Photos: Husband accuses hospital of negligence after his wife died giving birth to their set of twins
A Delta-state based man, Ngozi Uchebuego, has accused staff of the
Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Asaba, Delta State, of negligence after his
wife of one year, Rita, died after giving birth to their set of
twins in the hospital a few weeks ago. He had a press conference in
Asaba yesterday where he narrated how his wife died after the birth of
their set of twins.
Read what he said at the press conference below
My name is Mr. Ngozi Uchebuego, a Citizen of Nigeria, a professional
land Surveyor by occupation, a husband, father, brother and a son. I
have heard gory tales and read of a few on the pages of newspaper or
books, but little did I know that I will be standing here today to tell
the world of my own gory tale, the tales which many Nigerians suffer in
silence everyday as a result of the decadence and anti-oath practices in
the Nigerian health sector. The silence of many victims of the Nigerian
Health sector has encouraged the prevalence and provided an enabling
environment for this man-made wreckage to thrive at the expense of
Nigerian lives. I want the world to hear my story in the hope that it
will lead to curbing future occurrences and ensure that no one else will
ever have this kind of story to tell like I now do.
On the 11th day of June 2016, I walked down the aisle with the woman
of my dreams; Mrs. Rita Uchebuego at the House on the rock Assembly
Asaba, Delta State. I met her while she was serving as a corp member at
Issele Ukwu, Delta state, when I went to the camp to preach the gospel
to the Christian corp members. We lived in peace and love whilst our
happiest day appeared to be the day we discovered that she was pregnant
with twins. We proceeded to register for ante natal services at Federal
Medical Center (FMC) in Asaba wherein a patient’s card number;
FMCP/0270822 was issued to her. The consultant assigned to her was
stated to be; Dr Ojenuwa. Sadly, just shortly after we registered for
the ante natal services at the Federal Medical Centre Asaba, the
hospital went on strike.
During the pendency of the strike, Mr. Albert
Omate a friend of mine, recommended Graceland Specialist Hospital and
Maternity to me, which is owned by One Dr. Maduakor, who also doubles as
a consultant obstetrician/Gynecologist of the department of Obstetrics
and Gynaecology, Federal Medical Center Asaba. when we got to Graceland
Specialist Hospital and Maternity we met Dr. Maduakor who insisted that
we register for ante natal services at Graceland Specialist Hospital and
Maternity owned by him. This request was unsuspectingly heeded by me
and my wife. We were consequently issued with a patient card number;
2666
Dr. Maduakor became my wife’s private doctor by virtue of which he
conducted series of tests on her in respect of her pregnancy and from
one of such test results he informed us that my wife has blood shortage
issues in her pregnancy because she is carrying twins, this got us
worried, but upon further enquiry Dr. Maduakor informed us that it was
normal with pregnant women with twins to have shortage of blood issues
as the twins would be sucking from her blood massively, but that there
will be blood transfusion.
Subsequently, the strike at FMC was called off and normal activities
started again at the hospital, this warranted my wife to commence her
usual and regular attendance of the ante natal clinic with FMC again.
Dr. Ojenuwa who is her consultant had confirmed my wife’s Expected Date
of Delivery (EDD) to be the 19th of March, 2017, but on Monday the 6th
day of March, 2017 my wife Mrs Rita Uchebuego went for ante-natal check
up at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Asaba when Dr. Ojenuwa discovered
that her blood pressure was 160/100mmHg and advised that my wife be
admitted so that they can monitor her blood pressure until the next day
given the fact that it was high. When I returned from the site where I
was working, I drove to the hospital to pick up my wife and she informed
me that Dr. Ojenuwa said she should be admitted. Being worried, I
requested to see the doctor but the said doctor was not present at the
hospital anymore.
While I was still worried, some nurses accosted me and
asked if I was the husband to Mrs. Rita Uchebuego? I replied yes. One
of the nurses now brought out my wife’s ante-natal file and took me to
the pay point where I was made to pay the sum of N10,000.00 (Ten
Thousand Naira) only for what they called deposit fee and afterwards my
wife was admitted at the O&G ward of the Federal Medical Centre,
Asaba. I stayed with my wife until about 9:00pm on that said day and I
subsequently left to return the next morning as there was no place for
me to stay and the nurses had started locking up the doors.
