By Stephen Kwabena EffahJanuary 5, 2012An alleged gross negligence of a doctor and medical staff of the Kwesimentsim Polyclinic in the Western Region has caused the death of a pregnant woman.
The medical doctor, Dr. Mensah, is said to have gone ahead to give medication to the woman, Ama Adjei, to induce her eight months pregnancy regardless of a pending result of a series of laboratory tests, causing her to vomit and bleed to death.
The husband of the deceased, Samuel Effah, a lecturer at the Takoradi Polytechnic Business School, has consequently petitioned the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Services, Ghana Medical Association and the Polyclinic to investigate the circumstances that led to the death of wife.
The petition, a copy of which was made available to the press is urging the institutions to investigate the decision to induce the deceased to deliver 35 a weeks pregnancy on the weekend, failure of doctors to attend to his wife when she was bleeding, the absence of personnel to administer blood to his wife and the delay in referring her on time among other concerns.
Recounting the events that led to his wife’s death, Mr. Effah said on December 8, 2011 his wife reported to the poly clinic with headache and was admitted because her blood pressure was said to have been very high.
Mr. Effah said the doctor prescribed a number of drugs for the wife but they could not get two of the drugs from the clinic pharmacy so they were asked to buy them from outside.
He said when he went to a pharmacy shop to get the drugs; a pharmacist told him that one of the medications (Tab Dexamethasons 12G Bd. X2) could be a wrong prescription since the dosage is too high.
In the circumstance, he said he made attempts to reach the doctor on his mobile phone but to no avail and could not also meet him at the poly clinic when he went back to inform him about the development.
He said a nurse on duty at the time, one Maame Esi, told them that the clinic did not even administer tablets of the said drug, so they decided not to buy the poly drug until they had had confirmation from the doctor.
Mr.Effah said that on the next day, December 9, 2011, when he went back to the poly clinic, Maame Esi informed him that “the doctor who prescribed the drug has confirmed that it was a mistake on his part so he has changed it and administered new drug”.
On December 10, 2011, he said Dr. Mensah invited him through his wife to the poly clinic where he was informed that his wife’s blood pressure was fluctuating and that the doctor told him that it could affect the unborn baby and his wife.
“The doctor accordingly suggested to us that the safest thing to do was to induce my wife to deliver in order to prevent the risk of death”, Mr. Effah told the Times.
He said Dr. Mensah told him that since the pregnancy was 35 weeks, old the inducement would not affect the unborn baby and the deceased.
“The doctor said with the inducement, the mother could deliver by herself or could be operated if it became possible,” he said, adding that once the doctor assured him it was safe, he gave the go ahead for the procedure.
Mr. Effah said he then informed the Dr. Mensah about the laboratory test his wife did and the results of which they were awaiting, but the doctor told him “he was okay without the laboratory test results”.
He said when he visited his wife in the afternoon, she had started vomiting. Later in the evening, he said Maame Esi who had then signed off duty called him on his phone to inform him that she needed to give the one who took over from her some information.
According to him, when he enquired as to whether there was a problem, Maame Esi insisted on speaking to the one on duty.
At about 6:30 pm, he said his wife called him on phone to bring her food but when he got there, the nurse on duty prevented him from seeing her since according to the nurse, they had given her a bottle of coke and that the deceased was okay.
Mr. Effah said while waiting, the nurse informed him that his wife’s blood pressure had gone up and bleeding at the same time, contending that the nurse told him that several attempts to reach Dr. Mensah on phone proved futile.
He said the nurse further told him that his wife needed blood transfusion but when they went to the blood bank, the officer in charge to administer the blood was not there and several attempts to get the officer on phone proved futile.
He said at that point, he requested that his wife be transferred to the nearest hospital in view of the emergency nature of her condition, adding “the nurse said she needed a medical doctor to authorize the transfer”.
According to Mr. Effah, the nurse told him that there was no doctor available, so that could not transfer the patient.
However, he said another nurse came around and insisted that the patient be transferred to Efia-Nkwanta Hospital.
Again, he said when the transfer processes were ready after about 30 minutes; they could not get an ambulance.
“As the ambulance was not forthcoming and my wife’s condition was getting worse, I rushed out to get a taxi cab to convey my wife to Efiankwanta Hospital,” he said adding that he was informed upon arrival that his wife was dead already.
He said on December 12, he reported to the hospital to collect a report on his wife’s death and when he enquired about the cause of death, Dr. Mensah told him that she died as a result of loss of blood.
“I asked why he did not come to perform the operation when my wife could not deliver and he said it was too late and risky. He said blood transfusion could have saved her life”.
The civil suit initiated by the State to retrieve the GH¢ 51.2 million paid to businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome bounced back at the Accra Commercial Court yesterday, after almost a year of suspension.
