The Bauchi State High Court has delivered judgement in favour of a plaintiff, Adamu Yusuf Misau, husband of late Zaliha Yahaya Muhammad who died after complications and negligence of medical personnel of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Bauchi in August 2020.

 

The Guardian had in 2020 reported that Late Zaliha, who was pregnant at the time, was taken to a primary health care facility within Bauchi metropolis where she was referred to the Tertiary Hospital for proper medical attention. The plaintiff counsel, Auwal Ibrahim Esq. argued that surgery was conducted on the late Zaliha at the facility while staff on duty told the family of the patient that she forgot to suture the wound while referring them to another facility, claiming that their Hospital equipment was faulty.

 

The claimant tendered evidence of a handwritten referral note. The claimant also argued that the late Zaliha Yahaya Muhammad was delayed for hours without being attended to by the personnel of the hospital. Although the defendant counsel, D.E Kaswe Esq. argued that delayed payment contributed to her death but the judge dismissed the claim, saying that the evidence provided by the plaintiff showed payment of N14,000 cash.

 

Delivering judgment on Monday, Justice Kunaza N. Hamidu of High Court no. 2, said that: “It is declared that the defendant is liable for the wrongful death of the plaintiff’s wife, late Zaliha Yahaya Muhammad, arising from medical and professional negligence in the course of her treatment.

 

“The plaintiff is awarded general damages in the sum of N10 million. Having regard to the fact that the deceased was already in a critical medical condition when she was admitted, though the defendant’s negligence materially contributed to the fatal outcome.

 

“The cost of this action is assessed at the N200,000 in favour of the claimant,” the judge ruled.

 

Meanwhile, the husband of the late Zaliha, Adamu expressed joy over the judgment, saying that the judgment has given him a sigh of relief after losing his wife and the unborn baby six years ago.

 

Adamu, a staff of the Bauchi Radio Corporation (BRC) had filed the case at the Federal High Court sitting in Bauchi while the court ruled that the case was not in its jurisdiction and headed to the state High Court.

 

He expressed readiness if the defendant decided to go to appellate court to challenge the ruling.