The next morning being the 7th of March, 2017 I asked my wife’s
mother to join my wife at the hospital as I went to site very early.
when I returned from the site at about 12:00pm, to check up on my wife
at the hospital, I was astonished, surprised at what I saw, to my
uttermost shock and dismay, I met my wife passing through excruciating
pains and her stomach was visibly moving up and down while she was also
screaming. This made me terrified and so I enquired to know what the
problem was and she informed me that she had been induced by the nurse
on duty on Dr. Ojenuwa’s instruction, but I did not know what it meant
to be induced, So I asked questions and upon inquiry, I was told that it
was very dangerous to induce a woman pregnant with twins, at this
point, I became visibly shocked. It was also revealed to me that
inducement can only be done when permission had been sought and obtained
from the expecting mother and her husband; this aggravated my worry as
nobody sought for my permission before the inducement was carried out.
At this point, I requested to see Dr. Ojenuwa as a result of the agony
my wife was going through which was beyond normal but all efforts to see
the said doctor failed as he was nowhere near the hospital premises.
This put me in a position where I was left in the dark so I demanded to
know why they induced my wife when they earlier told her that they were
only admitting her to monitor her blood pressure, and her Expected Date
of Delivery was still far away but the nurses asked me to calm down that
my wife would soon put to bed. Upon this assurance, and the presence of
my wife’s mother at the hospital, I quickly rushed out to deliver some
survey plans to my clients, as soon as I was done I came back to the
hospital at about 6:00pm and by this time, my wife could no longer get
up from the bed and the pains had increased even as she informed me that
she was induced a second time, still without my consent or permission
first had and obtained.
It was our believe that Dr. Ojenuwa threw the law into the wind and
in utter disregard for human life, authorized the inducement of a woman
who was pregnant with twins and whose EDD had not arrived and
disappeared into thin air as he was not around to monitor my wife’s
condition afterwards. The next day being Wednesday the 8th day of March,
2017, I met my wife at the labour ward where she was being forced to
push and when this yielded no positive result as she was already tired,
my wife was suddenly booked for an emergency caesarean section after
suffering from two (2) failed unauthorized inducements. Due to the
reality of the caesarean section, I was asked to provide an extra pint
of blood and I quickly put calls across to the laboratory and the blood
was made available immediately. The nurses were preparing my wife to be
rolled to the theatre for emergency caesarean. They brought a document
for me to sign and I read and signed, but more than an hour after I
signed the document, NOTHING WAS DONE to my wife, who at this stage was
groaning in pains. While the nurses and one Dr. Longway were joking and
laughing aloud, even as my wife was wriggling with serious pains on the
wheel bed. I asked to know the reason for the delay but nobody replied
me, I kept asking until Dr. Longway asked who is this woman? Nobody
answered him. It was at that point that he said that my wife’s condition
was more critical than the woman who was lying at the theatre and that
she should be moved into the theatre for urgent attention. when I was
told that the doctor who is to perform the caesarean operation has still
not come despite calls to him, I enquired to know who he was, and it
turned out to be Dr Maduakor my wife’s private doctor, this made me
happy and I called Dr. Maduakor who sounded really happy to hear my
voice but when I told him that I was at the Federal Medical Center Asaba
and my wife is the patient they just called him about, I pleaded with
him to come and save my wife. His voice changed and he dropped the call.
We waited endlessly for Dr. Maduakor to come but to no avail despite
the fact that he was supposed to be on call at that moment. At about 20
minutes later, I called Dr. Maduakor again for the second time
passionately pleading with him to come. He did not show up. Fortunately,
at about 12:00noon one Dr Adigba came and took my wife in for the
operation and I donated another pints of blood, making two (2) pints of
blood at my wife’s disposal.
