Mother petitions police, Ambode over son’s death

Mrs. Lillian Essien, whose only son was allegedly killed by a private hospital in Lagos State, has petitioned the Nigeria Police Force to investigate the clinic’s medical staff for negligence and quackery.

Last week, Essien told SUNDAY PUNCH that her son died because of the negligence of De Vital Care Hospital in Ojo local government area.

In her petition to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Oseni, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent, Essien said she wanted those responsible for her son’s death to be brought to book.

She also petitioned the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, the Nigerian Medical Association and the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria.

She accused the hospital medical director, Dr. Vitalis Mezie of shielding the identity of the doctor who allegedly caused the death of her son.

The Medical Director had told our correspondent that the child did not die in his hospital.

He said, “We are not responsible for the death of her son. It is not negligence of the hospital. What happened was that the woman refused blood transfusion when she was told that her son’s PCV level was 18 – that was what my doctor told me when I came back. The baby did not die in the hospital; the baby died at the general hospital.”

Essien however identified the doctor who treated her son as Dr. David Sambo.

“Dr. Mezie also claimed he doesn’t know the name of the doctor who treated my son nor does he know how to locate him. He kept contradicting himself by saying, ‘When I spoke to the doctor who treated your son…’ In one of our conversations which I recorded on my phone, Dr. Vitalis told me in Igbo that the doctor in question is from the North and that he had run away. I did my own investigations and found out that the ‘anonymous’ doctor is one Dr. David Sambo.

“I have attached the following to support my petition: photographs of Dr. Vitalis Nwikwu Mezie and Dr. David Sambo. I have also attached a transcript of my conversation with one Mr. Achi Frank Chukwunalu, who claimed to be a nurse in the hospital,” she said in the petition.

Essien noted in the petition that Dr. Mezie only called and later visited her when he learnt about her plans to file a lawsuit against the hospital.

“Two weeks after my son was killed, I was in touch with one of the nurses in De Vital Care Hospital. I informed him of my intention to sue the hospital. I accused the hospital staff of being quack and advised him to get a proper nursing degree if he wants to practice as a nurse.”

She urged the agencies to use their good office to “investigate De Vital Care Hospital as well as the staff of the hospital and to bring them to book and any other incompetent staff of the hospital.”