• Wife, 62, had respiratory distress syndrome and needed to be on oxygen
• Hospital denies claims saying she came in frail
A distressed man has sued Karen Hospital for alleged medical negligence that led to the death of his wife.
Joseph Evans Karubiu sued the hospital after his wife Esther Wanjiku died of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) at the hospital in Meru on August 11, 2017.
He now wants Sh200,000 in compensation from the facility.
According to Karubiu's statement filed in court, his wife, who was 62 years old, was examined by a doctor at the institution and was put on oxygen.
“After 20 minutes, my better half ran out of oxygen and eventually passed on as I watched haplessly. I blame the defendant because of medical negligence on the part of its staff at its Meru branch,” the father of four said through lawyer Carpeters Mbaabu.
According to Medline Plus, the disease is mainly caused by a lack of a slippery substance in the lungs called surfactant.
This substance helps the lungs fill with air and keeps the air sacs from deflating.
Karubiu blamed the hospital for failing to replenish the essential gas to his spouse. He said the medic who attended to his wife left her for dead to attend to two other patients who came later at the private hospital.
“ I promptly informed and pleaded with the doctor sitting there to replace the oxygen if they did not have more, to connect the inhaler or use the hand-operated gadget or release her so that we could take her to another hospital, but he declined and did not offer any other form of assistance to her,’’ court documents say.
He said his claim against the defendant is for general damages for pain and suffering, loss of expectation of life, loss of dependency and special damages of Sh212,151.
The hospital, however, refuted the claims of negligence saying the deceased arrived at the facility in frail condition.
Through Munene Wambugu and Kiplagat Advocates, the hospital said the deceased was being assisted to walk and had severe respiratory distress and was immediately put on oxygen.
In their response through court documents, the hospital, which was started in 2006, denied the allegations saying they referred her to Kiirua Mission Hospital.
“It avers that while waiting for the ambulance and while the plaintiff was still on oxygen, her condition worsened and attempts for resuscitation was done," the hospital said.
"The defendants took all efforts in an attempt to resuscitate the deceased, but she succumbed to her illness."
The matter will be heard on August 14 before Meru resident magistrate Edward Tsimonjero.
Edited by R.Wamochie