Medical Negligence

Medical negligence happens when the medical practitioner fails to provide the care which is expected of each case, thus resulting in injury or death of the patient. It is hinged on the tortuous principle of negligence as propounded by Lord Atkins in the 1932 case of Donoghue V. Stevenson. Medical negligence constitutes an act or omission by a medical practitioner which falls below the accepted standard of care resulting to injury or death of the patient. The Donoghue’s case established a general duty of care to avoid foreseeable injury. Therefore to establish a case of negligence, it must be shown that a duty of care was owed, there have been a breach of that duty and that damage or injury was suffered as a direct result of a breach of the duty owed.
The following can be considered as medical negligence;
1. Failure to attention, when the practitioner was in a position to do so. A good example of this was the case of a woman known as Oyin Gucci who lost her nine month old baby last year. On the 19th of July last year she rushed her son to the General Hospital Ikorodu. According to her account, the nurse on duty met them, but the doctor on-call was absent, his phone switched off. Two hours later, the doctor strolled in leisurely, unperturbed. He acted as if there was no emergency and did not offer any direct treatment to her son, instead he wrote some prescription for her to buy and left for the mosque to pray. Thirty minutes later he returned and attended to other patients. Her son eventually died, although the death could have been averted.
2. Also manifestation of incompetence in the assessment of a patient could result to medical negligence.
3. Making an incorrect diagnosis, particularly when the clinical features were so glaring that no reasonable skilled practitioner could have failed to notice.
4. Making mistake in treatment e.g inadvertent termination of a pregnancy.
5. Failure to see a patient as often as his medical condition warrants.
In Nigeria two cases of negligence stand out. In 2014, Folake Oduyoye was detained at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital after she could not pay her bill for a Ceasarean section. Later she grow ill and was not cared for under detention. She died from complications of puerperal sepsis and preumonia. Another case was that of Dr. Rosemary Chukwudebe, Head of Internal Medicine at the Kogi State Specialist Hospital. In 2018 she was rushed to the hospital during an asthma attack and she died in the same unit she headed because oxygen could not be administered timely.
Amidst these negligent activities, what option is available to the patient?
a) A complaint can be filed with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for appropriate redress. The Medical and Dental practitioners Act provides for an Investigation Tribunal and where a Prima Facie case is established, Medical Practitioners who are found guilty of gross negligence are liable to
i Suspension for a period of six months
ii Having his name struck off the m edical register as the case may be
b) Patients can also seek redress througha court of law by filing civil claims for tortuous liability and a breach of duty of care.

Nkechi Bright-Ewere