The management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital,
Idi-Araba, has urged the Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Investigation Panel
to investigate the alleged professional misconduct of a Lagos-based cosmetic
surgeon and owner of Med Contour Aesthetic Clinic, Dr Anuoluwapo Adepoju.
The hospital, in a petition dated June 11, 2020, and signed
by its Director of Legal Services, O. O. Olajide, accused Adepoju of
professional misconduct during a surgery she performed on one Miss Nneka
Onwuzuligbo at her facility.
According to LUTH, Adepoju had continued to perform
surgeries despite the fact that her facility was sealed off by the Lagos State
Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency.
In an affidavit attached to the petition, the hospital
alleged that Adepoju referred the late Nneka from her facility to LUTH on
January 3, 2019, on the pretext that she was being referred from the General
Hospital, Odan, Lagos Island.
The affidavit read in part, “The patient was well until she
developed a sudden onset of breathlessness within 24 hours after the said
surgical procedure. The breathlessness was progressive and necessitated her
being taken immediately to the General Hospital, Odan, from the theatre.
“There was no reference in the referral note from the
General Hospital, Odan, about the details of the type of tumescent fluid that
was administered, neither was the volume and the type of anaesthetic used
provided. The breathlessness was said to be progressive. During the said two
days, the patient received oxygen and intravenous fluids at Med Contour
Hospital.
“The patient was referred to (LUTH) without an informative
referral letter. The accompanying note from the General Hospital, Odan, stated
that the patient developed orthopnoea 16 hours after the surgical procedure.
“The informative referral letter from Dr Adepoju, who
performed the surgery, was provided on the fourth day of presentation at LUTH
upon my insistence and persistent request. The said referral letter dated,
January 7, 2019, is attached herewith and marked as ‘Exhibit A’.
“She was noted to have significant deterioration of the
vital signs before referral to LUTH for intensive care management on account of
progressively worsening symptoms.
“Details of the surgical intervention subsequently received
from Dr Adepoju (Exhibit A) showed that she had liposuction of the anterior
abdomen, back, flanks and arms with fat transfer to the buttocks and hips. The
surgery was done under spinal anaesthesia. The tumescent technique was used
where three litres of fluid were infused into the patient and five litres of
fluid were aspirated. She had two pints of blood transfused before presentation
on account of anaemia.
“The account given about the patient further had it that
there was no previous history of similar presentation in past surgery of
myomectomy done three years before the liposuction and fat grafting. It was
revealed that on the second day after the surgery, she was noticed to have
persistent foul-smelling discharge from all the surgical sites.”
The hospital added that upon admission into LUTH, the first
surgical debridement performed on the deceased on January 10, 2019, revealed
extensive sloughing, with foul-smelling discharge from the deceased debrided
hips and purulent discharges from puncture wounds on the anterior abdominal
wall.”
It added that after the surgery, there was no improvement in
the patient’s clinical state, hence the need to perform a second surgery on
her, adding that after the second surgery, the clinical state of the victim
improved till the 28th day of admission, when her vital signs deteriorated.
Ugburo further deposed that the victim developed multiple
organ failure of cardiac, respiratory (Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome) and
renal failures and had a cardiac arrest on the 31st day of admission, adding
that after cardio-pulmonary resuscitation was unsuccessful, the victim was certified
dead around 9am on February 3, 2019.
However, LUTH alleged that Adepoju blamed the hospital for
the death of the victim.
The affidavit further read, “Dr Adepoju has in a series of
misleading and incorrect public statements in the social media absolved herself
from liability in the management of this patient and put the blame on LUTH and
its personnel, who availed the patient of their facilities and expertise. She
directly impugned the competence of the hospital and her senior professional
colleagues and teachers.
“Dr Adepoju further claimed in the video that the patient
‘walked to LUTH by herself’. This is false as the patient was brought to LUTH
in an ambulance accompanied by her sister, Quincy Onwuzuligbo, in a state of
severe respiratory distress.
“She (Adepoju) accused the medical team at the Lagos
University Teaching Hospital of being responsible for the death of Miss Nneka
Onwuzuligbo. She claimed this was due to wrongful positioning of the patient,
stopping all antibiotics resulting in mortality. She stated in her video that
liposuction and fat grafting is a new area of surgery and doctors at the Lagos
University Teaching Hospital are ignorant of post-operative management of the
condition.
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