At about 1:30pm my twin beautiful baby girls came out from the
theatre. The surgery ended at about 2:00pm when my wife was rolled out
from the theatre to the O&G ward with a pint of blood connected to
her body through her hand. I was still in the hospital premises at about
5:00pm when a nurse called me to go get them drugs for my twins on the
instruction of the doctor at the Neo natal department, so I left my wife
in the O & G ward. I was shocked to my bones when I got back to the
O & G ward at about 6:30pm and saw that the blood connected to my
wife was disconnected and a large part of it was still remaining whilst
she was wide awake at this point in time. I asked her why the blood was
disconnected? She did not know why, so I asked the nurse on duty one
nurse Egbuobi but her response was a cold silence, This made me alarmed
to the extent that I started shouting to see the person in charge but
the nurse said I should go out of the ward claiming that I was
disturbing, it was untill after about three (3) hours of my disturbance
that the nurse removed the half pint of blood and said I should go to
the lab and ask them why the blood was disconnected. I hurriedly rushed
down to the laboratory with the blood where I met one Mr. Moses for the
test/cross examination which took about forty-five (45) minutes. A lab
test result was given to me and the half pint of blood with an
instruction that the blood should be reconnected, but on getting back to
the O & G ward, I gave nurse Egbuobi the half pint of blood
together with the laboratory result and the oral instruction that it
should be reconnected, but she just dropped it on her table, laid back
and she took no actions. Neither did she connect the blood back despite
all pleas from me, which left me stranded, perplexed and worried.
However, I adamantly remained with my wife at the O & G ward till
about 2:00am on the 9th of March, 2017 before leaving her for my house
in the care of her mother.
I arrived my house to get a little rest, but at about two hours and
fifty two minutes, my wife called me at about 4:52am to come and help
her with the oxygen fixed on her as it was not properly connected
thereby causing her great discomfort. This is the same discomfort she
complained to the nurse Egbuobi who did nothing about it. In the twinkle
of an eye, I quickly wore my clothes and rushed down to the hospital,
arriving there at about 5:05am where I met my wife struggling with the
Oxygen fixed on her and tearfully beckoning on me to come and assist
her. I did not know anything about oxygen neither do I know how to fix
it, so I shouted for help. Nurse Egbuobi shouted back at me and saying,
“are you not the husband? go and bring blood”, I told her that the half
pint of blood was still there and not connected to my wife, that my wife
is complaining of oxygen while she is talking about blood, but she
insisted that I should pay and bring receipt before they can connect
blood. So I ran out to pay for blood at the pay point of the laboratory,
which was against the instruction given to my wife and I at the first
ante natal orientation in respect of donating blood in advance, which I
had fully complied with by donating a pint of blood in advance.
The very essence of my rushing into action was because of the
condition I saw my wife in, even as my memory thought about our new born
twin girls. within seven to ten minutes, I got back to the ward with
the receipt of payment only to see that nurses had surrounded my wife’s
bed and Dr. Okorie was crying. I was too shocked to totally comprehend
what my brain cells were inferring to me, so I presented the receipt of
payment to them to fix the blood, but the said nurse Egbuobi told me,
“you see am now, you see am now” whilst one of the other nurses was
making a call saying that the patient has finally given up. My world and
that of my twin babies’ seemed to have crumbled instantly. The
unimaginable had happened and the most painful journey of my life had
just taken its first breadth. It was at that point reality dawned on me
that my wife had been murdered in cold blood. Then I quickly ran to Dr.
Okorie to inquire from him why they refused to reconnect the blood to my
wife despite her critical state of having given birth to twins through
caesarean operation? And he exclaimed “Bottlenecks!” “Bottlenecks!” I
started praying for my wife as I could not believe that she was dead.
Furthermore, about 10 minutes later, Dr. Maduakor whom I have been
calling for the past 24hours but refused to show up came into the ward
and went straight to my wife’s file at her bed side, while the nurses
took the drugs they made me pay for at the hospital to be administered
to her which they never administered on her from the time she came out
from the theatre till when she gave up as a result of their negligence
and abandonment, The moment they had finished collecting al the items
aforesaid, they disappeared and the new personnel reporting for work
rolled my wife away to the morgue.
