By New York Times
CELEBRATED Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is accusing a private hospital in Lagos of negligence that led to the death of her 21-month-old son after the family travelled there from the United States for the holidays.
The boy, Nkanu, who was suffering from an unspecified infection, died on Jan. 6, a day before he was to be flown to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for additional treatment. He was one of twin boys of the author and her husband, Dr. Ivara Esege. The couple also has a 9-year-old daughter.
Ms. Adichie outlined what she said were the circumstances that led to her son’s death, blaming an overdose of a sedative by an anesthesiologist at the private Euracare Hospital, in a group WhatsApp chat with family and close friends. The chat was leaked to the public and shared on social media. A family representative, Omawumi Ogbe, confirmed the details of the chat.
“Suddenly, our beautiful little boy was gone forever,” Ms. Adichie wrote.
“It is like living your worst nightmare. I will never survive the loss of my child.”
Euracare officials said in a statement that the boy had arrived critically ill, and that “the suggestion that this tragic outcome resulted from medical negligence is erroneous.” They said they were investigating what had occurred.
Ms. Adichie gained fame both in Nigeria and abroad for novels such as “Half of a Yellow Sun,” which is read in some U.S. high schools, and her TEDx talk “We Should All Be Feminists,” which was sampled by Beyoncé.
