubai, an organisation that assists those that suffer injustice in the UAE, have argued that this inevitably creates a conflict of interests as the primary aim of the DHCA is to promote medical tourism to Dubai.

Concerning the role of DHCA, Radha Stirling (CEO of Detained in Dubai), who met with Imran’s family and medical experts, said: “It would be a great challenge to obtain a fair and unbiased ruling via the DHCA or other government body. […] any adverse judgements regarding negligence may negatively impact the city’s reputation.”

Although the DHCA initially found Mediclinic to have mismanaged the case, only a letter of warning was issued, which was appealed by Mediclinic who blamed their sub-contracted staff for the mismanagement. According to Stirling, to meet international standards, Dubai healthcare should promote accountability as well as the independent review of cases of negligence and misconduct. Furthermore, an open court hearing is needed, as the current DHSA decision-making process is secret, but even then, Stirling says, “in Dubai, we have seen that the judicial system remains open to abuse, coercion and corruption and we cannot be guaranteed a fair hearing, particularly with so many government vested interests at play.”

The UAE government has repeatedly misused various laws to repress any dissent, as well as prevented those charged with allegations, based on this misuse of law, from a fair hearing. In order to give victims of medical negligence the chance to have a fair hearing, an independent review process is direly needed.

This is but one more example of the divergence between the image that the UAE projects of itself, and the underlying realities on the ground where style is privileged at the expense of substance. In this case, it has left an innocent man permanently brain damaged. It is yet further proof that from the perspective of the UAE authorities, the country's reputation on the world stage proceeds the welfare of those residing in its borders.