Last December I lost a friend and colleague due to the negligence our medical system in Nigeria. Bospops is gone forever because our system failed her. I am still trying to come to terms with her death as I well up every time I remember her.
Imagine my state when a friend asked me to post the piece below here on my blog, and I read and discovered that this pretty woman, Dolapo, has passed on due to this same sort of medical negligence. We can't keep losing smart, loving intelligent women like this. We really cannot afford to keep rendering children motherless this way. Find the piece below and a petition against the hospital responsible for this at the end of the article. Enough is enough.
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| Rest In Peace Beautiful Dolapo. |
Pretty Dolly P Killed by Useless EKO hospital .. its time to cry out.
This piece is a hard one for me to write, hard and very difficult. As I
write this, I am filled with deep sorrow for what could have been that
was not. This piece is not intended to do anything but to warn
unsuspecting members of the public. A warning that is necessary at this
time because “evil deeds thrive when good men do nothing”.
My
discourse is centered on the level of mismanagement, inefficiency and a
total lack of respect for life exhibited by management and staff of EKO
Hospital on Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja. My friend’s wife,
Dolapo, a young mother of 2 boys , with a promising banking career,
pregnant with the 3rd child had complained of leg pains to her husband
on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. Her husband took her to the EKO Hospital for
treatment (their registered HMO provider), they were told that the leg
pains were normal for pregnant women at her stage and were subsequently
given some paracetamol tablets to use.
Getting home, the pains
did not subside, in fact, it grew worse. It got to a point that she
could not walk with the legs on her own. The husband had no choice but
to return to the hospital on Friday April 3, 2015 at around 3pm when it
was obvious things were not getting better. At that point, The doctor
on duty advised them to wait for the consultant and Dolapo was made to
sit out the ‘’wait’’ in a wheelchair as her legs could no longer support
and carry her, in any case the consultant did not show up until
Saturday afternoon being 04/04/1. She repeatedly beckoned on the staff
on duty to perform a CS and safely get the baby out as she could sense
and feel that something was ominously wrong. The pregnancy was well
into 8 months. Some scan were recommended and the person to conduct the
scan had reportedly closed for the day and only surfaced at about 9pm
on Friday and the wait dragged well into the night.
Dolapo was
in pains on the wheel chair, she was being moved from her ward to the
scanning room when the head of the baby came out on the wheel chair, her
husband screamed and rushed her quickly into the elevator, yes,
ELEVATOR!!. The baby could not stand the trauma, he came out in transit,
right there in the elevator. A nurse had to hold the baby’s head,
supporting it while the elevator goes to labour theatre, the baby was
pulled out before they could make it to the theatre. This was at 9.30pm
on Friday. The baby became the center of attention for the hospital
staff of Duty while neglecting Dolapo all alone for more than 1 hr 30
mins while they attended to the baby to revive him.
She was left
unattended to, in pains, right there in the theatre. She was eventually
moved back to her ward . The consultant eventually turned up around 4pm
on Saturday. The husband engaged him and he requested that some tests be
done to ascertain what level of treatment or care to give. He was told
she (the wife) would be fine and the test results would be ready by
Tuesday because of the holidays.
On Sunday, April 5, 2015, at
about 8am in the morning, I visited her in the hospital and sat beside
her on the bed offering words of encouragements. She was still in pains,
and she was hardly audible, she could only answer in nods and made
attempts at a faint smile to reassure myself and her husband that she
would be fine.
It came as a rude shock when I called the husband
at about 12 pm and he was crying profusely, saying Dolapo is lying down
lifeless and that I should please pray. I was to say the least
devastated, I was asking loads and loads of questions and he kept saying
please pray, pray.
I got to the hospital to meet the lifeless
body on the bed, she was dead! What happened? How did this happen?
Nobody could offer any explanation. There was no doctor around, I asked
the nurse on duty and she just said she is dead. I recalled she was
eating when I left earlier, how could she have gone from eating to being
dead in less than 3 hrs? The husband told me she was given an
injection to suppress the pains on her leg and immediately started
gasping for breath, oxygen tanks were brought in to revive her but it
was too late. She was gone before anything could be done.
The
body was left in the room for more than 24 hours, several prayer
sessions were held to bring her back to life. In the more than 24 hrs
period after her death, no doctor from EKO Hospital came out to say this
was what happened. No personnel came around to ask people to leave the
room, the body was not covered nor washed. It was simply business as
usual for them.
It was normal for someone to give birth and die?
The Medical Director of the hospital did not deem it fit to offer
explanation or even try to prevail on the family to leave the body so
that necessary medical procedures could be done.
I will leave my
readers to ask questions from this write up, perhaps, I am being too
expectant, maybe too optimistic about my expectations from a Hospital as
reputable as EKO Hospital!
The family has accepted their fate
and decided to move on…. But should we move on? Should we just accept
this as normal? I was talking to a friend in my office yesterday and was
shocked when he informed me that his wife also died in this same EKO
Hospital some 6 years back and the same treatment was meted out on him!
Please pass this story around, let people know what is going on, don’t
stop until it gets to the right quarters where something could be done
to save others and get doctors and hospitals to be more responsive to
their duties of saving lives and not taking lives.
Dolapo is gone but
who knows who will be next?????
