Careless Doctors Own Up To Mistake

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Doctors at the General Hospital, Apapa, Lagos, who mistakenly slashed a baby’s head during a caesarian section have owned up to their mistake.

One of the doctors, Dr. Idowu Adewale, in a letter to the Office of the Public Defender following a query from the Lagos State Ministry of Health, confessed that the injury sustained by the baby that led to his suffering brain damage was a mistake because the operation was done as an emergency.

According to Dr. Adewale, ”the surgery was performed by a principal medical officer, Dr. N.O. Sanusi, assisted by a senior medical officer, Dr. M.O. Tijani and supervised by the consultant obstetrician. However, there was an accidental scalped injury to the baby’s scalp at the back of the head.”

Dr. Adewale said that the injury was detected while cleaning the baby. “The laceration was instantly sutured by the consultant obstetrician and the baby was commenced on antibiotics injection, multivatimins and analgesic,” he stated.

Dr. Adewale absolved the medical personnel from the fate that befell the baby but blamed the mother, who he claimed, opted to dress the wound at home with local preparations before coming back to the hospital.

“It is very important to note that inadvertent scalpel injury to babies during caesarian section is a known complication of that surgery worldwide, most especially when it was done as an emergency to save the baby’s life. Her refusal to bring the child for dressing led to wound breakdown and no medical personnel can be held responsible for that,” he concluded.

But the mother of the child, Rosemay Oji, 32, rejected the doctor’s latter observation, arguing that since the doctors confirmed that they made a mistake during the caesarian section, they should be held responsible and the government, their employer, be made to take responsibility for the welfare of the child.

Oji said the doctors had rendered her baby incapacitated and the government should come to her aid by assuming responsibility for his upkeep.

She narrated how doctors at the hospital slashed her baby’s head during a caesarian section and quickly discharged them from the hospital.

Following the damage, the baby which ought to be a source of joy to the parents is now a sorry sight, as he has been rendered incapacitated for life.

The baby, named Samuel, cannot cry, talk, crawl or do anything asociated with a child’s development.

A test conducted by Dr. F.A. Oke of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, showed that the baby suffered brain damage during the CS performed on the mother.

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According to Dr. Oke, ”the victim suffers from abnormal record consistent with partial complex seizure disorder capable of potentially delayed cerebral maturation in view of the frequent seizure.”

The embattled woman who was in tears while narrating what happened to her only son, said she has been to Massey Children’s Hospital in Lagos Island but all to no avail.

”When they saw the wound at the Massey Children’s Hospital, they sent us back. We were again referred to the General Hospital on Lagos Island where we stayed for another three weeks.

“It was in the hospital that we discovered that the child was not developing normally and we protested and they agreed to carry out some tests, but they refused to disclose the results of the tests.”

“Doctors at the Apapa General Hospital knew what they did and that was why they discharged us quickly so that the baby will die in our hands.”

She appealed to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola to come to her aid by assisting her take care of her son.

‘When they saw the wound at the Massey Children’s Hospital, they sent us back. We were again referred to the General Hospital on Lagos Island where we stayed for another three weeks.

“It was in the hospital that we discovered that the child was not developing normally and we protested and they agreed to carry out some tests, but they refused to disclose the results of the tests.”

“Doctors at the Apapa General Hospital knew what they did and that was why they discharged us quickly so that the baby will die in our hands.”

She appealed to Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola to come to her aid by assisting her take care of her son.

—Cyriacus Izuekwe

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