The obvious acts of the FMC medical personnel which led to the death
of my wife filled me with so much grief and a decision to ensure that
the perpetrators must be brought to book. So on the 10th of March, 2017 I
went to the office of the MD of FMC Asaba; Dr. Victor Osiatuma to lay a
complaint but I met his absence. So I put my complaint in writing and
went back to his office to submit it formally which was received at his
office on the 17th day of March 2017, and he promised to look into it,
but to my greatest shock I did not hear anything from the office of the
Medical Director for about six weeks. So I did a follow-up visit, and
got to see him at his office. I tried to inquire from the Medical
Director after six weeks as to why I have not heard from them regarding
my complaint, then Dr. Maduakor came into the office of the Medical
Director while I was there and told me that “whatever has happened is a
thing of the past and I should see it as a thing of the past”. He also
said that he “had a lot of loops which he had not opened”. He said all
these in presence of the Medical Director, and this made me perceive
that justice would not be served in this matter from the Hospital (FMC
Asaba) so I decided to approach any and every other external
disciplinary body. I retained the services of a lawyer and couldn’t keep
up with the financial burden until, a team of 5 Lawyers vide the law
firm named; Reuben Izeze and Partners [humanity Chamber] took it up on
themselves on probono bases (free legal services).
The team of lawyers at Reuben Izeze and Partners proceeded to put up petitions to
Medical And Dental Council Of Nigeria,
Federal Ministry Of Health,
House Of Representative Committee On Public Petitions,
The Chairman, Senate Committee On Health
Federal Ministry Of Women Affairs And Social Development.
The United Nations Development Programme
The House Of Representative Committee On Public Petitions served the
team of lawyers at Reuben Izeze and Partners with a hearing Notice for
me, the hearing was slated for the 18th day of July 2017. A hearing
commenced on the said date and is still pending as at the date of this
report, the next adjourned date is the 18th of October 2017. The Medical
and Dental Council Of Nigeria, constituted a panel in accordance with
their practice, hence the petition was forwarded to the Medical and
Dental Practitioners Investigating Panel. The panel commenced exchange
of evidence on oath between myself and the concerned personel at FMC.
Furthermore, The federal ministry of health replied informing me of the
receipt of my petition but I have not heard anything from them ever
since. The Federal Ministry Of Women Affairs And Social Development
replied stating that the complaint ran ultra vires their mandate. In
addition, The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health; Senator Lanre
Tejuoso and The United Nations Development Programme never replied nor
exchanged any correspondence with me in respect of my petition.
The next phase of this painful discourse is important as it contains
the evidence/excuses of some of the medical personnel at FMC made in an
attempt to vindicate themselves, but none the less, unknowingly roping
themselves the more amidst a heavy train of multiple contradictions and
childish denials cum deliberate and questionable omissions.
Dr Ojenuwa Sunday Abiodun who is the consultant in charge of my wife
stated on oath sworn to at the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Asaba
Judicial Division on the 25th day of July 2017, that upon examining my
wife’s condition on the 6th day of March 2017, he discovered that she
had a high B.P of 160/100mmHg, so he called a conference of the medical
practitioners in the Ante Natal group in other to take a concrete
decision, however, two out of the six Doctors were absent as usual
without any excuse from the conference. He stated that these two doctors
were in the habit of deserting their duty posts because the Medical
Director; Dr Victor Osiatuma, is backing them up. Dr Ojenuwa alongside
One Dr Anunobi and Dr Onwuka held the meeting to consider the best
approach to my wife’s condition. He stated that during the conference,
Dr Anunobi suggested an elective C/S but the other two doctors objected
to this and rather voted for an induction of Labour which is to be
carried out after the patient and her husband (that is me) must have
been counseled about this first. The conclusion of the team of doctors,
was that two days from that day which was to be the 9th day of March
2017, Dr Anunobi who was at the conference is to induce my wife after he
must have taken out the first two preceding days of 7th and 8th of
March 2017 to prepare and work up the patient for the IOL. Dr Ojenuwa
stated that his instruction was that, the following investigations were
to be done by Dr Anunobi on the 7th and 8th before induction is to be
done on the 9th, after the test result must have been communicated to
him, the investigations were; PVC, GROUPING CROSS MATCHING OF 2.0 UNITS
OF BLOOD, URINALYSIS FOR GLUCOSE PROTENURIA (Which means to check for
excess amount of protein in the urine of my wife). The aforementioned
investigations were to be done for two days whilst observing my wife’s
blood pressure before inducement of labour can be done on her. It was
shocking according to Dr Ojenuwa, when he discovered that these tests
were either not carried out or the outcome was not communicated to him
as instructed before the induction was done expressly against his
instruction.
