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UNTH ENUGU, FAMILY CLASH OVER PATIENT’S DEATH, ALLEGED VANDALIZATION OF HOSPITAL PROPERTY

Enugu: The family of late Mrs Janet Nwaosu have accused the management of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, of causing her death.They alleged that a doctor, identified only as Chibuoke, gave Janet an injection that aggravated her medical condition and led to her death.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Janet was taken to the hospital on Sunday, October 16, 2022, for stooling and vomiting.She was reportedly admitted to the public facility by one Dr Obumneme Emmanuel.The doctor was said to have given some prescriptions, which relieved the patient that day.Our correspondent learnt that the doctor prescribed vegetable and fruit to Janet the following day after it was discovered that her hands were shaking.The deceased’s daughter, Augustina Nwaosu, told our correspondent that a new female doctor, Chibuoke, came to meet them the next morning and prescribed an injection.She said, “A doctor came and asked for the person taking care of my mother. She said my mother was convulsing, but the nurses around said that was how she had been doing.

“The female doctor insisted that I should get Diazepam. I bought the Diazepam and gave it to her and she gave it to a nurse, whom I had not seen before. The doctor asked the nurse if he diluted the injection but the nurse said no. The nurse later injected my mom.”Augustina said her mother started breathing heavily through the mouth few minutes after the injection.She said the doctor was nowhere to be found while she (Augustina) ran around for help.“I couldn’t find the doctor. I ran back to the nurse and asked him to use oxygen to revive my mom and I promised to pay for it. I shouted that that was not the way she was breathing before they gave her the drug. The nurse went and started pressing her heart. The matron went to bring the oxygen, but before they could fix the oxygen, my mum had died,” she added.

Augustina said she was later joined by her uncle, Ikechukwu, on Tuesday, to retrieve her mother’s body.She, however, noted that the management of the hospital refused to issue the family a death certificate.She said, “We continued to wait till 6pm. I opened one of the doors in search of doctors or nurses to issue the certificate. It was then I saw the male nurse that gave my mother the injection where he was hiding. I held him, but he pushed me away and locked the door.”Our correspondent learnt that two window glasses broke during the scuffle that followed.The family alleged that the hospital management had refused to release the corpse to them and also invited the police to arrest them.The police were said to have taken Augustina to the station, but she was released after making a statement.

The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Obinna Onodugo, alleged that the family destroyed some property of the facility.He said, “I called the police to arrest the people that destroyed my property. If the doctor is guilty, she will go in for that. Let it be clear; we need to separate the matters as well. There are two matters here. One, somebody is alleging that a doctor killed their mother. No problem, they can push that allegation to any level even to MDTN to withdraw the licence of the doctor. The second issue is that somebody destroyed the property of the Federal Government.

Onodugo said the injection Janet was given could result in respiratory depression, which could cause death.“Diazepam internationally is known to also depress respiration sometimes. So, sometimes you can have side effects of respiratory depression; somebody could die. It does not mean negligence because you are targeting to change something which will kill this patient,” he added.The CMD insisted that the hospital would not release the deceased’s body until the family was punished for destroying the facility’s property.

Efforts to get the reaction of Chibuoke were unsuccessful, as she did not answer her calls.

Courtesy: Punch Newspapers

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