IPNEWS – The Intestate Estate of Daniel Nelson has taken the management of John F. Kennedy Medical Center to court for US$2.5m damages following the death of one Daniel Nelson.
The family of the deceased filed a complaint against JFK recently for the action of damages for a wrongful death resulting from medical malpractice against the late Nelson in 2020.
The Intestate Estate of Daniel Nelson claims that the deceased died due to the failure of nurses on duty to attend to him after being operated on.
Those included in the legal action are JFK’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Jerry Fahnloe Brown, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sia Wata Camanor, and all corporate officers operating and acting under its control. Dr. Robert Mulbah, Medical Doctor and Orthopedist (Orthopedic Surgeon), Dr. Siaffa Sando, Medical Doctor, and Dr. Daniel Garlo Urey, Medical Doctor/Resident-in-Training at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center, are also included in the suit.
After the Intestate Estate of Daniel Nelson filed a complaint at the Civil Law Court, at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia, Judge Kennedy Peabody issued a Writ of Summon on September 18, 2023, for the Management of JFK to appear on September 22, 2023. The management of JFK appeared on September 22, 2023, as per the order of Judge Peabody.
The defendant in response to the plaintiff’s complaint, filed a motion on September 22, 2023, to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint and JFK denied all allegations as contained in the complaint of the Nelson family.
Plaintiff through its lawyer, Cllr. Sundaiway E. Nelson Amegashie, Administratrix of the Intestate Estate of Daniel Nelson, prayed the court to grant unto the plaintiff, damages for the wrongful death of Daniel Nelson in an amount not less than US$2.5 million and grant unto them all further relief that may be deemed just, legal, and equitable for the pain, suffering, and psychological trauma that Plaintiff and the family may have suffered.
According to the complaint, the late Nelson, a 31-year-old male in 2019, fell and fractured his left femur, but the fracture healed completely after he received medical treatment of the fractured left. However, there was a mild deformity to his left leg, which was noticeable whenever he was ambulating, and the clumsy walking of the left leg embarrassed him and therefore, constrained him to seek medical consultation from an Orthopedic consultant at the JFK Medical facility.
The complainant explained further that based on the medical advice and assurance of Dr. Robert Mulbah, from JFK, the deceased (Nelson) agreed to undergo the surgery. but Dr. Mulbah failed to advise the deceased during the assessment of any risk of intraoperative errors or postoperative complications due to infection, neuromuscular injury, and hardware failure.
However, the surgery was performed on September 30, 2020, and the type of surgery is referred to as Intramedullary nailing (IM nailing), which is a surgery intended to repair a broken bone to keep it stable by forcing or nailing a metal rod into the medullary cavity of a bone.
The plaintiff said that the surgical team that operated on the deceased (Nelson) also neglected to check on him after he was transferred from the post-operative recovery room to the ward in pain and left him to suffer excruciating pain and bleed from his wound until he died.
After Nelson’s demise, the family requested the death certificate from the hospital initially, they refused to issue the certificate but later issued two separate and distinct death certificates with two different causes of death at the same hour of death. One death certificate declares that he died six hours after the surgery. while the other death certificate declared that the death occurred within 24, but both certificates indicated the same time as 5:55 a.m.
Due to the cause of death, the first certificate says, “Multiple Organs Dysfunction Syndrome due to Septic shock” while the second certificate says, “Hypovolemic shock due to post-operative intramedullary nailing for the mid-shaft left femur.
Following the death of Nelson, the deceased sister, Cllr. Amegashie, representative of the family, wrote several communications to JFK Management through the office of the Chief Executive Officer, Dr.Jerry F. Brown, requesting the medical records of the deceased to ascertain the cause of death, but JFK deliberately refused.
The complaint noted the behavior on the part of the hospital. The family on December 14, 2020, filed a formal complaint with the Liberian Medical and Dental Council (LMDC), which is the regulatory body of health institutions and healthcare professionals. LMDC also takes on the responsibility to investigate allegations of medical malpractice and sanction those found to be liable.
The LMDC constituted a five-member investigative committee of health professionals to investigate the cause of death of the late Daniel Nelson. Following their investigation, which lasted for three months, the committee compiled and submitted a comprehensive report to the LMDC on the cause of Daniel Nelson’s demise. The report found the defendants liable and recommended disciplinary actions, but JFK deliberately refused to implement any of the recommendations of the report.
The report found, among other things, that the health workers, including Defendant Mulbah, were negligent and recommended that they be suspended and that the JFK “reimburses all the medical bills and cover costs of funeral expenses undertaken by the Nelson Family.
It can be recalled that in the case “Action of Damage for the Wrong” the Jury on October 27, 2023, brought down a unanimous verdict of liability against JFK for one million as general damages and US$3,178.76 as special damages. The case is pending due to notice of assignments.
