Family Kicks, Accuses Lagos Hospital Of Negligence, Incompetence As Mother, Son Die During Childbirth

A Nigerian man, Prince Ovwiomodiowho has leveled accusations against a private medical facility, R-Jolad Hospital in Omotoye Estate, Orile-Agege, Lagos State, alleging that their gross incompetence and medical negligence led to the death of his wife and son during childbirth.

The wife, late Mrs Loveth Eneruvie Ovwiomodiowho and son, Master Oghenetega Jason Prince died on March 8, 2024 shortly after delivery.

Prince Ovwiomodiowho, a registered Nurse Anesthetist with Coptic Hospital Victoria Island, who gave a chilling account of how his wife and his son died in the hospital during childbirth after nearly two days of prolonged labour, called on the government of Lagos State to take immediate action against the hospital to avoid further loss of lives.

Ovwiomodiowho who lamented how the incident terminated his six years of wonderful marriage in a statement titled: "Gross incompetence and medical negligence that led to the unfortunate death of my wife (Mrs Loveth Eneruvie Ovwiomodiowho) and son (Master Oghenetega Jason Prince) at R-Jolad Hospital, Agege Lagos as narrated by the husband dated 10th March, 2024," regretted that the hospital instead of showing remorse chose to indulge in blame game.

He said: "My wife got to know R-Jolad hospital Agege when she attended a PTA meeting at Lagooz School Agege 3 months prior to her second Pregnancy. Lagooz is my daughter's school and they share the same street with R- Jolad Agege. On that PTA occasion a Medical Doctor from R-Jolad group came to advertise the Hospital and spoke favorably of a guaranteed premium Affordable Standard health care for their client, that they had all the competencies, human resources infrastructures and Technology to handle patient care, that is a big hospital with many branches in Lagos.

"My wife sincerely believed from that day that they were competent to handle her obstetric care and due to the proximity of the Hospital, she strongly felt she has seen a safe hospital that I could not convinced her otherwise so I had to give her the full support possible."

He added, that on 11th July 2023 they first visited R-Jolad Hospital for pregnancy test which came out positive and was announced to them by one Dr Festus, a Senior Medical Officer. He said my wife was 4weeks and 1day pregnant with the expected delivery date on 14th of March, 2024.

"Other pregnancy tests done on that day were all normal, her vitals signs normal all through, she had no surgical Hx, No co-morbid state, she was not Hypotensive, Diabetic, Asthmatic, Epileptic, PUD, Sickle Cell patient. She had first pregnancy scan at 6 weeks which appeared normal and also had several Pregnancy scans which impress grossly normal single intrauterine fetus.

"Therefore, Dr Festus scheduled my wife to see the Consultant obstetrics and Gynecology; Dr. Marcus Mbakwe who my wife was seeing throughout the pregnancy till delivery day @ 38weeks 3days on 7th March 2024. Early into the Pregnancy, we discussed with Dr Marcus that we were Jehovah's witnesses and we seek bloodless medical and surgical care which he was comfortable with. We also made a durable power of attorney document available 2 months prior to delivery.

"At 37 weeks, Dr Marcus ordered a repeat scan that showed cephalic presentation with fetal weight of 3.5kg and my wife was very happy looking forward to a safe delivery. I will never forget 7th and 8th of March 2024 where our excitement turned into deep sorrow.

"It all started at 3:15am when I was still on duty at Coptic hospital VI (Victoria Island) on Thursday 7th March, 2024, I had a pleasant call from my wife that she Rupture Membrane at 3 a.m and we were so happy. We arrived R- Jolad Agege at 11: 00 a.m. My wife was clinically healthy not in any distress, fully conscious, cheerful, alert, well oriented, not pale, her recent PCV was 39% and full blood count was normal.

