Family, Lagos ambulance clash over patient’s death

A dispute has erupted between the family of a 42-year-old woman, Adunola Abiola, and a Lagos-based firm, Medical Ambulance Service, over the circumstances surrounding her death at a hospital in the state in November 2025.

In a letter dated December 16 and addressed to the Managing Director of the ambulance service, Mrs Dara Mould, the family’s counsel, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, said the deceased was a critically ill ICU patient who was ventilator-dependent and entirely reliant on continuous life-support systems.

Falana said the late Abiola, whose cause of illness was not disclosed, had previously been medically conveyed across three continents under strict medical supervision and remained clinically stable before she was brought to Nigeria last year.

He said upon arrival in the country, the patient was first admitted to Genesis Hospital, GRA, Ikeja, which subsequently referred the family to Emazur Multispecialist Hospital in Ojuelegba, both in Lagos, for further treatment. According to Falana, Mould’s ambulance service was contacted to convey the ventilator-dependent patient to the second hospital, based on the belief that the firm possessed the requisite competence, equipment and qualified personnel to handle such a critical transfer.

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However, while en route to Emazur Hospital, the ambulance allegedly lost power and completely shut down, leading to the failure of the ventilator sustaining the patient.

Falana said following the power failure, the personnel resorted to manual ventilation, which “severely compromised and destabilised the critical but stable condition of the patient.”

“This occurrence, in our considered view, demonstrates a fundamental lack of preparedness and constitutes a grave breach of accepted medical transport standards,” Falana stated.

He maintained that the company’s failure was inexcusable, noting that conveying an ICU patient requires fully functional primary life-support equipment, verified and tested backup systems, and immediate contingency readiness.

According to him, the ambulance stalled during the journey due to basic operational lapses, including insufficient fuel and the absence of a functional siren, which he said hindered timely navigation through the heavily congested Lagos traffic.

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“An ambulance assigned to convey a ventilator-dependent ICU patient must, at a minimum, be mechanically sound, adequately fuelled for the entire journey, and properly equipped to ensure uninterrupted transit,” the letter read.

The lawyer added that the company’s failure to meet these minimum standards amounted to gross negligence and a reckless disregard for the life entrusted to its care.

Falana said, “As a direct consequence of the equipment failure and the interruption of life support, the deceased suffered multiple cardiac arrests and tragically passed away shortly thereafter.

“Our client has strong and reasonable grounds to believe that the close temporal connection between these failures and her daughter’s death gives rise to a compelling inference of causation, for which your company bears strict liability.” [The Punch]