A Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, presided over by Justice Akintayo Aluko has awarded a total of N50,200,000 as cost against Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki now Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki over medical negligence.
Mrs. Ifeyinwa Awada and her father, Nwugo Chimere Nwugo, who are first and second plaintiffs respectively, dragged the hospital and its management to court seeking justice over alleged medical negligence which allegedly resulted in the death of the first plaintiff’s baby in her womb.
The judgment which was delivered, was instituted in the year 2016.
The suit has the hospital, its Board of Management, a Consultant Gynaecologist, and the Chief Medical Director as defendants.
While N50 million was for the damages, the sum of N200,000 was the cost of litigations borne by the plaintiffs.
The first plaintiff, Mrs Awada, claimed that the hospital acted with negligence in attending to her while she was in labour; and that, resulted to the death of her baby in her womb.
It was gathered that a consultant gynecologist who was on call the day she was supposed to be delivered of her baby left the hospital to an unknown destination without informing anyone and also allegedly refused to pick his calls or reply to text messages sent to him when the 1st plaintiff’s condition became critical and his attention needed.
It was further gathered that the father of the 1st plaintiff, Nwugo, who is also the 2nd plaintiff in the suit, had asked that the patient be discharged against medical advice to enable him take her to another hospital where he believed his daughter would be properly attended to but the officers of the hospital on duty allegedly refused to grant the request.
It was also gathered that before they could take the woman to the theatre for Caesarean Operation (CS), the baby had died.