Court orders hospital to pay Letangule Sh2.7m over his wife's death

The High Court has ordered a hospital to pay former IEBC Commissioner Thomas Letangule about Sh2.7million in damages for the death of his wife, occasioned by medics’ negligence.

In a ruling last week, Justice Lucy Njuguna found that Family Care Medical Centre and Maternity did not offer Esther Kagwiria Letangule the care she required when she went there on April 10, 2013.

Justice Njuguna ordered the medical facility and a Dr Eric Sagwa, who was to attend to Ms Letangule on that day, to jointly make the payments.

She awarded Sh100,000 in general damages for pain and suffering, Sh2 million for lost years/loss of dependency, Sh120,000 for loss of expectation and Sh476,292 in special damages.

The total award is Sh2,696,292.

Justice Njuguna said the sum of Sh476,292 will attract interest at the court’s rate from the date of the filing of the suit in 2015 until the time of full payment, while the general damages will attract interest at a similar rate from the date of judgement.

What happened

The judge faulted the hospital and its team of medics for failing to offer the standard care expected of professionals applying the right expertise.

She said Ms Letangule went to the hospital at 9am that day and was received by a nurse called Kipchumba Rono, who called Dr Sagwa and informed him about her condition, and was then instructed on phone on the medicine to give.

The patient started convulsing but two doctors - Dr Wameyo and Dr Were - who were supposed to be on duty were nowhere to be found.

Ms Letangule’s condition deteriorated. Dr Sagwa had asked another medic, Dr Morris Onzere, who had taken his wife to the facility on the same day, to help Ms Letangule when her condition worsened.

Dr Onzere helped her to deliver then advised that she be transferred to a hospital with facilities and personnel who could handle her condition.

The judge said Prof Joseph Karanja, who had been sued as the second defendant, showed up at the facility at 3pm and advised Ms Letangule’s transfer to another hospital with better facilities but she died before this could be done.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board, which also looked into the case, faulted the hospital and two doctors for negligence.

The ruling

In the ruling, however, Justice Njuguna said, “Having analysed the evidence and medical records, I have come to the conclusion that there was a breach of duty on the part of the hospital and Dr Sagwa."

She said there was no proof of breach of duty on Prof Karanja’s part.

The judge held that Ms Letangule suffered for long and experienced a lot of pain while at the facility between 9am and 6pm yet she could have been saved had she been properly handled.

She ruled that Mr Letangule proved negligence on the part of the hospital and Dr Sagwa, saying he merely gave phone instructions to Mr Rono.

Check up

Ms Letangule, who was an insurance salesperson, went to the hospital for a prenatal check-up as she was pregnant at the time.

Then 37 years old, she woke up and prepared breakfast for her family then dropped their child to school in the company of family driver Elias Mutembei.

She complained of blurred vision, swelling of the lower limbs, a puffy face and a severe headache.

Later that day, Mr Letangule was called to the hospital to collect the body.

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