Renowned Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has served a formal legal notice on Euracare Multi-Specialist Hospital in Lagos, accusing the facility and some of its medical personnel of medical negligence and professional misconduct following the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu Nnamdi Esege.
The development has also drawn the attention of the Lagos State Government, with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu ordering a probe into the circumstances surrounding the child’s death amid growing public concern.
In a detailed legal notice dated January 10, 2026, solicitors acting for Adichie and her partner, Dr Ivara Esege, alleged that Euracare, its anaesthesiologist and other attending medical staff breached the duty of care owed to their son, Master Nkanu Adichie-Esege, who died in the early hours of January 7, 2026.
According to the notice, the child, who was born on March 25, 2024, was referred to Euracare on January 6, 2026, from Atlantis Pediatric Hospital for diagnostic and preparatory procedures ahead of an imminent medical evacuation to the United States, where a specialist medical team was reportedly on standby.
The procedures included an echocardiogram, a brain MRI, insertion of a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line) and a lumbar puncture. The notice stated that intravenous sedation was administered using propofol.
The parents, however, alleged that during transportation to the cardiac catheterisation laboratory after the MRI, the child developed sudden and severe complications. Despite being under sedation, he was reportedly transferred between clinical areas under conditions that raised what the notice described as “serious and substantive concerns” about compliance with patient-safety protocols. He was later pronounced dead in the early hours of January 7.
The legal notice, issued “without prejudice” to the parents’ rights and signed by a law firm led by Professor Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, outlined multiple alleged lapses in paediatric anaesthetic and procedural care. These included concerns about the appropriateness and cumulative dosing of propofol in a critically ill child, inadequate airway protection during deep sedation and failure to ensure continuous physiological monitoring.
The parents further alleged that their son was transferred without supplemental oxygen, without adequate monitoring and without sufficient accompanying medical personnel. They also raised concerns about the availability of basic resuscitation equipment, delayed recognition and management of respiratory or cardiovascular compromise and an alleged failure to comply with established paediatric anaesthesia, patient-transfer and safety protocols.
Another key grievance cited was the alleged failure of the hospital to adequately disclose the risks and potential side effects of propofol and other anaesthetic agents, which the parents said undermined the legal requirement for informed consent.
According to the solicitors, these alleged lapses amount to prima facie breaches of the duty of care and render 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. The requested documents include admission notes, consent forms, pre-anaesthetic assessments, anaesthetic charts, drug administration records, monitoring logs, procedural notes, nursing observations, ICU records, incident reports and the identities of all medical staff involved in the child’s care.
The demand also covers internal reviews, safety logs from the MRI suite and any other documentation connected to the treatment. Euracare was placed on formal notice to preserve all relevant physical and electronic evidence, including CCTV footage from procedure rooms and corridors, 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, with attendant 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.
Meanwhile, the deceased child’s aunt, Dr Anthea Esege Nwandu, has publicly challenged what she described as inconsistencies in a statement issued by Euracare on January 10, 2026. Dr Nwandu, a dual board-certified internal medicine physician with about 30 years of clinical experience in Nigeria and the United States, disputed the hospital’s account of the circumstances surrounding her nephew’s death.
In her rebuttal, Dr Nwandu questioned Euracare’s claim that the child had received care at two paediatric centres prior to his admission, insisting that he had been treated at only one hospital before being referred for procedures. She also challenged the hospital’s assertion that it provided care “in line with established clinical protocols and internationally accepted medical standards.”
According to her, international standards require that a child on oxygen who is given sedation must receive continuous oxygen therapy and continuous monitoring of oxygen saturation, pulse and respiration, standards she alleged were not met in this case. She further stated that international best practice demands that a sedated child being transferred within a hospital must be accompanied by resuscitative equipment such as an ambu bag, which she claimed was not done.
Adichie has also directly accused the attending anaesthesiologist of negligence, alleging, “The anesthesiologist was criminally negligent. He was fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child. No proper protocol was followed.”
The matter remains under intense public scrutiny as investigations and legal processes unfold.
