*Absolves medical personnel of
negligence By Sola Ogundipe & Chioma Obinna The management of the Lagos
University Teaching Hospital, LUTH,
has denied the allegation of
negligence in the death of one of its
patients, Mrs Ngozi Udebu who was
admitted to the LUTH three weeks ago. In a statement made available
to Vanguard by the Public Relations
Officer, Mr. Kelechi Otuneme, the
hospital explained that the report
of the independent panel it set up
to look into the circumstances of the patient’s death didn’t find any
doctor or nurse culpable of neglect. The statement entitled: “Response
to the Death of Mrs Ngozi Udebu”,
noted that the panel comprising
senior medical personnel from
three different departments,
established that during the whole period of the deceased’s admission
and after her demise, no report of
poor treatment or negligence was
brought to the notice of the
managing team or LUTH
management. In setting the records straight, the
statement read: “We have
deliberately restrained ourselves
from responding earlier because a
detailed investigation was
underway and it would have been premature to comment before the
final outcome. “Mrs Ngozi Udebu was a patient in
our hospital having been admitted
on 26th March 2016 and died
about 51 hours later. She had
presented with abdominal pain
from her monthly menstrual periods shortly after 40 days of
religious fasting. File: LUTH File: LUTH “She had taken an overdose of
Piroxicam (50mg thrice daily for
two days) a non-steroidal anti-
inflammatory pain killer, which is
known to be associated with side
effects of inflammation or ulceration of the stomach even at a regular
dose. She was admitted, seen by the
medical team including an
experienced consultant physician. “She was commenced on
medications for peptic ulcers or
dyspepsia after ultrasound scans
and other tests. She was admitted to
the medical wards within 24 hrs of
presentation and monitored by the medical personnel (doctors and
nurses). Few hours to her demise
she started to have difficulty
breathing, was commenced on
oxygen therapy which she
continued to have till her demise. While making the rounds to see
how the patients fared in the night,
the nurse on duty noticed the
patient had stopped breathing and
attempts to resuscitate her failed. “There was no distress call by the
patient, other patients or any other
person around her in the ward
prior to her sudden death. In view
of the strange and sudden death
of our patient, the managing team immediately requested for
an autopsy to unravel the
immediate and remote causes of
her demise as is standard lay
practised in such cases of unusual
death. This autopsy was prompted by the LUTH. “The autopsy preliminary report
demonstrated evidence of asphyxia
though no foreign body or
evidence of strangulation was
found. Further specialised histology
report obtained later confirmed fluid in the terminal air passages
which support aspiration of food,
fluids or secretions. The stomach
was inflamed but not actively
bleeding or perforated which is not
surprising, considering that she was already on anti peptic ulcer
therapy. “We can understand why the
layman may be confounded by the
apparent disparity of the admitting
diagnosis and the final pathological
diagnosis. The pathological
diagnosis confirmed the actual and final cause of death as the ulcers
were already healing.” Giving a reconstruction of the
events leading to the patient’s
demise, the LUTH management said: “A known patient with
dysmenorrhoea who was fasting
took an overdose of non steroidal
anti inflammatory drugs, the
analgesics suppressed the
menstrual pain but damaged the stomach leading to excruciating
pain in the abdomen which
brought her to LUTH. “Our doctors correctly diagnosed
gastritis promptly and gave
appropriate treatment. Ulcers do
not show up on ultrasound scans
explaining the negative ultrasound
scan findings. The pains started to abate by the second day. “However,
on the day of demise, while the
patient was asleep late at night, she
most probably aspirated food,
throat secretions or water leading
to bronchospasm and respiratory distress which rapidly culminated in
her death. “She was found dead and all
attempts to revive her failed.
Nothing the doctors or nurses did
or didn’t do could be described as
the cause of death. Alternatively she
could have suffered an idiosyncratic reaction (rare, unusual and bizarre
reaction) to any of the medications
she took before or during her
admission to the Hospital. This is not
describable as negligence and no
one could have known or prevented it. “Autopsy preliminary report
demonstrated evidence of asphyxia
though no foreign body or
evidence of strangulation was
found. Further specialised histology
report obtained later confirmed fluid in the terminal air passages
which support aspiration of food,
fluids or secretions. The stomach
was inflamed but not actively
bleeding or perforated which is not
surprising, considering that she was already on anti peptic ulcer
therapy. “After her death, attempts by the
investigative panel to speak to the
husband (who had earlier affirmed
he would attend the hearing )
failed and he informed us that all
he wanted to say was in the news media. “It is a well known fact that
anywhere in the world, patients can
suffer sudden death even while
apparently improving for various
causes some of which even autopsy
may not be able to fully explain. Thus medical personnel reminds
patients and relatives that medical
personnel can only care
for their patients while it is our God
only who heals. “The managing team and the
Hospital management are greatly
pained by the loss of the patient
who was already recovering. Many
times, managing medical personnel
are as traumatised by the loss of their patients as the family of the
bereaved and sometimes require
psychological support after such
losses. “We commiserate with the family of
the deceased and pray that the God
of all comfort will uphold and
support them granting them the
fortitude to bear the immeasurable
loss. The Hospital does not underestimate the power of the
social media in nation building
through information dissemination,
but this tool wrongly used can also
destroy persons, institutions and
nations. “The proprietors of the blogs and
newspapers where the news of Mrs
Udebu's death were posted or
published did the Hospital a great
disservice by not seeking the view
or response of the Hospital before dissemination of the news
despite our earlier press release to
that effect. “There are always two sides to any
story. The lapses in seeking the
view of the second party (LUTH)
have caused incalculable damage to
the image of the hospital that
provides care and succour to thousands of Nigerians. “We implore the social media and
news media to contribute positively
to nation building through
dissemination of balanced stories
and reports, rather than rush to
publish unverified sensational news which are capable of causing
incitement of the public against
institutions such as ours and
aggravation of grief of families such
as that of the Udebu's and the
medical team that cared for her. We pray for the repose of the soul
of the departed and for comfort and
strength to the family in their time of
mourning.”www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/ngozi-udebu-died-luth/ Mr.Lalasticlala frönt page please. Thank you.