Dr Maduakor Godwin Chukwuma, in his own statement on oath sworn to at
the Delta State High Court, Asaba Judicial Divison on the 24th Day of
July 2017, revealed amongst other things that my wife was induced as
early as 6:20am on the 7th of March 2017 as against the earlier
instructed date of 9th March 2017. (and obviously without the required
investigations, and without any counseling session for me as the husband
of the patient to agree to the induction of labour as recommended by
the Ante Natal Conference). Dr. Maduakor’s statement on oath also went
further to reveal that as at 7:30 am of that same 7th /03/2017, that is
one hour and ten minutes after the unauthorized and unconsented
induction was carried out, the Urinalysis investigation which ought to
come first before the inducement, was then conducted, and same revealed
that my wife had as high as 2 pluses of Protenuria. This was why the
test ought to precede the inducement amongst other things. Dr Maduakor
revealed further that, my wife was therefore diagnosed of
“pre-eclampsia” which means the existence of significant proteinuria
(protein) in a pregnant woman who has been diagnosed with gestational
hypertension. (In other words, pregnancy induced hypertension). The
(NICE) National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendation
for standard medical practice is that, when pre-enclampsia is diagnosed,
the woman should be admitted and blood pressure should be treated for
gestational hypertension. The NICE recommends delivery with a stable
blood pressure and delivered of their baby after stabilization. However,
this was not done for my wife as, she was induced at 6:20 am, whilst
her blood pressure showed 170/110mmHg, meaning it was very high and
needed to be stabilized before birth especially in the presence of two
pluses of Protenuria which increased to Three pluses by the next day, as
stated by Dr Maduakor.
The above revelations shows that my wife’s life was simply placed
like that of a chicken ready for the slaughter due to medical
negligence. It will interest you to know, that Dr Ojenuwa, upon
realizing the obvious neglect to his instructions which led to the death
of my wife, issued a query dated 5th April to Dr Anunobi, Dr Iyiola and
Dr Osemeke, for not following his instructions to only conduct the
routine follow up investigations requested whilst stabilizing my wife’s
hypertension. In the said query, Dr Ojenuwah demanded to know why the
IOL was done on the 7th day of March 2017 rather than the tentative 9th
March 2017. Why the results of the requested investigation was not
communicated to him prior to the IOL etc, but to Dr Ojenuwah’s utter
disappointment, the Medical Director; Dr Victor Osiatuma in his usual
way of romancing and encouraging staff gross indiscipline instructed
that Dr Anunobi should not answer the query, but should disregard same.
This was the same outcome to the queries issued by Dr Ojenuwah to Dr
Iyiola and Dr Osemeke for absenting themselves from the Ante Natal
Conference meeting which considered the health condition of my wife.
Dr Ojenuwah, went on through a letter written to the Honorable
minister of state for health, by his lawyers; Okwelum and Co, wherein he
stated that he was amazed that they started the induction of labour on
Tuesday the 7th /03/2017, the team on call had not completed induction
of labour by Wednesday morning when an emergency Caeserean was done by
another team of doctors on call. Dr Ojenuwah went further to state two
names of deceased women who died at the FMC Asaba due to the negligence
and leadership incompetence obtainable at the federal medical center,
the names mentioned were; Mrs Opiah Stella and Mrs Amuamuzia Faith.
I will like to go back to examining the response of Dr Maduakor in
his statement on oath. He stated that he resumed his call on the 8th
/03/2017 when he allegedly studied my wife’s file. He stated that she
had been induced but omitted to state the details of instructions on the
patient’s file containing the express instructions given by Dr Ojenuwa.
Why did Dr Maduakor fail to state the express instruction of Dr
Ojenuwah on my wife’s file, is he hiding anything? Why did Dr Maduakor
say that my wife “was booked for emergency ceaserean section” without
stating who booked her for same? Why the omission? Why the secrecy in
the identity of the Doctor who booked my wife for a ceaserean?. Could it
be because my late wife was operated upon before induction was even
completed? as was stated by Dr Ojenuwah? Furthermore, why didn’t Dr
Maduakor ensure that everything which was a precursor to the C/S had
been done and completed before the C/S was conducted? Furthermore, at
the investigative hearing of the House of Representative Committee on
public petitions, Dr Maduakor stated that he was never around the
patient, my wife during her stay because he had an injury and had to
write to the Medical Director for permission to be absent, because the
said permission was granted by Dr Victor Osiatuma. However, Dr Maduakor
is now stating that he was around and was at the ante natal ward and
even at the thearter. Furthermore, the secrecy and multiple denials that
has followed my wife’s death, has led to multiple contradictions. A
major contradiction can be seen in the computation of time given by Dr
Maduakor in his statement on oath, he stated that he was called by
6:25am on 9th /03/2017 by the Senior Registrar on call informing him
that my wife was gasping for breath, which made him rush to the
hospital. Whereas he still went on to state that my wife died at 6:15am.
