Juliana Francis
A 31-year-old nurse, Mrs. Faith Obinna,
has accused medical personnel of St. Raphael Divine Mercy Specialist Hospital,
Ikorodu, Lagos State, of stealing her baby moments after delivery.
The distraught woman insisted that she
delivered twins and that one of them was stolen at the labour room of the
hospital before she could recover from anaesthesia.
She explained that anaesthesia was given
to her before a Caesarean Section (CS) was carried out on her to bring out the
twins. She said that the anaesthesia was given to her even after she had told
doctors at the hospital that she didn’t want it.
According to her, she had the CS on
March 6, 2020 and recovered to see doctor presenting her with a baby, while she
was expecting twins. She insisted that her second baby was stolen by the
hospital.
She further explained after registering
at the hospital, she was asked to carry out three scans and each showed the two
babies. She said that even the heart beats of the two babies were different and
that the laboratory technician showed her everything on the screen of the scan
machine. The scan also showed that one of the babies was a boy, but the sex of
the other couldn’t be determined because its leg covered the sex organ.
Faith said: “On the first day I
registered at the hospital, one doctor Ade that attended to me, asked me to go
for scan. The scan showed twins. The pregnancy was then four months. The second
scan was to determine the sex of the babies. One was a boy, but the technician
couldn’t tell the sex of the other baby because its leg covered the organ part.
I was later handed over to doctor Uzoma, who took care of me until delivery.”
She explained that in the process of
subsequent ante-natal visits, Uzoma asked her to do another scan, which she
did. The doctor said everything was fine. Faith said that before the delivery
day, she did three scan and all showed the twins in different foetal positions.
She said: “On the day of the delivery,
they tried to send my husband away, but he refused to go home. He went out to
wait. After the operation, they called my husband and told him that it was only
one baby inside my womb. Even though I was feeling groggy, I only heard the
cries of one baby. I asked my husband, where is the other baby, the staff asked
me to calm down. Four days later, my husband and I decided to raise the alarm.
The Chief medical doctor of the hospital asked me to accept just one baby, I
refused.”
After she was discharged, Faith and her
husband refused to pay the balance of their medical bills, unless the different
scans were given to them.
She said: “When I was about to be
discharged, I asked for my scan results, they refused to give them to me. Rather,
they hid my file. When we wanted to leaven they locked the gate against us.”
When the couple was eventually allowed
to go, they narrated the incident to friends and family members and returned to
the hospital. The hospital, which is a catholic one, invited a reverend father
and sister and senior doctors.
She said: “We asked for the scan result.
They said that if they released the results, they wouldn’t like to see it on
social media that it could affect the medical doctor and the hospital could be
shut down. He said that what happened was scan error. I told them it was
impossible. I know that scan error could occur in sex, but not where twins’
detention is concerned. I saw the babies with my two eyes. I know they are with
one of my babies. The reverend asked us to have mercy. He promised that refund
all money we had spent since I registered with the hospital. We refused.”
Doctor Uzoma, a consultant gynaecologist,
who said that he took delivery of Faith, along with six other doctors said: "First
of all, it’s not my hospital, it’s a catholic hospital. I’m a consultant gynaecologist
with the hospital. Faith Obinna was my patient. I gave her my phone number; if
I wanted to steal her baby, I wouldn’t have given her my number. The true
situation of things is that in November 2019, I asked her to do a scan, which
she did in the hospital, with one of our male staffs. The scan showed two foetuses.”
Uzoma explained that in January, Faith
did another scan with a female staff, which showed a single foetus. While the
scan was on-going, Faith said that the previous scan revealed two babies, so
the male staff who conducted the first scan was invited, to take a look. The
male staff said that he saw two foetuses, while the female staff argued that it
was one foetus.
Uzoma continued: “The female staff asked
him to write the report of the scan which she signed without informing any of
the doctors. Unfortunately, when Faith did the third scan, still by the male
staff, two foetuses were confirmed.
Clinically, faith has a big belly. The hospital worked based on the scan
report. We prepared for the delivery of two babies. On the day of the CS, we
had seven doctors in the hospital, including myself and the CMD, who is an orthopaedic
surgeon. She was delivered of one baby and immediately we brought her husband
into the theatre to see for himself while she was still open. He wasn't
surprised because the first scan she did elsewhere confirmed one.”
According to Uzoma, a few days later, Faith
and her husband dragged the management to Alagbon police station where the case
is presently being investigated. They have also served a court notification
order demanding for N250 million.
“Never for once did we offer them money.
The management of the hospital only asked them not to pay the balance of the
bill since they claimed they spent more money buying double baby items. Unfortunately,
they have continued to threaten the hospital and management.”
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