"We sat at the reception for about 5 mins chatting with a lady that brought her child for immunisation, then proceeded to the reception where we spoke to the front desk officer informing him of our reasons for coming, he searched her Electronic Medical Report (EMR) number, told us a nursing staff will attend to us that we should sit and wait, after a while, her vitals were checked which were normal. A female medical officer approached us, my wife explained that she had membrane rupture 3am early hours of that day. She said she would contact Dr Marcus to inform him and know the plan.

"At exactly 11:30 a.m after waiting for an update from the team, I chatted via WhatsApp with Dr Marcus, greeted him, expressed my concern that "my wife ruptured membrane 3 a.m, we are now in the hospital and she is not contracting.

The female doctor told us that Dr. Marcus requested a Bi physical profile USS just to be very sure everything was fine.

"The scan was done and the result was sent to Dr. Marcus. So the sonographer told us verbally that the scan was grossly normal, that the fetus weight was 3.9kg (he promised a copy of the report would be sent to my wife’s email which was not done).

"Dr Marcus the O&G consultant replied me at 2:43pm "good afternoon my brother am aware your wife is around, we would induce labour starting by 12 mid night due to the hospital protocol, despite knowing the recent scan baby weight was 3.9kg.

"He did not give us options of delivery as he later claimed. The only documented method of delivery was solely choosing by Dr Marcus and he planned Induction of Labour first starting 12am, 8th of March 2024 despite we presented 11am 7th of March 2024. Dr Marcus did not give any further exploration of what clear method of induction he was planning, complication and risks of induction procedures not explained, benefits of induction and alternative to induction not explained."

Continued, he said that "His induction plan was first communicated via Whatsapp chat with husband as earlier stated and at this time he was not in the hospital when my wife presented, initially I queried why the induction would be starting midnight asked him won't it be too stressful for everyone? I reminded him of my wife first pregnancy delivery details but he claimed his midnight induction was the hospital protocol so that all hands can be on deck, in case if there is any emergency it can be sorted out immediately.

"We cooperated with his plan because we genuinely thought he was competent at what he was doing and he had my wife and baby safety at heart in addition to he reassured that every thing will be fine that my wife will deliver by God's grace that I should relax and subsequently instructed his doctors to ensure his plan for midnight induction was carried out.

"For over 12 hours from 11:00am to 11:00pm, they told me my wife was not contracting. So we took our loads upstairs to the general wards to rest. We were surprises we had loud knock on the door at 11:45pm that woke my wife and I up from rest in the general ward only to see Dr Marcus and Dr Festus in a scrub attire after waiting for him over 12hrs prior to presenting. They entered our room just because he came for an emergency C Section of another patient that night. Dr Marcus then jokingly said “or should we just go in for C Section right away” without explaining what a C Section is to my wife.

"Prior to induction my wife and baby vitals were fine Fetal heart rate (FHR) was 140 bpm. At 12:10am, Dr Festus entered our ward to commence induction as prescribed with vaginal Misoprostol claimed is 25mcg he inserted. There was no contraction chart being documented. One hour post induction my wife had a slight bloody small vaginal discharge which Dr Festus said was a normal finding with induction.

"Dr Festus did a Vagina Examination (VE) said the bleeding was not significant and my wife is just 3cm dilated and there was no contraction but my wife kept frequently using the wash room to urinate and felt urges to pass stools. At about 5 a.m, a repeat of Vaginal misoprostol was done, but they claimed she was not still contracting and their plan was to switch to intravenous induction with oxytocin that "her cervix is ripened" as directed by the consultant.

"At 8 a.m on Friday 8th of March, my wife was transferred to the labour room, Oxytocin 5IU was claimed to be added to 500ml of Normal Saline which was Infused manually using drop per minute dose despite me requesting they use an infusion pump to infuse accurately. No cardiac monitor connected, no CTG connected throughout labour. I started really becoming uncomfortable at this point and was feeling they were not adhering to standard Labour Protocol, no partograph.

