Husband, expert blame hospital for woman’s death

By Adewale Sanyaolu

The last may not have been heard on the death of popular Lagos Chef and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of l Luv Desserts, Mrs Peju  Ugboma, on April 25, 2021, at Evercare Hospital, Lekki, Lagos.

Husband to late Peju, Mr. Ijoma Ugboma, while testifying at the inquiry into possible violation of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) Act, maintained that his wife died because of delayed medical intervention. The distraught husband said: “On hindsight, if the doctors who carried out the procedure on my wife at Premier Specialist Medical Centre (Premier SMC), Victoria Island, had referred my wife a day after the surgery to Ever Care Hospital, which has an ICU (Intensive Care Unit), and if they had listened to the counsel of the specialist doctor based in the United Kingdom, she would have lived.”

Ugboma, who expressed satisfaction with FCCPC’s redress mechanism, said, “I am satisfied because I think it took a lot of effort for FCCPC to put this together. I have stated my own case of what I witnessed and we have heard other experts speak. Unfortunately, Premier Hospital did not show up, and by virtue of that, Ever Care Hospital did not give their own testimony.”

Corroborating Ugboma’s claim, Dr. Ayoade O. Akere, a Chicago, Illinois, US based medical doctor and Managing Director of Family Medicine, which specialises in complete healthcare for the reproductive system in women obstetrics and gynecology, said that “anticipatory and early intervention would have helped in the case of the late Peju.”

In his testimony, which he gave virtually, Ayoade, who has over 33 years of practice, said: “Anticipatory care was not fully there. Her deterioration was too fast for their response. She was moved to the Intensive Care Unit too late.”

He said the deceased’s hospital case notes showed that she developed low blood pressure in the morning after the surgery.