Chimamanda: Medical negligence killed my son in Lagos hospital

Renowned Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has blamed fatal medical negligence as the cause of her 21-month old son’s death at the Lagos hospital where he under went a procedure.

She alleged in a personal statement: “I will never survive the loss of my child, Nkanu.

She detailed her encounter in a personal statement, released to family member, Chimamanda gave a detailed account of the circumstances surrounding his death.

According to her, “My son would be alive today if not for an incident at Euracare Hospital on January 6th.

“We were in Lagos for Christmas. Nkanu had what we first thought was just a cold, but soon turned into a very serious infection and he was admitted to Atlantis hospital.

He was to travel to the US the next day, January 7th, accompanied by Travelling Doctors. A team at Johns Hopkins was waiting to receive him in Baltimore.

The Hopkins team had asked for a lumbar puncture test and an MRI. The Nigerian team had also decided to put in a ‘central line’ (used to administer iv medications) in preparation for Nkanu’s flight.

“Atlantis hospital referred us to Euracare Hospital, which was said to be the best place to have the procedures done.

“The morning of the 6th, we left Atlantis hospital for Euracare, Nkanu carried in his father’s arms.

“We were told he would need to be sedated to prevent him from moving during the MRI and the ‘central line’ procedure.

“I was waiting just outside the theater. I saw people, including Dr M, rushing into the theater and immediately knew something had happened”, she said.

“A short time later, Dr M came out and told me Nkanu had been given too much propofol by the anesthesiologist, had become unresponsive and was quickly resuscitated.

“But suddenly Nkanu was on a ventilator, he was intubated and placed in the ICU. The next thing I heard was that he had seizures. Cardiac arrest. All these had never happened before. Some hours later, Nkanu was gone”, according to Chimamanda.