A breast cancer surgeon, accused of committing a medical error that led to the death of a patient, yesterday denied being at fault and defended herself before the High Criminal Court.
She previously stated that the patient died because she was keeping her cancer a secret out of fear she could lose custody of her young son, so she refused treatment.
In the hearing, the doctor claimed that her ex-husband and an enemy of hers were both on the panel that issued the report that found her at fault for the 53-year-old Bahraini woman’s death.
Her defence team, meanwhile, argued that she was following ‘ethics guidelines, the law and her conscience’ by complying with the victim’s desire not to tell anyone of her illness.
“The defendant didn’t give away her patient’s secret, out of respect for her wishes, and in compliance with the law,” read the defence statement submitted to judges.
“The law forbids physicians from disclosing private information acquired through the job, unless they obtain a court order that allows them to do so.
“Let’s imagine, hypothetically, that the defendant told others of the secret. It would be against the law and the ethics code of her profession and she would have become a suspect in another type of case, as the patient would have the right to lodge a complaint against her.”
The lawyer went on to state that some of the authors of the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) report were individuals biased against the 48-year-old Bahraini doctor.
“Sitting on the committee is our client’s ex-husband, who should have resigned from his post, or at the very least mentioned a conflict of interest,” read the statement.
“Another doctor has a dispute with the defendant predating the report, that ended in an official complaint being submitted, who also did not resign or acknowledge her bias.”
The aforementioned NHRA report had concluded that the defendant allegedly neglected some steps in diagnosis and treatment that contributed to the death of the patient.
She was accused of not performing the right type of breast biopsy, not evaluating the disease before surgical intervention and not administering radiation therapy to the patient after her tumour was removed.
She was further accused of removing healthy lymph nodes from the patient’s underarm, without conducting a biopsy to see if the tissue was diseased.
The defendant also allegedly did not refer the case to the National Tumour Board, which she stated was because the patient refused.
According to NHRA and the Public Prosecution, these errors led to the patient’s deterioration, and eventual death, in May 2024.
The defendant also stated that the patient declined to be referred to oncology and refused other procedures, even signing an Against Medical Advice (AMA) document to confirm that she was aware of the risks.
She previously testified before the court that the late patient was ‘adamant’ that her husband did not know about her illness, because she ‘could not risk losing her financial support or custody of her child’.
The child was conceived after multiple IVF attempts, and the patient was over 50 years old, the breast cancer clinic owner added as context.
“Our client informed the patient of how dangerous her decision was, telling her that her husband needed to know, but she refused,” read the defence statement. “She couldn’t force treatment on her.” The defendant documented the refusal and had the ‘victim’ sign it. She did all that was required of her legally.”
Judges set October 13 as the date a verdict will be issued in the case.
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