Doctors Never Admitted My Son Became Disabled Due to Their Mistake

Omer Omerbašić, father of four-year-old Ališan, says he would never have sued the group of doctors at the University Clinical Center in Sarajevo if they had approached his family amicably, after it was determined that their then two-and-a-half-month-old son contracted sepsis, which the Omerbašićs are convinced was caused by a doctor's mistake, writes the BH News Agency Patria (NAP).

Little Ališan underwent routine surgery on his urinary tract in 2011. However, the very next day, the lives of Ališan and his parents turned into a living hell. The boy contracted sepsis, which led doctors to amputate his toes and make him a lifelong invalid.

This case has not reached its conclusion nearly four years after the tragedy. The boy's father is not giving up on finding the truth about who is to blame for their son being a 100% disabled person today. They say they want to uncover the truth not only for their son but also for other children who might face the same fate.

- If the doctors who treated my Ališan had called me and admitted their mistake, if they had told me they would do everything to minimize the consequences for the boy, I certainly would not have filed a lawsuit against them – the boy's father Omer told the BH News Agency Patria.

- But they have been evading responsibility all along. That hurt me deeply – he added.

He will not give up on the truth for his son. If no judicial institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina shows a desire to shed light on this case, Omerbašić says he will hand the case over to international judicial bodies.

The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo rejected conducting an investigation against the doctors of the Clinical Center in Sarajevo in May this year. In the explanation of prosecutor Amina Ruždić, it is stated that the Prosecutor's Office issued an order that the investigation would not be conducted against the reported doctors, because the forensic medical expert examination, entrusted to the Center for Continuous Medical Education of the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad (Serbia), determined that there were no omissions or negligent treatment by the involved doctors during the treatment of patient Ališan Omerbašić.

The Omerbašićs have filed an appeal against this explanation from the Prosecutor's Office. They are not seeking prison sentences for the doctors they consider responsible for their son's fate from the judicial institutions in the country, but they want a just verdict that would encourage doctors to take greater responsibility when treating patients.

You cannot say, says Omerbašić, that all doctors are negligent. Specifically, at UKCS in Sarajevo, where our Ališan is still being treated, we know a large number of world-class specialists, but we have seen that there are also doctors who do not deserve to bear this honorable title, writes Patria.