• The family wants the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist's Council to hold the hospital accountable for negligence.
• Woman died after C-section from loss of blood; family claims hospital staff obstructs enquiries.
When the husband of Catherine Atieno Oduor got a call from a city hospital at night on July 23, he was excited, hoping to be allowed to see his newborn child.
Nurses at a private hospital in Nairobi had earlier that evening told him and other relatives the C-section delivery had gone well. They were told they could go home.
When the man reached the hospital later, he was told his wife had died. The body was moved to a funeral home.
A postmortem performed by chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor found Catherine had bled to death.
Multiple efforts to obtain a comment from the hospital failed as they did not pick calls or respond to other efforts to reach them.
Willis Sande, a relative who spoke on behalf of the family, said the hospital had frustrated their request to know the truth about Catherine's death.
Sande claimed one doctor was exceptionally brusque whenever they asked to see Catherine's complete file.
"A lady doctor kept on interfering. Each time they were trying to give us a report on exactly what happened the previous night, the reports did not correspond with what they had written,” Sande said.
“When we asked to see the file, she snatched the file and that was the end of the meeting,” he added. “The pathologist told us the cause of death was excess bleeding.”
The family wants authorities to take up the case and punish the hospital as well as the medical workers who treated Catherine for medical negligence.
(Edited by V. Graham)