Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
A Coroner's inquest into the death of her 21‑month‑old son had been scheduled for mid‑April. Instead, Ms Adichie said, the hospital began to “stall and muddy and obfuscate”. The inquest was later suspended after Euracare sought a judicial review of the Coroner’s Court’s jurisdiction, an application that was granted by a Lagos High Court on May 26, 2026. The inquest has now been adjourned until October 8.
The family has accused the hospital of multiple failures, including administering excessive sedation, denying the child oxygen, and failing to properly monitor him after sedation – errors they say led to a hypoxic brain injury and cardiac arrest. Euracare has denied wrongdoing, insisting its care met international standards, and has expressed “deepest sympathies” over the family’s loss.
In her public letter, Ms Adichie alleged that the hospital’s anaesthesiologist, Dr Titus Ogundare, gave her son “too much propofol” – a powerful sedative. She said the Medical Director, Dr Tosin Majekodunmi, visited the family the day after Nkanu’s death, admitted the errors and promised to fire the anaesthesiologist. However, communication from the director later stopped, and the family says the hospital then took control of the matter. Both doctors have been provisionally suspended from practice by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, which found a prima‑facie case of medical negligence against Euracare and the referring Atlantis Hospital. A third doctor, the Chief Medical Officer of Atlantis Hospital, has also been suspended.
Ms Adichie also disputed the cause of death listed on her son’s death certificate. Euracare, she said, attributed the death to bacterial and fungal meningitis – a claim she described as “inaccurate” and unsupported by medical evidence. She has insisted that the death certificate be corrected to reflect what she believes is the true chain of events: improper sedation, hypoxic brain injury and cardiac arrest.
In her letter, the novelist described the hospital’s conduct as “evil” and its legal correspondence as “baffling in its heartlessness” – including one letter that referred to her son’s death as a “dispute”. She also alleged that a senior figure connected to the hospital’s ownership sent a message through a relative, warning her not to pursue legal action because “bad things may be said about her since court cases are about winning and anybody would do anything to win”. She described the message as “manipulative and implicitly threatening”, adding: “They can drag all they wish in the mud, but our quest for justice will continue.”
Euracare has not commented on Ms Adichie’s latest claims, and an official who answered a call from Punch declined to speak, asking the newspaper to visit the hospital for management’s response. The Lagos State Attorney‑General, Lawal Pedro (SAN), and the Chief Coroner have since filed a preliminary objection urging the High Court to dismiss Euracare’s application, describing it as incompetent and an abuse of court process.
The case has reignited debates about patient safety and clinical governance in Nigeria’s healthcare sector. The federal Ministry of Health has acknowledged “systemic challenges” and announced the creation of a national task force on clinical governance and patient safety.
For Ms Adichie, the legal battle has only deepened her family’s suffering. “I long for, at least, peace to mourn, but Euracare Hospital has robbed me even of that,” she wrote. Her surviving twin son, she said, is confused and often asks for his brother. “He is now forever bereft of his brother.”
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