Patients’ rights violation and medical negligence have emerged rather than emerging and these two phenomenon have continued to occur and reoccur in the Nigerian civil society where either the hospital or the medical/health personnel have been found to have in one way or the other continued to be responsible for their prevalence.

On the 18th day of February, 2020, the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch (Unity Bar) under the Chairmanship of Mr Folarin Aluko took the lead on the 24th Discussion Series with the topic: ‘Patients’ Rights and Medical Negligence: Opportunities for lawyers’, with renown speakers/discussants from: Liberia and Nigeria, having a high number of participants of lawyers (most specifically) in attendance. The programme aimed at exposing lawyers to the need to always stand firmly in their duties to victims of patients’ rights violation and medical negligence in Nigeria, whether paid or not paid their professional fee. I observed that though, emphasis was placed on the need for lawyers to consider litigation much more than arbitration in medical negligence most specifically because it is until then that the public get more sensitized about their medical rights and the need to seek same when violated, though, this might not go well with some medical/health personnel who felt troubled by such position, with due respect to them, it is my humble submission, considering my experiences with victims of patients’ rights violation and medical negligence and as their defender, that it is not about the medical/health personnel but professionalism, ethics and safety of human life which litigation would rather stand to assure and ensure. This paper also aims at sensitizing lawyers on the need to consider areas of patients’’ rights violation and medical negligence as an emerged but yet uncovered area of law either as a lucrative area or as an area of service to God through humanity.

On the 31st day of July, 2018, at the State House, Abuja, the Consumer Protection Council-herein after referred to as CPC-, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health-herein after referred to as the FMH-, unveiled the Patient’s Bill of Rights-herein after referred to as the PBoR-, which was launched by His Excellency the Vice-President of the Federation, Federal Republic of Nigeria, with a high number of personalities from the health sectors, the legal profession, including my humble self, and other invited guests-ladies and gentlemen, ranging to almost or more a thousand. According to the initiators, the PRoR is an aggregation of patients’ rights that exist in other instruments including, the Constitution, the Consumer Protection Act, Child Rights Act, Freedom of Information Act, National Health Act, the Hippocratic Oath, other professional ethical codes and sundry regulations. Having participated at the official launching and unveiling of the said PBoR, I had read through and considered the contents of the said PBoR and had raised some issues arising from the said PBoR of what was my humble recommendation on what in my opinion, as a human rights activist, ought and or can be done to achieve the objectives of the Bill, in my article written and published following the occasion of the launch of the said PBoR with the topic ‘THE RECENTLY LAUNCHED PATIENTS’ BILL OF RIGHTS: A HUMBLE RECOMMENDATION FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT OPERATION’. The PBoR contained some rights to be enjoyed and or enjoyable by the patient in any health institution, such as: Access to information; patient related information, free related information; confidentiality, quality of care, patient’s dignity, access to emergency care; visitation, patient’s refusal of care; interruption of service by provider; and complaints, and all these rights entail patient rights, patient responsibilities and provider responsibilities.

On the other hand of the medical negligence, I agree with Adetola Kazeem Esq. when he said in his article titled ‘Legal options available to victims of Medical Negligence in Nigeria- Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, MCIArb (UK)as follows ‘Due to the low level of public enlightenment in Nigeria as to the rights of victims in the event of medical negligence and other professional misconducts, and sometimes because of religious or other social sentiments or prejudices, victims of medical negligence and other professional malpractice seldom institute actions in court for redress.  There is therefore a dearth of reported cases emanating from Nigerian courts.  There has however been a steady rise in complaints received by the investigating arms of the various professional regulatory bodies which upon establishment of prima facie cases are often charged before the disciplinary organs of the bodies.  An appreciable number of decisions of the disciplinary organs like the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal end up in the appellate courts. Applying the neighbourhood test, there is no gainsaying the fact that the doctor or any other health professional in a health facility is a very close neighbour of the patient who presents in the  health facility, to whom the doctor and other health personnel  owes a duty of care.  This is quite apart from the contractual obligation between the patient and the owner of the health facility, who in many cases in Nigeria, is the doctor himself. Civil and professional negligence are species of the tort of Negligence, although each of them attracts different results. Damages will normally be awarded in favour of the victim of the negligence (or his/her survivors, heirs or legal personal representatives if the victim is deceased) against a tortfeasor in the case of civil negligence, whereas a medical or health personnel adjudged to be guilty of professional negligence would usually be sanctioned by the appropriate disciplinary organ as laid down in the enabling statute.  The sanction could be admonition, suspension of the practitioner from the practice of the profession for a specified time or removal or erasure of the practitioner’s name from the professional register, that is to say, prohibiting the professional from the practice of the profession.’.

How could the public have known that medical/health practitioners have oath that they take which arose from the Hippocratic Oath found in Geneva Declaration in 1948, of which the General Assembly of the World Medical Association effected some modifications to the above oath and it now reads as follows:

At the time of being admitted as a member of the medical profession, I solemnly pledge myself to consecrate my life to the service of humanity. I will give to my teachers the respect of gratitude, which is their due. I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity; the health of my patient will be my consideration. I will respect the secrets that are confided in me even after the patient has died. I will maintain by all means in my power, the honour and the noble tradition of the medical profession, my colleagues will be my brothers, I will not permit consideration of religion, nationality, race, party politics or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient, I will maintain the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception, even under threat. I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity. I make this promises solemnly, free and upon my honour.’. This Oath has been further modified under Appendix 1 to the Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria, published by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.

Furthermore, it is true that in one way or the other, either one (including lawyers) is a victim of patients’ rights violation or medical negligence, or one’s parents or one’s spouse or one’s relative or one’s friend or one’s client becomes a victim and then seeking redress becomes inevitable but unfortunately, the victim might even blame him or herself for the negligent or unprofessional conduct of the medical/health personnel (e.g. of the doctor or the nurse or the lab scientist e.t.c.) thinking he is the one at fault since many of the times, the error would be concealed from him or her or his or her family members in order to avoid being held responsible for such result which might lead to permanent body or organ injury or death. Take for instance, my mother was a victim of medical negligence, my brother was also a victim of medical negligence and I have had clients who have been victims of medical negligence, in fact, one of my clients had died as a result of this medical negligence! The question is whether we as lawyers should allow this unprofessional medical negligence to continue to be perpetrated and be swept under the carpet without ensuring that the perpetrator is brought to book?! The answer is ‘NO!’. Therefore, we as lawyers must stand up for justice and for someone’s right (who is the victim) without fear or favour (paid or unpaid), as injury to one is an injury to all!

Finally therefore, without much more emphasis, it is my hope that as lawyers, it will henceforth be our firm decision to ensure that no patients’ rights violation and medical negligence goes unpunished and un-remedied, as a way of promoting the cause of justice as conferred on us by Rule 1 of the Rules of Professional Conducts for Legal Practitioners, 2007.

Email: hameed_ajibola@yahoo.com

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