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Doctor acquitted of manslaughter

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court on Thursday acquitted South African doctor Cyril Karabus of the manslaughter charge for the death of a three-and-a-half-year-old leukaemia patient, Sara, in 2002.

The professor emeritus at the University of Cape Town and a specialist paediatric oncologist, was also absolved of the charge of forging the medical file of the patient while he was overseeing the treatment of Sara when he was a visiting doctor at Shaikh Khalifa Hospital in 2002.

Dr Karabus was tried in absentia and sentenced to three years in jail in 2004 for forging the medical record of the victim in addition to one more year in jail and pay a blood money of Dh100,000 to the girl’s parents.

On Thursday, the court based its verdict on the medical review report submitted by the Higher Committee for Medical Liability which did not find any medical error or faiilure on the part of Dr Karabus in the treatment of the girl.

The court pointed out that the first ruling pronounced in 2004 after the defendant was tried in absentia was based on the forensic lab report though it did not have proof that the death had been due to a cerebral hemorrhage resulting from a failure to transfuse blood platelets to the victim on time and the fact that the body was not subjected to an autopsy.

Regarding the forgery charge, the court clarified that the criminal forensic report on which the court had established its earlier conviction was issued by default, and the report had mentioned that the new phrase that was added to the victim’s medical file had been written in the handwriting of the person who had originally made entries in it. The report, however, had not specified who that person was.

Accordingly, the court disregarded this report and exonerated the accused. —