The family of a patient, Solomon Asare-Kumah, who died at the 37 Military Hospital at the age of 48 after being hospitalized, has filed a lawsuit against the facility’s administration for alleged medical malpractice.
The family’s lawyer listed erroneous insertion of an oxygen tube and malfunctioning of a surgical drill, among other things, as the causes of Solomon Asare-death Kumah’s in a writ of summons.
The psychological sorrow induced by the death of Solomon Asare-Kumah also led to the passing of the father of the dead.
The family is seeking damages from the 37 Military Hospital in excess of GHS 2 million in court.
Solomon Asare Kumah traveled to Ghana from the United Kingdom in 2019 to see his ailing father, but he became unwell himself.
Doctors determined that he had a non-cancerous brain tumor that needed to be removed immediately. He was referred to the 37 Military Hospital from a hospital in Sakumono.
According to the family, a neurosurgeon at the 37 Military Hospital named Colonel Appiah informed them that surgery was required at the moment.
The deceased’s alleged emergency operation was postponed many times, according to the family, for various reasons, including one time when the neurosurgeon said he wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t do the procedure.
“At a point, he took my brother to the theatre, he was administered anaesthesia and everything. After four or five hours, the surgeon brought him back to the ward that he couldn’t perform the surgery… Another time, the surgery couldn’t happen, he postponed it again with the excuse that the drill machine that he was going to use wasn’t functioning. So, he was going to purchase another one from South Africa,” said the deceased’s brother, Emmanuel in an interview on Joy FM in February 2020.
He said his brother was later taken to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for an inferior Vena Cava filter treatment, which entails placing a mesh in a lower leg to prevent a blood clot from spreading to the heart or lungs, and then returned to the 37 Military Hospital.
He said after the surgery was performed he went to visit his brother who had swollen up like “a balloon.”
“If you touched him he felt so soft, like rubber. I had to calm myself down because I was so angry,” Emmanuel said.
After 24 hours, he said he returned and was informed about the brother’s death.
He added that he noticed that the medical bills had increased astronomically and there were several discrepancies.
37 Hospital responds
The hospital in a statement when the issue went viral in 2020, said it was investigating the matter and will take the necessary action after the probe.
Issues of medical negligence are very common in Ghana, especially in public health facilities. However, only few people are often able to take legal action against these health facilities.
Source: CITINEWSROOM
