Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has released a heartfelt statement expressing her deep dissatisfaction with Euracare Hospital's handling of her son's death and the subsequent inquest. The acclaimed author and her husband, Dr. Ivara Esege, lost their 21-month-old son, Nkanu Nnamdi Adichie-Esege, on January 7, 2026, while he was a patient at Euracare Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria.
Court Halts Inquest
Earlier this month, the Lagos State High Court ordered a halt to the coroner's inquest into the child's death. In a social media post on June 13, Adichie accused Euracare of frustrating their pursuit of justice by seeking a court order to stop the inquest.
She shared a letter dated April 16, 2026, which she had sent to the hospital following her son's death. Since then, she claimed, Euracare's behavior has deteriorated.
A Mother's Grief
In the letter, Adichie lovingly described her first son, offering a glimpse into his personality. She detailed how his death has affected her family, including his older sister and twin brother. She wrote: 'Losing a child is a parent's worst nightmare. The least any parent who has suffered such a loss deserves is the peace and privacy to grieve. Euracare has deprived us of that. We have instead had to contend with actions from Euracare that have poisoned – and continue to poison – our mourning.'
Sequence of Events
Adichie provided a step-by-step account of what happened on January 6 and 7. She stated: 'When Nkanu came to Euracare that morning for tests, he was conscious and talking and interactive. He was sick but he was not critical. After the anesthesiologist gave him sedation for his MRI, Nkanu never woke up. That was not meningitis. That was the result of his sedation with propofol.' She demanded that the death certificate be corrected, asserting that the primary cause of death was improper sedation, hypoxic brain injury, and cardiac arrest.
Hospital's Response
The author recounted that the hospital's medical director visited their home in Ikoyi the day after their son's death, admitted that 'errors' were made by the anesthesiologist, accepted full responsibility, and promised to terminate the anesthesiologist's employment. She also requested her son's full medical records and was told they would be provided the next day.
However, she said the situation soon changed. The medical director refused to release the records as promised. 'To our shock, Euracare put out an adversarial press release in the Nigerian media,' she added.
Adichie later discovered that the anesthesiologist had been fired from another hospital and had previously been negligent in the care of another child, who was flown to the UK and survived. 'Euracare seems to be playing a monstrous cynical game – to delay and stall. It is horrific that Euracare would choose tactics more suited to amoral situations,' she wrote.
Public Letter
Sharing the letter, Adichie wrote: 'I wake up every single morning with my heart racing. Did this really happen? My precious son, Nkanu Nnamdi. My KanKan, my diokpala. The ultimate and utter loneliness of grief is that only you can know the true depth of your despair. I long for, at least, peace to mourn, but Euracare Hospital has robbed me even of that.'
She explained her decision to make the letter public: 'I have decided to make this letter public because to keep silent about Euracare's evil is to enable it. Since the letter was sent in April, Euracare has become uglier.'
Adichie noted that it was Euracare that first applied for an inquest in January, stating that their son's death was unexpected and an inquest was in their interest due to 'rumours of negligence.' Yet, she said, they have stalled and obfuscated. 'Most egregiously, Euracare is now asking a High Court to stop the inquest. An inquest is a public judicial inquiry designed to establish the circumstances surrounding a death. It is not a trial. It is not a claim for damages. It is simply a search for the truth. If Euracare cares about the truth, then why create delays and distractions and now, finally, try to stop an inquest?'
She also revealed a threatening message from a hospital owner: 'A person high up in the hospital ownership told my relative – “I admire and respect Chimamanda so much that I don’t want her to go to court because her name may be dragged in the mud and bad things may be said about her since court cases are about winning and anybody would do anything to win.” What a manipulative and implicitly threatening message to send to a parent whose child died in your hospital. But this threatener does not know how fiercely we love our child. They can drag all they wish in the mud, but our quest for justice will continue.'
