*Internationally acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie, who recently lost her 21-month-old son, Nkanu Adichie-Esege, after a series of medical procedures at a private hospital in Lagos, is demanding accountability from the hospital. In a legal notice dated January 10, 2026, she accuses the hospital of medical negligence and professional impropriety.
Adichie and her partner, Dr. Ivara Esege, lost their son in the early hours of January 7, 2026. The child, born on March 25, 2024, was referred to the hospital on January 6, 2026, from Atlantis Pediatric Hospital for diagnostic and preparatory procedures ahead of an imminent medical evacuation to the United States, where a specialist medical team was reportedly on standby. That was never to be.
Through their solicitors, they allege that the hospital, its anaesthesiologist, and other attending medical personnel breached the duty of care owed to their son, Master Nkanu Adichie-Esege. The procedure at the hospital included an echocardiogram, a brain MRI, a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line), and a lumbar puncture. Intravenous sedation was said to have been administered using propofol.
According to the legal notice, it was during transportation to the cardiac catheterisation laboratory after the MRI that the child developed sudden and severe complications.
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The notice blames the hospital for reportedly transferring the child between clinical areas under conditions that raised “serious and substantive concerns” about compliance with patient-safety protocols, even as he was under sedation.
The parents also allege that their son was transferred without supplemental oxygen, without adequate monitoring, and without sufficient accompanying medical personnel.
He later passed away in the early hours of January 7.
They have now also raised concerns about the availability of basic resuscitation equipment at the hospital, delayed recognition and management of respiratory or cardiovascular compromise, and an overall failure to comply with established paediatric anaesthesia, patient-transfer, and safety protocols.
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