Acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has publicly accused Euracare Hospital in Lagos of medical negligence, saying a fatal error during a medical procedure led to the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu Nnamdi, on January 6.
Okay News reports that in an emotional statement released on Saturday, Adichie said her son would still be alive but for what she described as a grave and avoidable incident involving the administration of anaesthesia at the private medical facility.
The writer explained that her family had travelled to Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, for Christmas when Nkanu developed what initially appeared to be a mild cold, which later deteriorated into a serious infection.
He was admitted to Atlantis Hospital, where plans were already underway to fly him to the United States for specialist care at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on January 7.
According to Adichie, doctors in the US had requested several procedures before the transfer, including an MRI scan, a lumbar puncture and the insertion of a central line, prompting Atlantis Hospital to refer the family to Euracare.
What followed, she said, was a tragic chain of events.
“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,” Adichie recounted. “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 said the toddler, who had been stable before the procedure, had never previously suffered seizures or cardiac arrest.
Adichie alleged that basic safety protocols were ignored after the sedation, leaving her son without proper monitoring at a critical moment.
“It turns out that Nkanu was NEVER monitored after being given too much propofol,” she said. “The anesthesiologist had just casually carried Nkanu on his shoulder to the theatre, so nobody knows when exactly Nkanu became unresponsive.”
She also accused the doctor of further recklessness after the central line procedure.
“How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him?” she asked. “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!”
Describing the conduct as far beyond a mistake, Adichie said: “The anesthesiologist was CRIMINALLY negligent. He was fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child. No proper protocol was followed.”
The author also raised alarm over what she said were earlier cases involving the same doctor.
“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,” she said.
Expressing her grief, Adichie added: “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.”
No response has yet been issued by Euracare Hospital or the anesthesiologist named in the statement.
