In his reaction to the coroner’s indictment, Ugboma’s husband told journalists that he was satisfied with the verdict.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Nearly two years after the death of Peju Ugboma, a Lagos State Coroner has indicted doctors at Premier Hospital for medical negligence.
Ugboma, 41, who was the founder of a pastry company, ‘I Luv Desserts’, died in April 2021, a few days after undergoing fibroid surgery at the hospital.
Delivering judgment on Thursday at the Magistrate’s Court in Ogba, Magistrate Mukaila Fadeyi said it was a failure on the part of the doctors not to find out that the deceased had a pre-existing condition before the surgery was conducted.
In June, the Lagos State Government, through the Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency, shut down the intensive care unit of the hospital pending the outcome of its investigation.
Sixteen witnesses including Ugboma’s husband, doctors, a pathologist and others were called during the coroner’s inquest which began in May 2021.
The coroner held that the “only logical” insight to “her death is a result of the combination of lack of due diligence of the doctors.”
Fadeyi said that the failure of appropriate response, substandard care, and inadequate optimal care contributed to her untimely demise.
He added that other factors that led to her “avoidable death” include the absence of vital medical devices to detect intra-abdominal bleeding, poor documentation of clinical notes and failure of the immediate involvement of appropriate surgeons.
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The coroner said the hospital owes its patients better medical care.
Fadeyi recommended that the code of conduct and ethics of medical practitioners “should be tightly reviewed to severely punish negligent doctors.”
He said the state government should not limit funding to only government hospitals but should render funds to private facilities to buy equipment.
The coroner further said that regulatory agencies should do more sensitisation on the rights of patients.
In his reaction to the coroner’s indictment, Ugboma’s husband told journalists that he was satisfied with the verdict.
He said his lawyers would advise him on the appropriate step to take next.
“I’m very happy with the outcome of the inquest; it’s been a very long one. The circumstances of my wife’s death were not satisfactory. My children told me to send them a message in school as soon as the ruling is out,” he said.
Lawyer for the bereaved family, Babatunde Ogungbamila, said the family would apply for the verdict, seek compensation and ensure that the doctors are held accountable.