"At this point it became obvious that the entire team was just taking her care for granted and was still contemplating if to move her out to another facility. Suddenly, about 9:25 a.m, my wife started having obvious contractions and was in serious pain. The Midwife was not keeping a contraction chart, she was only touching her abdomen claiming to be counting contraction, she was not risk assessing my wife, clinical vigilance was zero, no consultant review and oversight was done all through induction from the last time we saw Dr Marcus.

"My wife was grossly inadequately monitored and assessed for early warning signs of complications. At a point, I noticed that her veins had somehow collapsed but nobody to share my findings. But then she still was fully conscious and communicating with no complaint of dizziness or chest pain and the consultant was not available to share my finding, they were checking BP and HR PRN.  

"At about 50 minutes post oxytocin induction around 10:15 am, my wife started having vigorous continuous contractions due to hyper stimulation of the uterus and was in severe painful distress. The midwife last VE done was 6cm dilated there was no time a full dilated of cervix was observed as maliciously claimed in the medical report.

"At around 10:20 a.m my wife suddenly complained she wanted to sleep and fell back to bed became super restless in confusion, she pushed the baby out forcefully into the perineum while loosing consciousness, GCS dropped to 8/15 (E2 V1 M5) had altered mental state, airway patency was compromise, both midwife and medical officer ran into panic, the oxytocin drip was immediately stopped, Midwife said she could feel the baby's head stuck inside the birth canal.

"I immediately requested a quick vital sign check only to discover BP was very low 65/40 mmHg PR 110 BPM SPO2 89% on RA. I immediately suspected RUPTURED UTERUS from overdose of multiple Uterotonic drugs for induction. I told them my wife was bleeding heavily inside and baby's head was acting as temponade. I requested for the consultant to rush my wife in for immediate Caesarian Section and Exploratory Laparotomy, and also requested a physician Anesthetist to Intubate and resuscitate my wife and requested pediatrician to be available to resuscitate my baby but to my biggest shock, none of these consultants were available in the hospital at the time of the crisis neither was the team on ground could resuscitate or perform surgery on my wife. They obviously did not know how to handle the situation they were in acute confusion.

"I then immediately requested for an ambulance service to urgently transfer my wife to a competent facility but the hospital had no provision for Ambulance emergency, it was just as if we were in a dead trap. It was this combination of incompetent team, lack of clinician's vigilance, lack of continuous fetal and material monitoring that lead to the complications of Ruptured Uterus in the first place."

Regretting, he said "I was forced to kick off active resuscitative efforts just to increase the chances of my wife and baby survival. Major resuscitative equipments were not readily available. I requested for ambu bag and oxygen. When made available, I commenced air way support, I started ambu bagging with 100% oxygen to minimize hypoxia as her lips had already turning blue and bolus of saline infusion was given.

"At this point of active resuscitation and panic, the O&G surgeon Dr Marcus was nowhere to be found. For over 1hr 30mins, despite repeated calls that his junior doctors and I put through to him.

I had to painfully carry my wife by myself to the operating theater seeing how centrally cyanosed she was, just to save time while we awaited the surgeon. Meanwhile, my baby's head was still stocked in the perineum with nobody to save him. At this point, I could not believe what was happening as I watched helplessly my wife and my baby dying, had to enture when she was confuse that she did not pull out her IV Lines.

"At about 12:05 p.m over 1hr 30mins that my wife had been unconscious, gasping for breath and profusely bleeding, Dr. Marcus finally arrived given irritating excuse that he was in another of their branch running a clinic. At this point, it was clear that the hospital had no plans for any standard surgical and medical care for my wife and baby.

"It is also unbelievable to note that he came without any surgical team. No Anesthetist, no pediatrician to perform the surgery with him. I was again compelled to anaesthetized my wife for him so that surgery can commence. At this point, the theater was not ready for any emergency C Section. The midwife became the scrub nurse and the inexperienced medical officer became the surgeon assistant.

"No oxygen available, no laryngoscope to perform Modified Rapid Sequence Induction, my wife was clinically unstable, vitals were grossly compromised, HR 140 bpm, BP 79/50 mmHg, S]O2 96% with resuscitative my efforts, persistent low blood pressure and hypoxia was noted, there was about additional delay to setup of the theater even when Dr Marcus arrived.

