THREE medics have been found guilty of manslaughter and negligence in connection with the death of premature twins Fatima and Zahra.
A Bahraini male doctor was jailed for three years and two female doctors, a Bahraini and an Indian expatriate, have been sentenced to 12 months behind bars.
All three have been released on BD1,000 bail pending the outcome of their appeals.
A fourth defendant, a Bahraini nurse, was found not guilty of the charges due to a lack of evidence.
The defendants who work at Bahrain’s main public hospital appeared before the Lower Criminal Court yesterday.
“The three defendants have been found guilty of manslaughter and negligence due to sufficient evidence against them,” read the court ruling.
Prosecutors previously submitted a final report from the National Health Regulatory Authority’s technical committee as evidence. It had concluded that the medical staff who supervised the birth of the twins were to be held responsible for their deaths.
“They (medical staff) failed to examine the twins to see if they were alive,” the court said in its ruling yesterday.
“They were born alive and were partially breathing and their births were an emergency.
“They should have been immediately moved to special incubators.
“The defendants failed to do so and therefore caused their death. They gave up on the chance to save their lives.”
The GDN earlier reported that the babies were pronounced dead shortly after their birth only to start crying as their father, Qassim Al Biladi, prepared to bury them on the same day.
The sisters later died after they were taken back to Salmaniya Medical Complex.
They were laid to rest in Bilad Al Qadeem cemetery on October 25 – nine days after their premature birth at the hospital on October 16.
Defence lawyers said they would lodge an appeal against their clients’ convictions at the High Criminal Appeals Court.
noorz@gdn.com.bh
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