According to Vanguard, a woman named, Mrs. Okeafor Suzan, has accused a Lagos doctor, who is the Managing Director of Holyfill Hospital, Ayelaje Joseph, of removing her womb during a surgery to remove fibroid in his hospital located in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.
Mrs. Okeafor claimed she realized later that her womb was removed, asserting that she didn’t give her consent for that and was not aware that the doctor did it.
However, the doctor, in a swift response, said the gave consent for her womb to be removed, having already given birth to two children.
Mrs. Okeafor, who spoke in an interview with Vanguard, narrated that when she first visited Holyfill Hospital sometime in early February this year to consult Dr. Joseph, he immediately suggested removing her womb but she objected to it.
According to her, after the doctor physically examined her, he said the fibroid, which she admitted she had been managing for a few years before then, had grown larger over time. He, then prescribed some medications for her to mitigate the symptoms that included bleeding and pain. The medications, according to her, offered some relief but she insisted on having the fibroid removed. The doctor later agreed to do the surgery and after her HMO’s approval, a date was set for the procedure.
She said:
“A surgery date was scheduled for March 30, 2024, but the doctor rescheduled it for March 29, 2024. After the surgery, I requested to see the removed fibroid, but nothing was shown to me. I returned to the hospital to file a complaint about the absence of my monthly period for April and May 2024. The doctor casually informed me, ‘You won’t see your period again, I removed your womb.’ I was shocked and asked why. He claimed it was what we had agreed upon, but that was untrue.”
“I was taken to the theater and shown a bucket containing human parts, and I was told one of them was my fibroid.”
Mrs. Okeofor added that subsequent scan results have confirmed that her womb had indeed been removed. She insisted that was done with neither her knowledge nor consent, claiming that she did not have pre-counseling or post-counseling session with the doctor and never signed any consent form to that effect before the surgery.
Nevertheless, Dr. Joseph, in a telephone conversation with Vanguard, insisted that Mrs. Okaeafor had requested the removal of her womb.
He said in part:
“She came with a complaint of bleeding and low blood pressure at 19 percent.
“She discussed removing her womb to prevent further pregnancies, having completed her family with two children.”
But Suzan’s husband, George Okeafor, corroborated his wife’s claim, insisting that he did not completed a consent form for his wife’s womb removal.
Mr. Okaeafor said:
“We only sought approval for fibroid removal from the HMO. All communications with the hospital and HMO were for fibroid removal.
According to him, on the day of the surgery, he only filled out a form requesting basic details while some parts of the form were for the hospital to complete..……See More