Today, Toye Arulogun will be asking a Federal High Court in Abeokuta to declare Faith Academy and the Covenant University Health Centre, along with their staff, guilty of negligence, leading to the death of his daughter, Morenike Yireobong Toye-Arulogun, a JSS1 boarder with Faith Academy. She had complained of a headache and chills at the Convenant health centre but by the time a test was conducted four days later, she was semi-conscious.
The young girl was diagnosed with cerebral malaria, decreased urine production and acute kidney failure. She was referred to two other hospitals but she never regained consciousness. She was 11 years old when she passed away on November 21, 2008.
Child killer
"Malaria does not begin at the cerebral level," said Mr. Arulogun, her father, who lives in Ijaiye, Ogba, Lagos. "It degenerates when it is badly handled, and if they were more alert and competent, Morenike would still be alive. I am probing the medication, the source of the medication, the purchase procedure and the drugs administration for sick students in the school as at the time my daughter fell ill."
Miss Arulogun's medical report, dated January 15, 2009 and signed by Convenant's chief medical officer, Dr. Nma Ndubisi, states that she was given paracetamol, Artesunate and Fansidar when she complained of a headache and chills on November 13, 2008. The next day, symptoms persisted and she was "further placed on some antibiotics (Amoxyl) pending laboratory review".
By November 16, 2008, Miss Arulogun was found semi-conscious and talking irrationally. The doctors at the Convenant centre, suspecting cerebral malaria, decided to take her blood sample for investigation. By then, her blood pressure was 100/50 with a temperature of 39°C. The next morning, her blood pressure had risen to 110/80 and she was suffering from kidney failure.
"The week my daughter was administered paracetamol at Covenant University Health Centre was the week the Lagos State Commissioner for Health (Jide Idris) briefed the press on the existence of fake paracetamol in the market which was responsible for shutting down the kidneys of children," Mr. Arulogun said. "This is exactly what happened in the case of my daughter. I have requested for my daughter's medical file but Covenant University Health Centre has refused to let me see it."
Cerebral malaria
A medical practitioner, Tuyi Mebawondu-Olowu, of Medway Hospital, Obalende, Lagos, explained that cerebral malaria is a severe form of malaria affecting the brain and brain tissues due to a high level of parasites in the body which block the blood vessels, leading to the destruction of red blood cells and also the kidneys.
"In a proper quality set-up, you run tests before administering drugs," he said. "For there to be cerebral malaria, there must be a high index of suspicion. This means that for a child with a temperature of 39°C to be acting confused or drowsy, you have to assume it is severe or cerebral malaria or meningitis until it is proven otherwise."
Denial
But Ogochukwu Mbamalu of Jumbo Chambers, the counsel to Faith Academy, Convenant and seven other defendants named in the suit, denies any medical negligence or breach of fiduciary duty by his clients.
"The defendants say that due professional care and diligence obtainable in the medical profession were engaged and observed throughout the period the plaintiff's daughter was in their medical care," Mr. Mbamalu's statement of defence read.
The principal of Faith Academy, Oluyinka Oluwadare, said the school, which is owned by Living Faith Church Worlwide (Winners Chapel), did not fail in its fiduciary duties as guardians. She denied allegations that Miss Arulogun was not promptly attended to.
"No, it is a lie," she said. "The first day it happened that she was sick, immediately we took her to the clinic and immediately, the mummy (Miss Arulogun's mother)came. It was on Sunday and immediately on Monday, they transferred her to another place. So where is the mismanagement there? I thought he (Mr. Arulogun) has passed the stage of newspaper. I don't think we need to talk on the pages of newspapers again. We'll meet in court."
Little sympathy
But the Aruloguns, who were members of the Winners Chapel for 11 years, said they were informed of their daughter's condition on Sunday (November 16), four days after she reported sick. Mr. Arulogun also said that 11 months after his daughter's demise, his family is yet to receive a letter of commiseration from her school.
"Precisely on Saturday, January 3, 2009, the school's representatives visited me only once, six weeks after my daughter had passed on," said Mr. Arulogun.
"And that was because I wrote a protest letter to my area pastor. Why should it take a protest letter and six weeks to visit the parents of a departed student?
No obligation to commiserate
But Mr. Mbamalu, speaking on behalf of his clients, said there is neither legal nor medical obligation owed Mr. Arulogun "to formerly commiserate" with him, or visit him over the unfortunate demise of his daughter. But Mrs. Oluwadare said the school's policy is to write condolence letters to only people living outside Lagos and refused to explain the reason for the school's official visit to the Arulogun family six weeks after the student's death.
Mr. Mbamalu is also praying the court through a preliminary objection by virtue of S.6 (6) (b) of the Nigerian Constitution to strike out the names of seven of the defendants, including Faith Academy and its governing council, because they are not proper persons before the court.
But Mr. Arulogun's lawyer, Oluyinka Oyeniji of Banwo, Adeyemo and Igbokwe Chambers, said the defendants are recognised entities who by law can sue and be sued just like individuals.
"If these defendants are not juristic persons capable of being sued, then they have a question to answer why they parade themselves as recognised associations and conduct transactions in their names," Mr. Oyeniji said.
The first lady
For the Aruloguns, memories of Morenike "the first lady" Arulogun, who had wanted to be a teacher, are all they have left. She was the only girl in a long line of boys. The girl's grandmother said, when told of her granddaughter's demise, that her "mirror has been shattered.
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