Renowned Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has released a detailed and emotional statement following the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu, accusing a Lagos-based hospital of medical negligence.
According to her team, the statement was originally shared privately with close family members and friends before it became public.
Adichie explained that her son fell ill while the family was in Lagos for the Christmas holidays. What initially appeared to be a mild cold, she said, rapidly progressed into a severe infection, leading to his admission at Atlantis Hospital.
She revealed that arrangements had already been made for Nkanu to be flown to the United States on January 7, accompanied by travelling doctors, where a medical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore was prepared to receive him.
As part of the preparations for the medical evacuation, doctors requested several diagnostic procedures, including an MRI scan, a lumbar puncture, and the insertion of a central line. Atlantis Hospital subsequently referred the family to Euracare Hospital to carry out the procedures.
According to Adichie, on the morning of January 6, Nkanu was taken to Euracare Hospital and sedated to enable the MRI scan and central line placement. While waiting outside the operating theatre, she noticed medical staff rushing in, signalling that something had gone wrong.
She said she was later informed that the anesthesiologist had administered an excessive dose of the sedative propofol, causing her son to become unresponsive and requiring emergency resuscitation.
Although she was told that Nkanu was revived, he was placed on a ventilator, intubated, and transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. His condition, however, deteriorated rapidly.
“The next thing I heard was that he had seizures. Cardiac arrest. All these had never happened before,” Adichie stated, adding that her son died a few hours later.
The author alleged that her son was not properly monitored after sedation and that the anesthesiologist carried him into the theatre without adequate supervision, making it unclear when he became unresponsive.
“How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him?” she asked.
She further alleged that after the central line procedure, the anesthesiologist switched off her son’s oxygen and transported him to the ICU without following standard medical protocols.
Describing the incident as criminal negligence, Adichie accused the anesthesiologist of being “fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child.”
“We brought in a child who was unwell but stable and scheduled to travel the next day,” she said. “We came to conduct basic procedures. And suddenly, our beautiful little boy was gone forever.”
Adichie also claimed that the family has since learned of at least two previous cases in which the same anesthesiologist allegedly overdosed children, raising serious concerns about why he was allowed to continue practising.
“Why did Euracare allow him to keep working?” she asked. “This must never happen to another child.”
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