The Nigerian author is asking a federal court to stop a court supervised inquiry into her 21 month old son's death after the country's medical regulator flagged a possible case of medical negligence.
Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is asking a federal court to block a court-supervised inquiry into her toddler's death at a private Lagos hospital, alleging the facility has spent months stalling and slowing the process.
A panel set up by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the country's medical regulator, had previously found a possible case of medical negligence against Euracare, the Lagos hospital where 21-month-old Nkanu died in January. The inquest, a formal Nigerian court process to determine the cause of death, was scheduled to begin in April.
In filings reported by the BBC, Adichie's family argues that the inquest, as currently structured, would let the hospital close the case without proper scrutiny. "If Euracare cares about the truth, then why create delays and distractions and now, finally, try to stop an inquest," Adichie wrote in an April letter to the hospital's director, which she published on social media in her first public comment since her son's death.
The family's specific claims include that Euracare denied Nkanu oxygen, over-sedated him, and that he suffered cardiac arrest, according to the BBC. Adichie has also alleged that medical records she received were incomplete, with at least one described as inaccurate.
Euracare has denied wrongdoing and said it operates to international standards. The BBC has approached the hospital for comment on the latest court filing; its response is not included in the current report.
Adichie, the globally best-selling author of "Americanah" and "Half of a Yellow Sun," and her husband, Ivara Esege, had Nkanu and his twin brother in 2024 through a gestational surrogate in Nigeria. The surrogacy and consent dimensions of the case have not yet been tested in public filings.
The Federal High Court filing is the latest attempt by the family to keep the inquest from being quietly closed. "The ultimate and utter loneliness of grief," Adichie wrote in her letter, "is something I had not known before."
The inquest has not yet begun. A date for the Federal High Court hearing has not been published.