*** Nurses cleared of blame in Covid patient’s death | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Nurses cleared of blame in Covid patient’s death

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A three-year prison sentence handed to two nurses accused of causing a patient’s death during the Covid-19 surge has been struck down after the Court of Cassation ruled they were not directly to blame.

The ruling cleared the pair of any criminal fault, stating that no solid proof had been brought to show they had failed in their duty or caused the woman’s death.

The judges pointed to the strain on hospitals at the time, noting that the incident occurred during a wave of infections that left medical teams stretched thin.

The case had rested on claims that the nurses had not acted quickly enough when the patient’s condition grew worse.

One was said to have delayed alerting the doctor on call while the other allegedly took too long to gather medical samples. Prosecutors argued that the delays led to a decline in the woman’s health.

Guilty

A lower court found them guilty and sentenced them both to three years behind bars.

Their lawyers appealed. Bushra Ma’yoof, who represented the first nurse, argued that the ruling did not match the facts and overlooked key parts of the file.

She said the judgment was riddled with gaps and failed to give her client a fair chance to respond.

Ali Al Asfoor, acting for the second nurse, said the court had read the law the wrong way and backed a version of events that did not stand up to reason.

Both lawyers asked for the acquittal of their clients.

Convictions

The High Criminal Appeals Court agreed and threw out the convictions.

The Public Prosecution took the matter further, arguing before the Court of Cassation that an expert report showed delays in the care given to the patient.

Although the same report admitted it could not tie those delays to the cause of death, prosecutors said the treatment fell short of what would be expected in such cases.

But the Court of Cassation found otherwise.

Second report

It reviewed a second report prepared by the National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) which concluded that the staff had given care in line with what was possible at the time.

The panel said the delay was caused by the rush of cases during the peak of the pandemic rather than by the nurses themselves.

A third body, NHRA’s Ethical Misconduct Committee, also looked into the case.

It too found that there had been a delay but could not pin down who was at fault.

Negligence

The committee stopped short of calling it negligence.

The court said the nurses had done what they could with the tools and people on hand.

Their efforts to help the patient were found to be within the bounds of what was reasonable under the weight of the outbreak.

With that, the case was closed and the charges were dropped.