Late at night in a Cairo public hospital, a young doctor treating a patient in severe pain found the CT scanner was broken, so relying on his clinical judgment alone, he performed an emergency appendectomy.
"It was a calculated risk," he said. "But under the new malpractice law ... I wouldn't have taken that chance. I would have discharged the patient and waited for him to seek a CT scan elsewhere — even if it meant the patient's appendix ruptured."
This scenario, recounted anonymously, underscores the fears many Egyptian doctors have voiced over a draft medical malpractice law that intends to address patients' complaints about poor treatment by imposing punitive measures, including fines and the detention of doctors who give substandard care.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.