The duo is standing trial at
the Ikeja High Court of Lagos State, presided over by Justice Oyindamola
Ogala.
It would be recalled that the LASG
had on March 25, 2024, arraigned the medical doctors over their alleged
involvement in the involuntary manslaughter of the deceased patient, to which
both pleaded not guilty.
According to the prosecution counsel,
A. O. Azeez, Atiba, a doctor at the Gbagada General Hospital and Ugbeye, a
consultant with the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, are facing a
count of involuntary manslaughter as made against them by the Lagos State
Government.
Atiba disclosed that the incident
occurred on October 21, 2023, at Michael Adekoya Street, Ilupeju, Lagos State.
During the trial and
cross-examination of the prosecution’s first witness and mother of the
deceased, Nkechi Ugorobi, she disclosed that the deceased had gone to play
football as an exercise on September 9, 2023, when he fell and had an accident
with his leg.
“Ejiro was my only son. He was 29
years old, an electrical engineer by training and went into marketing finance.
He is my friend, my adviser, and my chatmate. On September 9, 2023, Ejiro went
to play football as exercise and fell. He called me and told me that he had
fallen while playing football,” she said.
She added that the deceased had
informed her that his injury was serious, with a swollen leg, and that he
needed to see Ugbeye, the doctor at Morningside Specialist Hospital for
treatment. Further testing then confirmed that he had a torn ligament
“I asked him how bad it was and he told me it was
serious. He told me his leg was swollen and that he had to go and see a doctor
at Morningside Specialist Hospital under Ugbeye, the second defendant, who is
the owner of the hospital. The following day, he called me that he had to run
some tests. The test confirmed that he had a torn ligament,” she cont
She disclosed that during this
period, the deceased was working from home and reported to her that the
swelling was decreasing and he was feeling better. However, she said he
mentioned one day that he needed to undergo additional tests, including blood tests,
noting that while the swelling had reduced, he was still experiencing pain and
walking with difficulty, resulting in a limp.
"Throughout this period, he
wasn’t going to work and he was working from home. I asked him how he was
faring, and he told me that the swelling was going down and that he was feeling
better. He told me he had to run a longer test, both blood and others. Then one
day, he told me that the swelling had come down but that he was still feeling
pains and walking with difficulty, limping.”
She further stated that Ejiro had
told her that he was going to have a non-invasive surgery, which took place on
October 21, 2023, with his sister accompanying him. After the surgery, he
reported that it was successful but that he experienced discomfort, which made
him feel nauseous.
She disclosed that his temperature
was alternating between hot and cold, and his leg felt very heavy; when he woke
up, he complained of weakness, shortness of breath, and palpitations. Shortly
after, she said he passed away following the surgery.
“In October, he told me that he
wanted to go and do an MRI. I told him that if the MRI was necessary, he should
come so I could take him to some of those locals to massage his leg, and you’d
be fine. But he said no. He told me he was going to have surgery, a
non-invasive type of surgery. I’m quoting him.
“Ejiro carried out that surgery on
October 21, 2023. Ejiro went to the hospital with his immediate elder sister.
He told me that they were there already when he had the surgery. Afterwards, he
called me and told me that the surgery was successful and that the surgeon did
a perfect job, but that the injection they gave him was disturbing him, and
that his stomach was disturbing him. He also said he felt like vomiting, that
he was feeling cold and hot and that his leg was as heavy as iron. After some
time, he said he was feeling sleepy. That was the end of my discussion with
him.
“I spoke with him when he woke up, he
told me that he was weak and that he was having shortness of breath and
palpitations. After that, Ejiro died. He died after his surgery on October 21,
2023."
Justice
Ogala then adjourned the case to November 20, 2024, for trial and
cross-examination of the prosecution’s second witness.
0 Comments