There is growing tension between Saudi Arabia and Egypt over another medieval criminal sentence out of the Saudi court system. Raouf Amin el-Arabi, an Egyptian doctor who has treated the royal family for 20 years, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 1,500 lashes after he allegedly committed malpractice in the treatment of a Saudi princess. Many believe the flogging will kill him.
And our doctors complain about higher insurance rates and punitive damages exceeded twice the compensatory damages.
Putting aside the prehistoric nature of punishment in the Royal Kingdom, the alleged malpractice is interesting. The defendant is accused of prescribing pills that resulted in the princess becoming an addict. The fault, it appears, of a royal family member being a drug addict is the doctor’s alone, not both the patient and the physician.
The case also shows how justice works in the Kingdom. He was originally sentenced to seven years and 700 lashes. When he appealed, however, the judge more than doubled the penalty to 15 years in prison and 1,500 lashes. That will teach him and others to appeal sentences in the Kingdom.
The Saudi family reportedly accused el-Arabi was treating “driving a patient to addiction.” The “patient” is reportedly one of the wives of King Abdullah’s nephews.
El-Arabi will received 70 lashes a week and has already received his first of 100 such sessions.
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“The fault, it appears, of a royal family member being a drug addict is the doctor’s alone, not both the patient and the physician.”
Couldn’t we envision some 14th Century court issuing a similar ruling? While I do believe that cultural diversity is important and that it is not the US’s job to interfere with other countries, by the same token allying with such medieval regimes in the name of national self interest, makes us in some sense complicit.
I think the Republicans might actually get behind tort reform if the result looked something like this. Atleast the lawyers are taken out of the picture. The more “OBGYN’s could spread their love across the nation”
Our civilized allies?
That is one hell of a malpractice punishment. Maybe the parents of that child that had a dentist do a breast reduction on her should recommend this kind of punishment in their malpractice case. Obviously, this is one more example of the brutality of the Saudi royal family. This same family has been a “friend” of the Bush administration and yet it is one of the more oppresive regimes in the world. It is especially interesting to read about the penalty that was received from the appeal court. That kind of penalty by the appeals court will be a prime example to other Saudi’s that the appeals process is a charade.