The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) is facing a N500 million compensation demand over the death of a 59-year-old woman after she was allegedly given the wrong injection while recovering from surgery.
SaharaReporters first reported the development, which Orijoreporter obtained and is publishing with due attribution.
The deceased, Mrs Adegoke Mosekola Dorcas, died at LASUTH on January 24, 2024, after undergoing surgery for a right adrenal mass.
Her family, through its lawyers, Wale Ogunade Chambers, is accusing the hospital of gross medical negligence and wrongful death over the alleged administration of Vecuronium, a drug used to induce temporary muscle paralysis during controlled medical procedures.
The demand was contained in a September 14, 2026 letter addressed to the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo.
According to the family’s lawyers, Dorcas had undergone a right adrenalectomy on January 11, 2024.
The surgery was reportedly complicated by an injury to a major blood vessel, leading to massive bleeding and cardiac arrest. She was subsequently taken to the Intensive Care Unit.
The lawyers, however, claimed that Dorcas later stabilised and was moved from the ICU to the female surgical ward on January 14.
By January 16, they said, she was conscious, alert and communicating with relatives.
The family alleged that doctors had also certified her “FIT FOR DISCHARGE”, with plans for her to leave the hospital the following day.
But that plan was allegedly shattered by an injection administered later that evening.
The lawyers said that at about 7pm, a Principal Nursing Officer identified as Ilesanmi Temitope approached Dorcas to administer medication.
When her daughter, Mrs Oluwadamilola Awosedo, allegedly asked what was being injected, the nurse reportedly told her it was an antibiotic.
Moments after the injection, however, Dorcas allegedly gasped and said: “Mi ò lè mí mọ” — “I can no longer breathe.”
According to the family, she subsequently suffered respiratory collapse, seizures and cardiac arrest and was rushed back to the ICU.
The drug was later identified as Vecuronium, also known as Neovec-10.
The family’s lawyers alleged that the drug was administered through an arterial line which doctors had previously instructed should be removed.
They further claimed that the drug was given on a general ward without mechanical ventilation or the medical circumstances ordinarily required for its use.
AUTOPSY REPORT
The family’s claims are partly backed by a LASUTH post-mortem report seen by SaharaReporters.
The report, signed by Consultant Pathologist Dr D.A. Sanni on March 6, 2024, listed hypoxic brain injury, cerebral oedema and adverse drug reaction among the causes of death. Bronchopneumonia was also listed.
The report stated that Dorcas had been admitted for treatment of a right adrenal mass and subsequently underwent right adrenalectomy.
It documented an “iatrogenic IVC injury” during the operation, resulting in massive haemorrhage and cardiac arrest.
After her condition improved, she was transferred to the ward before being readmitted to the ICU on January 16 following what the report described as her being “mistakenly given vecuronium by the nurse on duty.”
CPR was commenced while atropine and neostigmine were administered in an attempt to reverse the drug’s effect.
Dorcas was subsequently placed on mechanical ventilation but developed persistent seizures and was treated with midazolam and phenytoin.
Her condition later deteriorated after she developed sepsis, and she died on January 24.
The family’s lawyers, however, maintained that Dorcas had recovered significantly before the alleged drug error and was preparing to go home.
They also alleged that LASUTH’s internal investigation established that neither Dorcas nor her family bought, supplied or possessed the Vecuronium.
According to the lawyers, LASUTH later refunded N759,750 spent on medications, reimbursed N550,000 for coffin expenses and provided N5 million as burial support.
But the family said the payments did not amount to settlement of its legal claims.
The lawyers accused the hospital of failing, for more than two years, to provide the family with the final findings of its investigation or evidence of disciplinary action against those involved.
The family is demanding N500 million in compensatory damages, alongside a formal written apology from LASUTH.
The claim covers alleged medical negligence, wrongful death, pain and suffering and loss of financial dependency.
The family is also demanding certified copies of LASUTH’s internal investigation reports, panel findings and any petitions sent to the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
The lawyers gave LASUTH 30 days to meet the demands.
They warned that failure to comply would lead to legal action at the High Court of Lagos State and petitions to relevant regulatory authorities seeking disciplinary and possible criminal action against those responsible.
The family also stressed that the N5 million burial support earlier provided by LASUTH was accepted strictly as ex-gratia assistance and did not amount to a waiver of its legal rights.
The controversy dates back to January 2024, when reports emerged that Dorcas had slipped into a coma at LASUTH after allegedly receiving the wrong medication.
LASUTH had said at the time that it was investigating the incident and would make its findings available.
