The Lagos State High Court in Ikoyi on Monday rejected a bid by Eurapharma Care Services Nigeria Limited, operator of Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital, to stop a coroner’s inquest into the death of Nkanu Adichie-Esege, the 21-month-old son of author Chimamanda Adichie and her husband, Ivara Esege.
Judge Aishat Opesanwo held that the absence of the kid’s physique didn’t, in itself, forestall the coroner from investigating the circumstances of his death, Channels TV reported.
The hospital had argued that the cremation of Nkanu’s stays made a autopsy examination inconceivable and will depart the inquest counting on hypothesis.
It additionally challenged a directive requiring its medical personnel to current proof earlier than different events, describing the association as a violation of its proper to a good listening to.
The couple’s lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had urged the court docket to dismiss the hospital’s go well with, arguing that it was untimely as a result of the coroner had not made any substantive choice that might be challenged by means of judicial evaluation.
At the listening to on 28 September, Mr Pinheiro mentioned no witness had testified and no substantive discovering had been made.
He argued that the hospital was asking the High Court to put aside a call that didn’t but exist.
The Lagos State Attorney-General, Lawal Pedro, additionally a SAN, urged the court docket to strike out the go well with.
Abiodun Layonu and Adeniji Kazeem, each SANs representing Atlantis Paediatric Hospital Limited, supported the objections to the appliance.
Mr Layonu instructed the court docket that the order of proof presentation had been mentioned throughout proceedings earlier than the coroner on 14 April, when it was agreed that the household would current its proof first.
But Eurapharma’s lawyer, Taiwo Osipitan, SAN, argued that the hospital shouldn’t be required to current its proof earlier than the household had first led proof to help its allegations of medical negligence.
On the cremation of the kid’s stays, Mr Pinheiro relied on Sections 21 and 31(1) of the Lagos State Coroners’ System Law, arguing that the laws allowed an inquest to proceed the place a physique had been destroyed or couldn’t be recovered.
In her ruling, Mrs Opesanwo referred to Section 15(2) of the regulation, which supplies for a obligatory inquest in circumstances lined by the supply involving deaths in medical amenities.
The choose mentioned a coroner’s inquest was a fact-finding train, not a felony or civil trial through which events have been prosecuted or held liable.
“A coroner’s inquest is a fact-finding inquiry… It is not a trial. No one is on trial in a coroner’s court,” she mentioned.
She additionally held that the coroner had the statutory discretion to decide the order through which witnesses and proof can be offered, including that judicial evaluation couldn’t be used to halt proceedings required by regulation.
How the dispute began
Nkanu died on 7 January after receiving remedy at Atlantis Paediatric Hospital earlier than being referred to Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital in Victoria Island, Lagos.
His dad and mom alleged that medical negligence contributed to his death, elevating issues about sedation, oxygen administration, monitoring and the hospital’s emergency response.
Euracare has denied wrongdoing, sustaining that its medical personnel adopted commonplace procedures and that the kid arrived at its facility critically unwell.
READ ALSO: Chimamanda Adichie, husband urge court to dismiss hospitals suit against sons death inquest
The Lagos State Government initiated a coroner’s inquest to set up the circumstances surrounding the toddler’s death.
In June, the High Court granted Eurapharma depart to problem the proceedings and ordered a short lived suspension of the inquest pending the dedication of its utility.
In March, the Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigation Panel suspended the hospital’s medical director and two docs after discovering a prima facie case of medical negligence. The discovering was not a last dedication of legal responsibility.
The court docket’s newest choice clears the best way for the inquest to proceed.
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