Kibuli hospital ordered to pay Shs 147m over baby death

The High court has ordered Kibuli Muslim Hospital to pay Shs 147 million in damages to Kyofuna Jaridah following the death of her newborn baby, ruling that the facility was negligent in the management of the child’s care.

Court heard that Kyofuna attended antenatal care at Kibuli Muslim Hospital from August 2018 until delivery, under the supervision of Dr Aturwanaho Dickens and other members of the obstetric team. Her pregnancy progressed normally, with no recorded complications, and an elective caesarean section was planned.

On October 5, 2018, she delivered a baby boy, Jibreal Jumah Sewankambo, through a successful caesarean section. Both mother and child were returned to the ward in stable condition, and the baby reportedly began breastfeeding normally.

However, trouble emerged the following night when the baby developed respiratory distress. According to Kyofuna, efforts to seek urgent medical attention were unsuccessful, as no doctor attended to the child until the morning of October 7, 2018.

By the time the baby was reviewed and admitted to the neonatal nursery, he was found to be anaemic and thrombocytopenic, with doctors making a provisional diagnosis of haemorrhagic disease of the newborn.

Court documents indicate that compatible donor blood could not be obtained from the hospital or nearby facilities. Acting on the advice of consultant neonatologist Dr Margaret Nakakeeto Kijjambu, the medical team performed an emergency direct blood transfusion using the mother’s blood.

Despite the intervention, the baby’s condition worsened, and he died on October 9, 2018.

Kyofuna argued that the hospital negligently handled her baby’s care, particularly citing the emergency transfusion, which she said was conducted in violation of the Ministry of Health clinical guidelines. She maintained that the procedure was carried out without informed consent, compatibility testing, or proper equipment, and that the rapid administration of blood contributed to the child’s death.

She further faulted the hospital for delays in medical review and failure to adequately investigate the baby’s deteriorating condition.

In its defence, the hospital denied any negligence, arguing that the baby was already critically ill before the transfusion. It maintained that the procedure was a necessary, life-saving intervention undertaken in an emergency after efforts to obtain compatible blood had failed.

The hospital also contended that, in the absence of a post-mortem examination, the plaintiff had not proved that any specific action or omission directly caused the baby’s death.

However, in his ruling, Justice Bonny Isaac Teko found that the hospital owed a duty of care to the newborn, which it breached through delayed medical attention, failure to secure timely specialist review, and shortcomings in the conduct of the emergency transfusion.

“Those breaches materially contributed to the death of the child, although it has not been proved that the blood transfusion, of itself, was the immediate cause of death,” the judge ruled, adding that the hospital is vicariously liable for the actions of its staff.

Court awarded Kyofuna Shs 17,368,600 in special damages, Shs 100 million in general damages, and Shs 30 million for loss of expectation of life.

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