A
Lagos High Court, Ikeja, on Monday referred a case instituted on behalf
of two-year-old Nicole Adesanya, whose brain was allegedly damaged
during birth, to the state judiciary’s Alternative Dispute Resolution
unit.
Nicole’s father, Mr. Adebiyi Adesanya,
had sued the Lagos State Government, seeking N10bn as damages for his
daughter’s condition, which he alleged, was caused by the negligence of
government medical officers.
The Lagos State New Civil Procedure
Rules empower designated officials of the judiciary to transfer a case
to the ADR unit officers for possible amicable resolution.
Justice Josephine Oyefeso ordered on Monday that the case be transferred to the ADR Track for possible resolution.
The suit, which was filed through their
counsel, Mr. Don Akaegbu, on March 4, 2013, has Nicole and her father
as the first and second claimants, respectively.
Lagos State Government’s representatives
– the Health Service Commission, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide
Idris, and the Attorney-General of the state, Mr. Ade Ipaye – are the
defendants.
Oyefeso ordered the transfer of the case
after she granted an application by the state counsel, Mrs. Olubukola
Adeshina, seeking an extension of time within which to file government’s
defence in the case.
The application for extension of time
having been granted, the claimants could no longer pursue their own
application through which they sought the court to grant their prayers
as contained in the suit because the state had failed to respond within
the statutory time frame.
Adesanya alleged in the suit that his
wife, Funmilola, was kept in labour between June 22 and June 23, 2011,
for Caesarean Section that ought to have been carried out immediately.
He claimed her daughter, delivered
through Caesarean Section, “does not sit, turn, talk, walk nor show
signs of development inherent in normal children.”
Nicole’s brain seizures, according to her father, started in the third month after her birth.
The father said medical tests had
indicated that her daughter’s condition was caused by birth asphyxia
(lack of oxygen during birth).
He narrated how his wife was kept in
labour for more than 24 hours at Somolu General Hospital and later at
Island Maternity, waiting for the operation.
The claimants are therefore seeking
N1.5bn as compensatory damages for Nicole’s permanent injury, which
includes “physical and psychological harm, pain, suffering and
disability”.
They sought another order “awarding N8bn
as compensation for the father’s loss of his job in the course of
attending to the young girl, medical expenses and life care expenses.
Meanwhile, in its statement of defence
dated, May 24, 2013, the state government denied the claimants’
allegations, insisting that it was not liable for damages for any
injury.
The government’s statement of defence
read in part, “The defendants aver further that all the tests carried
out so far on the first claimant (Nicole) could not conclusively
establish a link between the alleged delay on the part of defendant’s
medical team to perform Caesarean Section and the medical condition the
first claimant is exhibiting presently.”
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