Hmmm!! This is a scenario that God saved me from 9 months ago at Havana specialist hospital, it is very unfortunate that our health sector both public n private has degenerated to a level beyond my comprehension, my father who was a medical doctor died from negligence too at Ikeja general hospital after having dialysis done on him with a PVC of 15% he went brain dead less than 24 hours after, died the next day, hmmm, I can go on but it won't change the fact that a lot has gone wrong.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if while in medical school this new generation of doctors were taught negligence or no value for human life? I remember vividly and with great admiration too how my late Dad took great pleasure in staying up late downstairs our house which served as his hospital on Bode Thomas then, he was awaken at odd times at night but never complained always available but this generation has gotten it all wrong and God knows a lot needs to be done.
My prayers are with Dolapo and her family, the good Lord will console you all and grant her beautiful soul rest in Jesus name, her baby will grow in d fear n admonition of Almighty God.
Thank you Buki for sharing, God bless you.
Amen. Thanks hun.
DeleteWhy not hear both sides of the story before you judge? There's usually more to it than non medicals see or understand. It's so easy to pour the blame on someone/something. May her soul rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
DeleteThe truth is, I have spoken with people in the system and the story remains the same. A friend called me yesterday after seeing this post and said she's had two kids in this hospital but found out that the way patients on HMOs are treated is far worse than how private cash-paying patients are.
Since this story broke yesterday, more and more people have come forward to attest to the fact that this lackadaisical attitude is a norm in this hospital and in several across the country. There's no smoke without a fire and in these cases, the evidences are glaring. If the hospital feels like these stories are all fabricated, they are free to refute the claim. I am willing to publish their side of the story as well.
Thanks for stopping by my blog, anonymous. :)
Hi,
Deletei actually heard about this first from my husband who happens to know the victim's husband. When he told me Eko hospital killed his friend's wife, the first thing i said was that it would be the HMO that killed her, and Eko only helped. i told him to ask and i was 90% sure she went as a HMO patient.
Hospitals have their own issues - don't get me wrong- but the HMOs - especially THT - are the cover they have for committing all sorts of atrocities. The hospitals make money from HMOs, don't be fooled when they say they don't, so they are willing to do anything the HMOs say, even when its unethical. It's like when you come from HMO there's an undisclosed agreement that your life is dispensable. From the wait to get a 'code', to how long they take to get codes in between different stages of the treatment, to the fake drugs they dispense at the end of the day.
i always ALWAYS fight with clinics and my HMO provider - THT ( i wont hide their name because of how utterly terrible their services are.) I once waited 5 hrs with my 3 yr old daughter who i rushed to the hospital, only because i insisted she be seen by a pediatrician. the nurse who took my case had whispered to me that i should insist on a pediatrician because though they had a pediatrician, THT insisted that all their clients be seen by the GPs, - who are either House officers or on Internship - these are people who have been qualified for a max period of 2 yrs, and are on training( in medical lingo) - i had to involve a client services regional head whose number i had, before i was able to see the paed with my daughter - after 5 hrs. tell me if it was life threatening, would she have survived? what i do in critical cases is i call my brother who's also a consultant doctor outside my state,he reviews the case and recommends if i should treat quickly or follow THT's 'processes'. If i have to treat and pay for treatment, i attach the bill and my full case explaining why i had to do that (because i have been prescribed fake drugs that they call call 'Indian version' of the same patent drugs, countless times) in a letter and send to the management and my employers. One time instead of ventolin the hospital gave me piriton and instead of augmentin, septrin. their explanation was that THT has given instructions for them not to dispense those drugs without 'authorisation' which may take days to get.
HMOs are the killers, hospitals are just their slaughterhouses.
Thank you.
I read this story yesterday as well and I must say that the whole HMO scheme needs overhauling coshospitals treat HMO patients as second class citizens and I think its cos d pyt frm the HMOs to the hospitals are way too small.
ReplyDeleteThis is devastating. And its not the first of such stories to emerge. What can be done!?
ReplyDeleteReally sad. Please everyone join us to contribute to improving your safety in hospital https://patientsafetyng.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteI don't usually comment on blogs but i am going to contribute to this one because i agree that Eko hospital is negligent and has no value for human lives.
ReplyDeleteI had my son in Eko hospital in March 2012 after one of my older friends had told me she was uncomfortable with my decision to use Eko hosiptal. She prayed with me and I went ahead to use Eko Hospital (HMO too)
Thank God delivery went well. But my new born was diagnosed with jaundice (FYI this is pretty normal for new borns) and Eko hospital kept on taking blood from my son every day for about 10 days to run tests to confirm the jaundice level
Clinically he looked like the jaundice was improving but they test results showed the jaundice was getting worse.
I became uncomfortable on day 9 and I called my bro in law who is a doc to check my son out. He did and he confirmed that clinically jaundice was ok. By day 10, I had had enough and discharged my son against medical advise and took him to another hospital, he stayed under the light (treatment for jaundice) for one full day and by the 2nd day we were discharged. My son went on to be a very healthy baby.
Bottom line is we discovered that they kept us there (and even the profuse apologies we got from the doctors and nurses on staff the day we discharged ourselves confirmed this) that they kept us for so long because of the money. I was paying to stay in the hospital, was about 12k per night in private ward (feeding inclusive) and also the hospital was heading towards doing a blood transfusion which is the way they treat extreme cases of jaundice.
This is my own side of the story but as people would say it is better to get both sides of the story. Whatever the case I would NEVER advise anyone to visit Eko hospital even if it is the closest hospital to you in an emergency.
That's my 2 cents
WOW. This is the height of meanness and so highly unprofessional. Gosh, What have we become? :(
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