Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has accused a Lagos-based hospital of negligence following the death of one of her 21-month-old twin sons.Nkanu Nnamdi passed away on January 6 after a brief illness. He was one of twin boys born to Adichie and Ivara Esege, a doctor, in 2024 through surrogacy, eight years after their first child, a daughter.
In a WhatsApp message to family and friends, later leaked online, Adichie wrote, “It is like living your worst nightmare.” Her team confirmed the messages were authentic. Arise News reported that lawyers representing the couple served Euracare Hospital, a private facility, with a legal notice on January 10. The notice requested the toddler’s medical records, CCTV footage, and electronic monitoring data within seven days. It alleged lapses during Nkanu’s admission and the absence of essential resuscitation equipment, suggesting medical negligence.
Nkanu died a day before he was scheduled for medical evacuation to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, near the family’s US home. He had been referred from another Lagos hospital to Euracare for diagnostic procedures, including an echocardiogram and a brain MRI.
In the WhatsApp message, Adichie accused the hospital of negligence, stating that a doctor had informed her the resident anaesthesiologist had administered an overdose of propofol, a sedative. Despite resuscitation efforts and ventilation, Nkanu suffered cardiac arrest and died. Adichie described the anaesthesiologist’s actions as “fatally casual and careless.”
Euracare responded to the leak by denying that medical negligence caused the child’s death, stating its staff had “provided care in line with established clinical protocols and internationally accepted medical standards” for the critically ill toddler. The hospital has yet to respond to the legal notice.Condolences have poured in for Adichie and Esege, including from Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu. The Lagos State Government described the incident as a “profound tragedy” and ordered an investigation.
Adichie, whose debut novel Purple Hibiscus was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2004, has published seven more books, including Dream Count in 2025. Nigeria faces a critical shortage of medical personnel, with a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:9,083 and less than 5% of the annual budget typically allocated to health. Emergency response services are limited, and medical errors are common. In December, outrage followed when boxer Anthony Joshua, after surviving a car crash near Lagos that killed two friends, was transported by pedestrians in a police vehicle rather than an ambulance.
Medical tourism remains common among wealthy Nigerians, including President Tinubu and former president Muhammadu Buhari, whose prolonged medical absence abroad in 2017 sparked conspiracy theories. Oby Ezekwesili, former World Bank vice-president and Nigerian presidential aspirant, called for “deep reforms” to prevent tragedies like Nkanu’s death, highlighting systemic failures in the country’s healthcare system.
