AN EVALUATION ON MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE IN NIGERIA

1.1 Introduction

Medical negligence is breach of a legal duty to care. This failure of duty may be caused by the omission to do something which a reasonable person guided by those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs should have done. It may also be doing something which a prudent and reasonable person would not have done. Medical professionals have to treat patients as per standard guidelines, satisfy relatives, and at the same time save themselves from possible allegations. Patients and relatives utilize audio–visual media to record the consultations. This has led to increased stress among medical professionals. Incidence of frivolous claims is also increasing day by day. Negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, or healthcare professional is medical malpractice.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Attention over healthcare issues has been received as health and human life have great universal value. Indeed the medical profession is considered a noble profession because it helps in preserving life. In the healthcare sector of developed countries, patient rights are of major priority. Typically, patients want excellent, caring and cost effective treatment, with their confidentiality respected and their dignity preserved. It is the expectation of patients that their physicians would be competent, humane, and efficiently able to detect diagnoses and address their overall healthcare needs. Regrettably, healthcare providers are notoriously known for not always meeting these expectations Madhukar & Shobha (2009).

Before in Nigeria, there was minimal awareness amongst the populace that there were laws regulating the delivery of medical services by medical professionals. This is no longer the case as globalization has occasioned an increased awareness of the rights of patients and the duty of care imposed by the law on those in the medical field in the course of performing their duties. Over the past few years, there have been published news reports of cases of physical harm and deaths occurring as a result of the negligence of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, laboratory technologists and technicians, anesthetists, ward attendants, and hospitals Titilayo Ojo (2018). Many Nigerians have been sent to an early grave as a result of the professional ineptitude and wanton disregard for human life exhibited by some medical practitioners.

In addition, the high rate of poverty in Nigeria has prompted many to seek the services of quack doctors. The decline in the economy has also led to an increase in the distribution and sale of sub-standard and expired medication by those in the pharmaceutical field. At the same time, the desire of some doctors, physicians and hospital managements to meet up with their financial obligations have led them resort to devious and unprofessional practices and this has had the consequent effect of causing harm to unsuspecting patients. The fact that most of the medical malpractice cases go unreported and very few are recounted in the media has further aggravated the situation Olutoye Oluyinka, (2016).

On the other hand, there are those who attribute the culpability for the rise in deaths caused by medical negligence to the government by citing the deplorable state of Nigeria’s healthcare infrastructure and the government’s unwillingness to improve it. The number of harm and death occasioned by the negligence of those in the medical field of practice has led many to question the legal mechanisms that are in place for addressing this rising epidemic. This study aims to examine some issues that may instigate the filing of medical malpractice lawsuits and critically appraise the position of our laws (civil and criminal) in combating the prevalence of medical negligence. This is necessary in order to engender compensatory and punitive sanctions against medical practitioners, who as a result of negligence have caused harm to their patients. The effectiveness of these punitive and compensatory sanctions will also be examined in terms of its capacity to deter medical negligence and its overall effect on the delivery of medical services in Nigeria. Additionally, few cases of medical negligence in Nigeria will be appraised.

The rise in publicized cases of medical negligence and increasing patient awareness of their rights and entitlements as it relates to the delivery of medical services has motivated an increase in the number of lawsuits instituted against private and public healthcare providers. Few cases have been filed against medical quacks because typically, those who patronize these individuals are those who live below the poverty line and who unfortunately are ignorant of their rights as it relates to any ensuing harm they may suffer as a result of engaging these individuals. In a small number of cases, successful lawsuits against medical practitioners have caused compensatory payments to be made to patients and families of patients. In fewer cases, sanctions have been imposed upon these medical practitioners such as suspension from medical practice or in cases of extreme malpractice; removal from the register of doctors (Osanyin La-Olu, 2016).

Over times, publicized reports of harm incurred by patients as a result of the negligent care provided by medical practitioners have raised public concerns about the state of our nation’s healthcare system. In the past, Nigerians have always had a rather lethargic attitude towards issues of malpractice by medical practitioners often resigning it to an “act of God” or “the work of the devil”. This is no longer the case as in recent years, due to the development of the Internet age and the globalization of information dissemination; cases of wrongful deaths occasioned by medical negligence have received both domestic and global attention.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the implication of Medical Negligence.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that Nigeria being the most populous country in Africa with an estimated population of 160 million carries 10% of the global burden of disease and is noted to have some of the worst health indicators in the world Samuel (Ujewe, 2013). Two-thirds of the Nigerian population lives in poverty (below one-dollar-per-day) (Kanu, 2017) and also lack adequate access to basic healthcare. Those who, as a result of good fortune, have had the means to access basic healthcare at one time or another have had negative experiences with the service that they received. Indeed in Nigeria, most individuals from birth till death have had a firsthand experience of the deplorable state of care afforded by our healthcare system.

Generally, the medical profession has been self-regulatory from time immemorial and research on the worldwide history of medical practice reveals that it has been characterized by malpractice for almost as long its existence (Yohanna Dangata, 2012). Lack of official records in Nigeria that identify the number of harms and deaths that have occurred as a result of medical malpractice has fostered unaccountability and apathy within the medical field and amongst medical practitioners. This comes as no surprise as till date most hospitals in Nigeria still manually record information and data of patients, including birth and death registration. In developing countries, most hospitals (private and public) have yet to adopt the use of computerized information collection and storage, which is the practice in developed countries (World Health Organization, 2019).

Despite the measured development in medical malpractice litigation in Nigeria, the disposition of the law and indeed our legal system on cases on medical negligence remains ambiguous. Notable issues such as the burden of proving malpractice claims and inadequate laws that combat the prevalence of medical negligence have been identified as major obstacles to the development of the jurisprudence in this area. Consequently this study seeks to give an appraisal on medical negligence in Nigeria by using University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu as a case study.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to evaluate medical negligence in Nigeria by using University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To understand the different forms of medical negligence among medical practitioners;
2. To examine the consequences of medical negligence by medical practitioners; and
3. To study the different damages awarded to medical negligence.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What are the different forms of medical negligence among medical practitioners?
• What are the consequences of medical negligence by medical practitioners?
• What are the different damages awarded to medical negligence?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant effect of medical negligence by medical practitioners in the area under study
• H1: There is a significant effect of medical negligence by medical practitioners in the area under study

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1.7 Significance of Study

This study will be of great significant to the medical professionals who have defaulted in carrying out their duties to their patients. Also, it will enlighten Nigerians on their rights and the need for them to seek redress once these rights have been infringed upon.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on medical negligence in the health care system in Nigeria. An extensive writing will be made on the topic medical negligence and the consequences of this action among medical practitioners. It will however be carried out among the staff and patients at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).