Mrs Victoria Paris, a pregnant mother of four reportedly dropped dead after hospital denied blood transfusion on religious basis
By Chinedu Ogu
A deeply distressing incident happened in Borikiri area of Port Harcourt Township, Rivers State recently where a young mother of four, Mrs. Victoria Paris, died after being denied blood transfusion in a hospital following childbirth complications.
Tentacle gathered that Mrs. Victoria Paris, who was seven months pregnant, was rushed to Standard Maternity Hospital after going into premature labour, good enough, a caesarean section (CS) was successfully carried out on her, but the woman’s condition deteriorated rapidly due to excessive loss of blood.
A brother-in-law to the deceased, Chris Adams, said the doctors confirmed that she urgently needed a blood transfusion, but the hospital owner allegedly refused to administer blood on her, citing her religious belief as a Jehovah’s Witness.
It was further learnt that matters got worse due to power outage during the procedure, which compounded the already critical situation. Family members were said to have made frantic efforts to transfer Victoria to another hospital, but despite their efforts, she was declared dead on arrival, leaving behind four children and her husband.
Victoria’s death has since ignited outrage in the area, with many questioning how personal religious doctrine could override life-saving medical procedures and wondering why certain persons should open hospitals where lives cannot be saved.
Legal and medical experts also reviewed the situation, saying that such refusal especially in a licensed medical facility could amount to criminal negligence, just as public health advocates urged the Rivers State Ministry of Health and Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to investigate the circumstances surrounding Victoria’s death.
“There must be a balance between religious rights and the sanctity of human life especially in critical care cases” one legal analyst said.
Victoria’s fate is similar to that of Mary Duke, 32, business woman who thought she was hale and hearty until she went to ante-natal check-up at the Moris Clinic, Port Harcourt. She was 36 weeks pregnant and expected to give birth soon.
Doctors reportedly discovered that her fetus was dying and as such decided to deliver her through a caesarean section (SC), but unfortunately, she died in the process. The doctors’ reports indicated that Mary died from bleeding complications.
Victoria and Mary have been added to the statistics and number of women who die daily as a result of pregnancy or childbirth complications.
Tentacle investigations revealed that some years back, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) reports that of 24 million live births yearly in Nigeria as of the time the survey was carried out, about 170,000 Nigeria women die due complications of pregnancy or childbirth. The report implies that one woman dies every three minutes.
Another man who lost his wife of eight years during childbirth, Eke Opara narrated that while he was at work, his wife Rosemary fell into labour. According to him, his neighbours told him that she was about to go to the hospital when suddenly the baby came out. The women who were around decided to help her finish the process at home.
“But problems started for Rosemary when the baby’s placenta did not come out and she started bleeding profusely. The woman who helped her with the delivery started rubbing her tummy in a bid to force the placenta out, she bled to death,” he said amid tears.
A Port Harcourt-based medical practitioner, Moses Wey, attributed the cause of maternal mortality to a number of factors, explaining that the most common direct obstetric causes of death in our country are hemorrhage, sepsis, eclampsis and anaemia.
Hemorrhage, which he said is excessive bleeding, accounts for almost a quarter of maternal deaths especially in the post-partum period, adding that it is usually unpredictable and could rapidly lead to loss of life if the woman is anaemic and prompt and appropriate saving-care is absent.
Wey, therefore, advised that pregnant women should attend clinic regularly so that their problems could be detected and treated in time.
“Going to the hospital should precede pregnancy. A woman should see a gynecologist for pelvic examination, hormonal assuage and breast examinations before thinking of becoming a mother,” he said, adding that expectant mothers should be properly monitored, especially during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy and six weeks after child delivery.
Many people who spoke to Tentacle said Victoria Paris should become a rallying point for reform in the maternal healthcare system in Rivers State and beyond. Catherine Udoma, a business woman, who decried the activities of quack doctors and nurses in the state, said most of them capitalize on ignorance to give them just any medications when they have pregnancy problems or during labour.
“You know nobody questions the usefulness of the drugs,” Catherine said and urged the Rivers State Government to look into the activities of these quacks who operate as doctors and nurses both in city and rural areas.
Victoria’s family and concerned citizens are calling for justices so that no woman is ever denied the right to life on the altar of religious belief.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Quackery Unit in Public Health, Rivers State Ministry of Health has sealed off the Standard Hospital and Maternity, as reports showed that the hospital has some questions to answer to the Ministry of Health and the public on its operational standard and its adherence to professional and medical ethics.
In a related development, a pregnant woman and six others including an operative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) were electrocuted following the collapse of a high tension cable in Okrika, a suburb of Port Harcourt.
It was learnt that the high voltage cable collapsed and fell on a residential building, instantly electrocuting its occupants and setting the structure ablaze.
Eye witnesses affirmed that the victims had no chance for escape as the electrical surge spread rapidly, touching the building and destroying property estimated at millions of naira. Among the deceased were a pregnant woman whose identity could not be immediately confirmed and yet to be named NDLEA official. The incident which happened about 2:00a.m., threw residents of the vicinity into mourning, but as of press time management of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) was yet to comment on the tragic incident.
