Celebrated Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has shared a statement regarding the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu Nnamdi.
Several news agencies spoke with her media team, which confirmed her authorship of the statement. Initially, the message was intended for family members and select close friends. 
According to Chimamanda, her son had a cold, which turned out to be a serious infection. They planned to travel to Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore but were told to run a test in Nigeria.
While prepping him for the test, the anesthesiologist displayed negligence and incompetence that ultimately led to his demise by overdosing the child on sedatives and removing his oxygen mask to carry the young boy to the ICU.
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Read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Full Statement Below:
“My son would be alive today if not for an incident at Euracare Hospital on January 6th.
We were in Lagos for Christmas. Nkanu had what we first thought was just a cold, but it soon turned into a very serious infection, and he was admitted to Atlantis Hospital.
He was to travel to the US the next day, January 7th, accompanied by Travelling Doctors. A team at Johns Hopkins was waiting to receive him in Baltimore. The Hopkins team had asked for a lumbar puncture test and an MRI. The Nigerian team had also decided to put in a ‘central line’ (used to administer IV medications) in preparation for Nkanu’s flight. Atlantis Hospital referred us to Euracare Hospital, which was said to be the best place to have the procedures done.
On the morning of the 6th, we left Atlantis Hospital for Euracare, Nkanu carried in his father’s arms. We were told he would need to be sedated to prevent him from moving during the MRI and the ‘central line’ procedure.
I was waiting just outside the theater. I saw people, including Dr. M, rushing into the theater and immediately knew something had happened.
A short time later, Dr. M came out and told me Nkanu had been given too much propofol by the anesthesiologist, had become unresponsive, and was quickly resuscitated. But suddenly Nkanu was on a ventilator; he was intubated and placed in the ICU. The next thing I heard was that he had seizures. Cardiac arrest. All these had never happened before. Some hours later, Nkanu was gone.
It turns out that Nkanu was NEVER monitored after being given too much propofol. The anesthesiologist had just casually carried Nkanu on his shoulder to the theater, so nobody knows when exactly Nkanu became unresponsive.
How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him? Later, after the ‘central line’ procedure, the anesthesiologist casually switched off Nkanu’s oxygen and again decided to carry him on his shoulder to the ICU!
The anesthesiologist was CRIMINALLY negligent. He was fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child. No proper protocol was followed.
We brought in a child who was unwell but stable and scheduled to travel the next day. We came to conduct basic procedures. And suddenly, our beautiful little boy was gone forever. It is like living your worst nightmare. I will never survive the loss of my child.
We have now heard about two previous cases of this same anesthesiologist overdosing children. Why did Euracare allow him to keep working? This must never happen to another child.”
Chimamanda is the second internationally renowned celebrity of Nigerian descent to experience a painful loss during a visit to Nigeria. Anthony Joshua also lost two of his best friends in a road accident along the Lagos-Ogun Expressway.
Medical negligence is a pervasive issue in Nigeria and it must be thoroughly tackled.
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