So how come is it that Dr Maduakor is being called to come and handle
the deteriorating health condition of a patient who had already been
certified dead at 6:15am?
It would interest you to know that the case note of my wife at FMC
Asaba, states that she died of blood transfusion reaction as was stated
by Dr Maduakor, whereas, the medical lab scientists of FMC Asaba, who
re-cross matched the blood confirmed that the blood was compatible and
couldn’t react. So what is FMC Asaba really hiding? Who is FMC Asaba
hiding? Why the contradictions denotative of a chain of lies?
Dr Maduakor in his statement on oath is claiming that he was
effectively communicated with and that he did all that he ought to do
for my wife, but this assertion is questionable in the light of the
query issued to Nurse L. A Egbuobi over my wife’s death by the FMC Asaba
on the 3rd day of April, 2017 by the Assistant Director
(Administration) on behalf of the Medical Director, wherein it was
stated thus; “enquiry conducted revealed that as the duty Nurse, you
acted inappropriately by failing to communicate properly with the
doctors on duty and patient’s relations during the critical period in
the management of the patient. Your action above amounts to dereliction
of duty.” In the light of this, how come in one breath, Dr maduakor is
stating that he was communicated with whilst the enquiry of the hospital
is showing otherwise, which correlates with the testimony of my
experience with Nurse Egbuobi.
Dr longway on the other hand, expressly stated that he went on to
evaluate and prep my wife for caesarean without the use of her case note
this is reckless and unprofessional, given that vital information may
be contained in the case note of the patient. Dr Longway asserted that
in order to ascertain the status of some contents of the absent case
note he called Dr Maduakor to ask about the emergency status, grade of
caesarean section, findings of last clinical examination by
Obstetricians. This assertion was outrightly denied by Dr Maduakor in
his statement on oath even as he states that, all Dr Longway wanted to
confirm from him was weather the patient, my wife was an emergency
patient. This shows the level of deceit involved in the various
statements being given in respect of my wife’s death, whilst exposing
how she was attended to by an Anaesthesiologist without any information
nor record of her, available to him. Furthermore, Dr Longway in his
statement on oath failed to mention the name of the resident Doctor from
O & G who came to inform him of an emergency case of my wife which
was without a written consult. So whose duty was it to issue a written
consult?
In addition, it’s important to note that Dr Ojenuwah stated through
his lawyers that the management of the Federal Medical Center Asaba, set
up a two man external panel, constituting; Professor Fasuba of OAU
Teaching Hospital and Dr Ande of UBTH, to investigate the death of my
wife amongst other recent maternal deaths recorded in FMC Asaba, The
Panel completed its job and came up with a report which has been
protected and hidden ever since, even as the hospital management has
refused to inform me nor any other person of the outcome or content of
the report, which i reasonably suspect is being used to protect some
Doctors. The said Dr Victor Osiatuma was asked to submit a copy of the
said report by the House committee on public petitions at Abuja for over
two consecutive times, but he failed and refused to do so. I urge that
the report be released immediately. As a matter of fact, the Medical
Director vide the Vanguard newspaper of 5th April 2017, stated that my
wife died because she reacted negatively to blood administered on her.
This statement was made whilst the medical director had not yet informed
me of the cause of death of my wife, as he had only informed me that
they were still doing investigations. Furthermore this assertion of the
Medical Director runs fowl of the certification of the blood as fit for
administration on my wife by the lab scientists at Federal Medical
Center Asaba.
It is my demand that all medical personel involved in the death of my
wife be brought to book. There should be a complete overhaul of the
obviously incompetent administration of the federal medical center
Asaba, which has led to the death of many expecting mothers in recent
times as well as the numerous amount of babies that die at the hands of
their doctor at Federal Medical Centre Asaba.
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