The money behind the medicine By Mariz Tadros Dr Alaa Shukrallah, a specialist in child disability, contends that the growing number of malpractice cases may be due to the increasing commercialisation of medical care in Egypt. Since its birth, argues Shukrallah, the medical profession has been beset by two basic dilemmas. The second problem is the monopoly of knowledge, which is worsened by the first.
Patients usually have little awareness of their rights.
They don't know where to go to when they have been victims of malpractice. Shukrallah also suggests the syndicate cannot deal adequately with patients' claims, since it is biased toward physicians by definition. A common form of malpractice, he asserts, is the violation of patients' rights to confidentiality and treatment that respects their human dignity. Well-off patients are also vulnerable, however. The rationale is that a C-section is safer for the baby, better for the mother, and faster.