Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has issued a detailed account of the events leading to the death of her 21-month-old son, alleging serious medical lapses during a procedure at a Lagos hospital.
The author’s statement comes days after the death of her son was announced in a brief message shared by her communications team.
The detailed account circulated online on Saturday and was later confirmed by Ms Adichie’s media team, who said she wrote it and had originally shared it privately with family and close friends.
“My son would be alive today if not for an incident at Euracare Hospital on January 6th,” she said.
In the statement, Ms Adichie said her son fell ill while the family was in Lagos for Christmas, initially showing symptoms they believed were a cold before his condition deteriorated into a serious infection.
She said he was admitted to Atlantis Hospital and was scheduled to travel to the United States the following day, January 7, accompanied by travelling doctors, with a medical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore prepared to receive him.
According to Ms Adichie, doctors at Johns Hopkins requested a lumbar puncture and an MRI, while the Nigerian medical team also planned to insert a central line ahead of the flight.
Atlantis Hospital referred the family to Euracare Hospital for the procedures, describing it as the best-equipped facility for the task.
Recounting the events of January 6, Ms Adichie said her son was taken to Euracare Hospital and sedated to prevent movement during the MRI and central line insertion.
She said she was waiting outside the theatre when she noticed medical staff rushing in, immediately sensing that something had gone wrong.
Ms Adichie stated that she was later informed her son had been administered an excessive dose of propofol by the anaesthesiologist, became unresponsive and was resuscitated.
She said he was subsequently placed on a ventilator, intubated and transferred to the ICU, where he later developed seizures and suffered cardiac arrest before dying a few hours later.
She further alleged that her son was not properly monitored after the sedative was administered.
“It turns out that Nkanu was NEVER monitored after being given too much propofol. The anesthesiologist had just casually carried Nkanu on his shoulder to the theater, so nobody knows when exactly Nkanu became unresponsive,” she said.
Ms Adichie accused the anaesthesiologist of “criminal negligence,” claiming standard medical protocols were ignored during and after the procedure.
“How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him?” she asked, adding that the doctor allegedly switched off her son’s oxygen after the central line procedure before carrying him to the ICU.
Ms Adichie also alleged that the same anaesthesiologist had previously overdosed other children, raising concerns about patient safety and hospital oversight.
“We have now heard about two previous cases of this same anesthesiologist overdosing children.
Why did Euracare allow him to keep working? This must never happen to another child.”
Describing the loss as unbearable, she wrote, “We brought in a child who was unwell but stable and scheduled to travel the next day. We came to conduct basic procedures and suddenly, our beautiful little boy was gone forever. It is like living your worst nightmare. I will never survive the loss of my child.”
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