According to Adichie, the family had traveled to Lagos for the Christmas holidays when Nkanu initially displayed symptoms thought to be a cold. His condition worsened into a severe infection, prompting admission to Atlantis Hospital, from where plans were made for an emergency medical evacuation to the United States scheduled for January 7.
The author said that a medical team at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore was on standby and had requested an MRI scan, lumbar puncture, and central line insertion before the flight. Atlantis Hospital referred the family to Euracare to carry out the procedures.
Adichie alleges that her son was sedated for the MRI and central line insertion but was not properly monitored. She described noticing hospital staff rushing into the operating theatre, signaling that something had gone wrong. Her account claims that Nkanu received an excessive dose of propofol, became unresponsive, was resuscitated, intubated, and placed on a ventilator, but subsequently suffered seizures and cardiac arrest, and died hours later.
She further alleged that oxygen was switched off during transport to the ICU and questioned why the anesthesiologist, who allegedly had prior cases of anesthetic overdoses, was allowed to continue practicing.
“How can you sedate a sick child and neglect to monitor him?” Adichie asked, describing the events as criminally negligent and a clear breach of medical protocol.
The author, internationally acclaimed for works including Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, called for accountability to prevent such incidents in the future.