Renowned Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has demanded accountability from a private hospital in Lagos, accusing it of medical negligence and professional misconduct following the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu Nnamdi Adichie-Esege, after undergoing medical procedures.
In a detailed legal notice dated January 10, 2026, solicitors representing Adichie and her partner, Dr Ivara Esege, alleged that the hospital, its anaesthesiologist and other medical personnel breached the duty of care owed to their son, who died in the early hours of January 7, 2026.
According to the notice, the child, born on March 25, 2024, was referred to the Lagos hospital on January 6, 2026 from Atlantis Pediatric Hospital for diagnostic and preparatory procedures ahead of a planned medical evacuation to the United States, where a specialist medical team was reportedly on standby.
The procedures listed included an echocardiogram, brain MRI, insertion of a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line), and a lumbar puncture.
The legal notice, issued without prejudice to the parents’ rights and signed by a law firm led by Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, stated that intravenous sedation with propofol was administered during the procedures.
However, the child allegedly developed sudden and severe complications while being transported to the cardiac catheterisation laboratory after the MRI.
Despite being under deep sedation, he was said to have been moved between clinical areas under conditions that raised serious concerns about adherence to patient-safety protocols. He was later pronounced dead in the early hours of January 7.
The notice outlined multiple alleged lapses in paediatric anaesthetic and procedural care, including concerns over the appropriateness and cumulative dosing of propofol in a critically ill child, inadequate airway protection, failure to ensure continuous physiological monitoring, and transfer without supplemental oxygen, adequate monitoring or sufficient medical personnel.
Other alleged failings include questions over the availability of basic resuscitation equipment, delayed recognition and management of respiratory or cardiovascular compromise, and an overall failure to comply with established paediatric anaesthesia, patient-transfer and safety protocols.
The parents also accused the hospital of failing to adequately disclose the risks and potential side effects associated with propofol and other anaesthetic agents, which they said undermined the legal requirement for informed consent.
According to the solicitors, the alleged lapses amount to prima facie breaches of duty of care, rendering the hospital and the medical personnel involved liable for medical negligence resulting in the child’s death.
As part of their next legal steps, the parents demanded certified copies of all medical records relating to their son’s treatment within seven days of receipt of the notice. These include admission records, consent forms, pre-anaesthetic assessments, anaesthetic charts, drug administration logs, monitoring records, procedural notes, nursing observations, ICU records, incident reports and the identities of all staff involved.
They also requested access to internal reviews, MRI suite safety logs and all related documentation.
The hospital was further placed on notice to preserve all evidence, including CCTV footage, electronic monitoring data, pharmacy and drug inventory records, emergency equipment logs, internal communications and any morbidity and mortality reviews.
The solicitors warned that any destruction, alteration or loss of evidence after receipt of the notice would be treated as suppression of evidence and obstruction of justice, attracting serious legal consequences.
They added that failure to comply with the demands within the stipulated timeframe would leave the parents with no option but to pursue all available legal, regulatory and judicial remedies against the hospital and all medical personnel involved.
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