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Medical malpractice Insurance not enough for expats

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MIB123

Greetings of the day,
     Once you are caught in medical malpractice in saudi arabia, life will get tough, you are not allowed to leave the kingdom, as your passport is abdicated, how can one get out of this situation if someone has to visit the homeland? Doctors especially gynecologist are the ones who are suffering from this problem and also doctors who work in poor conditions with minimal facility, there has also been a rise in complaints as some of the patients want to sue doctors just for the sake of it or may be to obtain monetary gains..Is medical negligence insurance enough for expats??

XTang

I think your question is only considering one point i.e. financial.  Usually in Saudi, when these problems happen, the financial impact is only secondary.  The primary impact is legal which a medical malpractice insurance will not safe guard you against.  It may bear the legal costs and pay outs but cannot support if the government decides to suspend licence and / or to jail/deport you.

MIB123

U need to go through this study conducted by the Saudi journal it's not a recent one, you will know how many doctors have been penalized and how they were penalized, follow this link
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2980654/, it is nothing but torture to doctors, people die get their hands legs amputated, it is part and parcel of medical profession, insurance companies cover only cost, not enough

MIB123

Most of the doctors caught in legal matters will be happy to be deported and also with a cancelled license,  but abdication of  passport makes him feel like he had been imprisoned, I have seen a very bad trend in  doctors practicing in Saudi, in which i call it as a defensive practice, where a doctor will never take any responsibility for the patient and just refer him further for consultation, which is not good for the people of Saudi, as the health cost born by the government is sky rocketing. These trends can be changed if the laws are amended by help of doctors and lawyers  alike (but its altogether a different topic) .Most of the health care in Saudi Arabia is run by expat doctors and nurses ..May Allah bless us all and give us patience..

XTang

Yes exactly.  Unfortunately here it happens in terms of passport confiscation and arrests.

modjo

@MIB123, I tried to access the link but it returned an error page.
I hope things go well, all the best and don't lose faith.

MIB123

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2980654/

modjo

Thanks for sharing @MIB123, the article is informative but also very alarming.

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