Cancer patient was neglected before death, says family

Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital has been accused of neglecting a cancer patient by denying him blood transfusion services, leading to his death.

The family of 54-year-old Sammy Kariuki Ngatia, who died on Monday morning, said he was admitted to the hospital last Saturday at 11am and needed urgent blood transfusion, which was not facilitated until Sunday after midnight.

A sister to the deceased, Ms Susan Smith, said on admission, a doctor who sent the patient to the wards indicated he needed urgent blood transfusion, and the family was assured that the hospital's blood bank was well stocked.

UNATTENDED

"But after admission, he was kept in the wards unattended until Sunday night when I threatened to report the wards duty doctor to her seniors. By then it was too late," said Ms Smith.

But the hospital superintendent Sammy Kilonzo while confirming that Mr Ngatia was admitted on Saturday at midday denied that he needed emergency blood transfusion.

“The patient’s haemoglobin level was at 11.7 on admission, and this is not considered an emergency. He was only dehydrated since he has not been feeding well because food was being administrated through the navel owing to advanced level of throat cancer, which had by then spread to the lungs,” he said.

Dr Kilonzo could not, however, explain why blood transfusion was carried out after Ms Smith threatened to report the duty doctor to her seniors.

BLOOD TRANSFUSSION

“That issue is under investigation as well as claims that the duty doctor was rude to the family when they asked why blood transfusion was not being carried out 36 hours later. If it is established that she acted unprofessionally, disciplinary action will be taken,” he said.

According to Ms Smith, the patient died four hours after the transfusion. The hospital denied Nation access to medical records to verify the blood volume in Mr Ngatia's body at admission, saying patient records can only be released to a third party through a court order.

Ms Smith, however, maintains her brother had low blood in the body on admission and even produced phone text conversation with the medic who admitted her brother to back the claims.

TEXT MESAGE

“The clinical officer who admitted my brother promised to do a follow-up to see to it that he was attended to immediately. After he left the hospital at around 6pm on Saturday, he communicated to me through a text message, where he indicated that he had called the hospital laboratory and was informed that the blood had not been cross-matched to facilitate the transfusion process,” said Ms Smith.

She said the family waited on Saturday and Sunday for the process to begin and at midnight on Sunday, his brother’s condition worsened and it was then she threatened the doctor on duty in the wards that she would report her to the medical superintendent.

"I pleaded with the doctor to transfuse blood to save his life but she was rude, saying she was about to leave for home and the process could wait till Monday morning,” she said.

FATIGUED

Dr Kilonzo said the doctor on duty had worked from Friday up to Sunday and was hence fatigued but added that that was no reason to fail to attend to a critically ill patient or talk rude to family members.

Ms Smith said she understood her brother was suffering from a terminal illness but it was cruel for medics to subject him to a painful death.

"This is a case of professional misconduct and those involved should be punished. My brother is no more but am bringing this to light for the sake of others who are treated same way but opt to remain silent resulting in deaths that can be avoided," said Ms Smith who is on a visit from United States where she lives with her husband.