Renowned Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has accused a Lagos-based hospital of medical negligence following the death of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu, during the Christmas holidays. In a detailed statement confirmed by her media team, Adichie said the family was in Lagos when the child developed what appeared to be a minor cold that later worsened into a serious infection. He was admitted to Atlantis Hospital and scheduled to be flown to the United States on January 7, 2026, for advanced treatment, with a medical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore reportedly on standby. As part of preparations, doctors requested a lumbar puncture, MRI scan and insertion of a central line, prompting a referral to Euracare Hospital, which Adichie said was recommended for the procedures.
According to the statement, Nkanu was taken to Euracare on January 6 to be sedated ahead of the procedures, but events took a tragic turn while his parents waited outside the operating theatre. “I saw people, including Dr. M, rushing into the theatre and immediately knew something had happened,” Adichie said, adding that she was later informed her son had been given an excessive dose of propofol, became unresponsive and was placed on a ventilator. “The next thing I heard was that he had seizures. Cardiac arrest. All these had never happened before,” she stated, alleging poor monitoring and breaches of medical protocol. Describing the incident as criminal negligence, she accused the anesthesiologist of being “fatally casual and careless with the precious life of a child” and questioned why he was allowed to continue practising despite alleged previous cases. As of the time of filing this report, Euracare Hospital had not publicly responded to the allegations.