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Renowned writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has stated that medical negligence at Euracare Hospital, Lagos, led to the death of her son, Nkanu Nnamdi, following a medical procedure on January 6.
In a statement released on Saturday, Chimamanda said that her son would still be alive if not for what she described as a grave incident involving the administration of anaesthesia at the hospital.
According to her, the family had travelled to Lagos for Christmas when Nkanu developed what initially appeared to be a mild cold but later became a severe infection, leading to his admission at Atlantis Hospital.
She explained that Nkanu was scheduled to travel to the United States on January 7 with a team of travelling doctors, where specialists at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore were preparing to receive him.
As part of the preparations, doctors requested a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a lumbar puncture, and the insertion of a central line.
Atlantis Hospital subsequently referred the family to Euracare Hospital for the procedures.
Chimamanda stated that her son was sedated in preparation for an MRI scan and central line insertion after arriving at Euracare Hospital, but was later informed that the anesthesiologist had administered an excessive dose of propofol.
She said Nkanu became unresponsive, was placed on a ventilator in the intensive care unit(ICU), later suffered seizures and cardiac arrest, and died hours later.
“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”
She further stated that her son was never adequately monitored after sedation and that basic medical protocols were ignored, describing the anesthesiologist’s actions as criminally negligent.
“It turns out that Nkanu was NEVER monitored after being given too much propofol.
“The anesthesiologist had just casually carried Nkanu on his shoulder to the theatre, so nobody knows when exactly Nkanu became unresponsive.
“How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him? Later, after the ‘central line’ procedure, the anesthesiologist casually switched off Nkanu’s oxygen and again decided to carry him on his shoulder to the ICU!
“The anesthesiologist was CRIMINALLY negligent. He was fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child. No proper protocol was followed.”
According to her, Nkanu was stable prior to the procedure and had never experienced seizures or cardiac arrest before the incident.
The writer also raised concerns about the hospital’s oversight, stating that the family later learned of previous cases in which the same anesthesiologist allegedly overdosed children.
She further questioned why the doctor was still allowed to practice and called for accountability to prevent similar incidents.
“We brought in a child who was unwell but stable and scheduled to travel the next day. We came to conduct basic procedures. And suddenly, our beautiful little boy was gone forever. It is like living your worst nightmare. I will never survive the loss of my child.
“We have now heard about two previous cases of this same anesthesiologist overdosing children. Why did Euracare allow him to keep working? This must never happen to another child.”
