Article 11 of the Saudi Fertility Units Law

This article deals with personal responsibility for the most serious errors in the field of fertilization, which are the mixing or substitution of samples.

• Who is answerable: each of the doctor, the assistant and the technician; the responsibility is not limited to the doctor.
• Basis of responsibility: what the person commits of negligence, shortcoming or error. Each one is answerable for his or her own act.
• The result meant: that it leads to the mixing or substitution of sperm, eggs, zygotes or embryos.

The article therefore covers the three forms of breach: negligence, shortcoming and error. It does not specify the kind of penalty or compensation that follows; it establishes the responsibility without detailing its effects.

This article complements Article 10, which makes the doctor fully responsible for all damage caused by the doctor's error in treatment. While Article 10 speaks of the doctor and of treatment errors in general, this article extends responsibility to the assistant and the technician in a specific case, mixing and substitution.

Article 12 follows, requiring the unit to keep patients' information absolutely confidential and not to allow access to it except when necessary with the approval of the supervision committee or the judicial authorities.

Anyone harmed by the mixing or substitution of their samples may consult a lawyer specializing in health regulations.