"Surgery finally started at about 12:30pm under light GA with IV 50mg of Ketamine, iv Paracetamol 1g, which I gave to facilitate exploratory Laparotomy and C Section because at time she was restless. I was still actively resuscitating to keep her vitals slightly stable, I had to commence her on inotropic support with my own noradrenaline since their pharmacy was out of stock to support her low blood pressure and she also had various crystalloids and colloids.

"At about 12:42pm baby was delivered via C Section from the perineum. At this time, the hospital Anesthetist and pediatrician still not available. Then Doctor Marcus begged me to leave my wife and joined his so called nurses to help resuscitate the baby out of love for the innocent baby I did. On getting to the resuscitator, the staff I met there were all incompetent with no clue on how to perform CPR for fresh still birth.

"When I assessed the baby my son had already suffered prolong birth asphyxia from delayed interventions, there were no cord pulsation, no sign of life. I started CPR with chest compression and ambu bagging with concentrator, no 100% oxygen available. I also gave 2 doses of 10mcg/kg (baby weight 4.2kg) of adrenaline via the umbilical vein because no pediatrician to secure a iv line. Despite CPR for 15mins, resuscitation proved abortive. I was crying uncontrollably realizing that I had lost my baby boy. I quickly rushed back to my wife to continue the care since the hospital theater.

"Their Anesthetist was still unavailable. It took him 2hrs to be around. When finally joined me and we were jointly resuscitating my wife. I also requested that he Intubate my wife to secure airway which he did. He also made attempt to Intubate the baby. But before now the baby was already dead.

"During surgery, Dr. Marcus confirmed that my wife had suffered ruptured uterus with deep Vagina injuries, she had lost a significant amount of blood. Prior to knife on skin we noticed how de-oxygenated her blood was (the blood was very dark she was barely alive).

"The surgery was prolonged and very embarrassingly, power supply was epileptic, the whole theater was in total darkness on several occasions while surgery was on going. We had to turn mobile phone touch so that surgeon can see operation site to continue the surgery and it took significant time before power could be fully restored. Another issue, the surgeon was slow and confuse on the case and was using inexperience assistance Intra operative contributing to major unnecessary bleeding that led to hysterectomy. Surgeon was seriously struggling to secure bleeding, deep cervical lacerations bleeding caused by the baby was also noted, Surgeon was not competent, my wife received multiple colloid and crystalloids but huge delay in starting surgery increase significantly their mortality risk."

He further explained that about 10mins the hospital physician Anesthetist came in and was in charge of his wife's care, left the theater because he was getting exhausted and family members were really worried waiting for him at the reception.

At that time, "her vital signs were slightly stable HR 135 bpm, BP 108/60 mmHg, SPO2 98%. But only to come back to theater my wife has suffered cardiac arrest. CPR was being done on my wife with No ECG monitoring and no defibrillator on ground. I quickly checked her pupils they were 5mm dilated I was so traumatized beyond my imagination. I wept uncontrollably for the gruesome way my wife and my son were killed out of gross negligence.

"My wife was sadly declared by the hospital dead at 3:52pm and the death certificate was handled over to me, while still in shock. The hospital was insisting I pay a N100,000 deposit after the death of my wife and baby which they later told me not to pay seeing how devastated I was looking. I had enough money to upset any bill and money was never the issue," he lamented.

Prince Ovwiomodiowho added that "seeing my wife and baby dying in my very present and no capable hands to rescue the situation. I was truly heartbroken seeing my wife and son being transferred to the morgue."

Meanwhile, SaharaReporters' efforts to speak with the Medical Director R-Jolad Hospital, Dr Fasina and also Consultant Emergency Physician were unsuccessful as she did not answer her calls.

She also did not respond to a text message inquiry sent to her phone for over 48 hours.

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Source: SaharaReporters