Award-winning Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has accused Euracare Hospital in Lagos of negligence following the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu Nnamdi.
Gatekeepers News reports that Nkanu, one of Adichie’s twin sons, died on Wednesday after suffering a medical emergency during a procedure at the hospital.
In a statement that circulated on social media on Saturday, the author said her son would still be alive but for what she described as “criminal negligence” at Euracare.
Adichie explained that her family was in Lagos for the Christmas holidays when the child developed symptoms that first appeared to be a cold but later worsened into a serious infection.
She said he was admitted to Atlantis Hospital and that plans were already in place to fly him to the United States on January 7 with traveling doctors, while a medical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore was on standby.
According to her account, the Johns Hopkins team requested a lumbar puncture and an MRI, while doctors in Nigeria planned to insert a central line ahead of the flight. Atlantis Hospital then referred the family to Euracare for the procedures.
Chimamanda said Nkanu was sedated on the morning of January 6 to prevent movement during the MRI and central line insertion.
She said, “I was waiting just outside the theater. I saw people, including Dr M, rushing into the theater and immediately knew something had happened.”
“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.”
She added that her son was later placed on a ventilator, intubated, and moved to the intensive care unit, after which seizures and cardiac arrest followed. The writer added, “All these had never happened before. Some hours later, Nkanu was gone.”
Adichie further alleged that the child was not properly monitored after being administered an excessive dose of propofol, claiming that the anesthesiologist casually carried him to the theater, leaving uncertainty over when he became unresponsive. She described the doctor as “criminally negligent, fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child.”
The author also claimed the family later learned of two previous cases in which the same anesthesiologist allegedly overdosed children, questioning why the hospital allowed the doctor to continue practising. She said the incident must not be allowed to happen to another child.
