By Emmanuel Thomas I Sunday, January 11.26
LAGOS, Nigeria — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the world-renowned Nigerian author, has issued a harrowing account of the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu, accusing EURACARE, a Lagos hospital of “criminal negligence” and a fatal lack of medical protocol.
In a statement confirmed by her representatives, Ms. Adichie detailed a series of alleged systemic failures at Euracare Hospital that led to her son’s death on January 6.
The account, which Ms. Adichie’s team said was originally intended for family and close friends, describes a routine medical preparation that turned into what the author called her “worst nightmare.”
The family had been in Lagos for the Christmas holidays when Nkanu contracted what was initially thought to be a cold. The illness escalated into a serious infection, leading to his admission to Atlantis Hospital.
According to Ms. Adichie, the family had arranged for Nkanu to be flown to the United States on January 7 to be treated by a team at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
In preparation for that flight, Nkanu was referred to Euracare Hospital for a lumbar puncture, an MRI, and the insertion of a “central line” for intravenous medication.
”My son would be alive today if not for an incident at Euracare Hospital,” Ms. Adichie wrote. “We brought in a child who was unwell but stable… and suddenly, our beautiful little boy was gone forever.”
The author alleges that during the procedures, her son was administered an overdose of propofol by an anesthesiologist. Ms. Adichie claims the physician then failed to monitor the sedated child, allegedly carrying the toddler on his shoulder to the theater rather than using medical transport equipment.
”How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him?” Ms. Adichie asked in the statement.
She described a chaotic scene where medical staff rushed into the theater, later informing her that Nkanu had become unresponsive and required resuscitation.
Despite being placed on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit, the toddler suffered seizures and cardiac arrest. He died a few hours later.
The statement paints a portrait of a “fatally casual” medical environment.
Ms. Adichie alleged that even after the child’s condition became critical, the anesthesiologist switched off the boy’s oxygen while moving him to the ICU.
”The anesthesiologist was CRIMINALLY negligent,” Ms. Adichie wrote. “No proper protocol was followed.”
The author also raised questions regarding the hospital’s vetting processes, claiming she has since learned of two previous cases involving the same anesthesiologist overdosing pediatric patients.
“Why did Euracare allow him to keep working?” she asked. “This must never happen to another child.”
Ms. Adichie, the author of Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, is one of the most influential literary voices of her generation.
Her raw, grieving statement has sent shockwaves through Nigeria, where the quality of private healthcare is often a subject of intense public debate.
Representatives for Euracare Hospital could not be immediately reached for comment.
As of Sunday, Ms. Adichie expressed the profound depth of her grief, writing, “I will never survive the loss of my child.”
