Heba Al Ayouti One Year Later: Has Justice Been Served?

On this day, one year ago, a tragic incident took place that spread a darkness all over Cairo and left a hole in our hearts. A young girl’s tragic death was the only thing anyone could talk about because of how devastating her passing was.

It all started when Heba El Ayouti went to the Nile Badrawy Hospital on May 11, 2014 for an investigative X-ray scan that requires the use of contrast dye. Instead, she was injected with a sterilizing chemical by Dr. Mohamed Salah, which resulted in the burning and malfunction of her internal organs.

Her health quickly deteriorated and without understanding what was happening to her, as the hospital had not disclosed the fatal error to Heba or her family, they decided to take her to Germany in the hopes of obtaining better medical assistance. A few days later, she died.

I still remember the anger, the fury, the agony, but most of all the sadness over the realization that the world had lost a lovely human being. I never knew Heba, but everyone around me did and hearing the gracious things they had to say about her pure heart and loving soul made my anger towards the negligence of the doctor and the incompetence of the health care system in Egypt grow immensely.

Heba’s family are still fighting in and out of courtroom, and though the fight has been difficult, they’ve stood strong and will not stop until justice is served to the people responsible for her death – not just for Heba, but to ensure that this doesn’t happen again and that no one has to go through the loss of a loved one because of a simple medical mistake. Here are updates on Heba’s case over the past year:

An investigation was opened with 33 doctors, nurses and hospital management at Nile Badrawy Hospital and on Nov. 17, 2014, the verdict announced was in Heba’s favour. Dr. Mohamed Salah was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor, while each of the two nurses involved, Doaa Nabil Abdel Maged and Nahed Hassan Ali, were sentenced to three years in prison.

The court investigation revealed that five individuals – Hossam Badrawy, Salah Zaky, Amr Madin, Hassan El Sweeny and Hassan El Kiki – conspired in covering up the incident through various actions, from tampering with evidence to secret meetings and failing to help Heba when they instead tried to save their reputations and the reputation of the hospital.

Although Nile Badrawy Hospital denied their knowledge of the incident from the start, in addition to denying having a sterilizing chemical in the X-ray department, they later issued a press release that attempted to place the blame on the doctor and nurses involved and to clear the hospital of any direct involvement; however, the testimonials and statements of the witnesses during the trial showed the contrary.

After the coroner, Dr. Shorouk Ahmed Abdel Azim Al Aglan, reported that the cause of death was due to the negligence of the doctor and the hospital, the doctor’s syndicate tried to persuade her to change her statement to favor the doctor on trial, but she responded by filing a complaint against the syndicate.

After the appeal, the final verdicts in Heba Al Ayouti’s case were as follows:

• Confirming the verdict of the first defendant Dr. Mohamed Salah AbdelSalam Alhameed to five years imprisonment with hard labor

• Confirming and reducing the sentence of the second defendant, Nurse Doaa Nabil Abdel Magid Shehata to two years imprisonment with hard labor instead of three

• Confirming and reducing the sentence of the third defendant, Nurse Nahed Hassan Ali Mohamed to two years imprisonment with hard labor instead of three

• The court hereby orders the referral of the files of the following suspects: Hossam Badrawy, Salah Zaky, Amr Madin, Hassan El Sweeny and Hassan El Kiki to the public prosecution to take necessary measures with respect to the papers filed against the suspects and the allegations that they acted as accomplices to the crime and wrongdoings according to article 244 of the penal code and abstaining from helping the victim according to article 243 of the penal code

We will be waiting for the outcome of the investigation by the public prosecution for the latter suspects and hopefully, justice will prevail and the health services in Egypt pay more attention to the importance of the lives in their hands.

May your soul rest in peace, Heba, and may God give your family the strength to keep on living without you and fighting their battle in your name.

WE SAID THIS: For the full story of this tragic incident, read “Nightmare at Nile Badrawy Hospital” or go to Heba El Ayouti’s Facebook page here.