Indian doctor accused of killing mother, inflicting wounds on baby

A grieving husband has accused an Indian Medical Doctor of being responsible for the death of his wife and for inflicting cuts on his baby while she was being delivered.

The man, Mr.  Hunpe Semako alleged that his wife died while delivering their baby, Oluwasetemi Mary Hunpe, at Dr. M. B. Jayaram of Prema Sai Hospital, Agege, Lagos. The wife had to be cut open to bring out the baby and the baby allegedly received cuts in the process of being delivered.

Hunpe further alleged that after the death of his wife, the hospital called a pastor to pray for his wife, hoping to resurrect her. He was also angry that throughout the prolonged labour of his wife, the doctor did not bother to join nurses in the labour room until it was too late.

In a suit filed by Barrister Kayode Adaramoye, it was alleged that the doctor’s professional misconduct led to the death of Mrs. Funkemi Hunpe, mother of the baby.

Hunpe in the suit averred that his wife consulted Dr. Jayaram on February, 17, 2014 for the purpose of ante-natal services.

He further averred that when his wife began to notice pre-delivery signs on February 24, 2014, she went to the hospital and was, “subsequently placed on admission and given injections, sequel to which she was ordered to engage in labour exercise for several hours without medical attention from available midwives and auxiliary nurses.”

Hunpe noted in the suit that he was invited into the labour room after several hours of ‘intense labour without adequate care.’ He was asked to encourage his wife, ‘to push,’ out as she appeared exhausted. In the labour room, he saw a nurse applying Aboniki (hot balm) mechanically on his wife.

The nurse was allegedly rubbing the deceased’s abdomen with the ointment, while asking her to push.

“After this amateurish mechanism did not yield desired result, they cut my wife three times to bring out the baby and placed it somewhere unattended to,” said Hunpe. 

He averred that that there was no doctor present throughout the delivery. A nurse later went to call Dr. Jayaram. Hunpe said that his wife bled profusely to death due to the unprofessional cuts administered on her.

The claimant alleged that Dr. Jayaram told him around 6:45pm, on February, 26, 2014, to call his pastor, as she did not think that his wife could survive.

He explained that he was later informed that his wife was dead. The hospital allegedly called a pastor to pray for the resurrection of Mrs. Hunpe. But the woman did not resurrect.

The claimant averred that due to the unprofessional cuttings of incompetent hands on his wife, the baby suffered serious deep cuts on its back and buttocks. These cuts on different sites of the baby, further attested to the mutilation done on his wife, he said.

But in a letter entitled: “Demand for N500m Damages,” signed by John Adanike, counsel to Dr. Jayaram, said his client was not guilty of negligent or professional misconduct.

Adanike denied liability to pay damages of N500m, insisting that his client carried out her duties in the best professional manner.