A devastated husband, now widower, Mohammed Mustapha, popularly known as Malopia, has revealed that his wife, whom he understands died due to negligence of the staff at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital), was cut open for an autopsy right in his presence.
Malopia shared with Pastor Nyansa Boakwa on Happy FM’s social and religious show, Nsem Pii, how he received an early 5am call from Ridge hospital, asking him to go there urgently, only to be informed that his wife, the same person with whom he had a lengthy conversation with just the previous night, was now no more.
He pointed that even before breaking the news to him, the hospital insisted that he have another family member with him. Luckily, he had an aunt around whom he called to come to fill that slot for him.
He stated that explaining the cause of her death, the word they used was ‘embolism’ but even though he has a science background, that was his first time hearing that word and he did not know what it meant.
Mohammed furthered, “They told me that I could request for an autopsy if I did not understand anything so I requested and they did it right in my presence. My main emphasis was on the cause of her death and the prevention because it didn’t sound well for me and I was initially in doubt. I spoke to the person and she told me herself that everything went well so why should I come and meet her and be told she’s dead”.
According to the man, he asked the pathologist about the causes and he was told that there are some underlying conditions that can cause this, however, his wife had none of these conditions, hence it was possibly post-operational.
“He told me that there are precautionary measures that could have been taken but he did not detail me about it because, on a professional level, he cannot tell me all about that, except answering what I ask him. He only told me that I will see the autopsy report when it’s ready”.
Mustapha preferred to keep the public oblivious of further details because he has filed a lawsuit and the issue is now in court. Following the death of his baby and his wife, he has filed a GHC5m suit against the Ridge hospital for medical negligence.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye