A Liberian family has taken issues with the John F. Kennedy Medical Center (JFK) for the wrongful death of their relative who was admitted for stomach pain at the facility.
The group complained one Dr. Gonkernue Nuahn to the Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC) for the death of a 32-year-old relative Lovette Tamba, who was 26 weeks pregnant.
In a letter of complaint, placed January 27, 2025, and addressed to the Chairperson of the LMDC, Benetta Collins Andrews, the family alleged that the victim died as a result of alleged medical malpractice on the part of Dr. Nuahn.
The family said, “We are very deeply saddened to formally complain the John F. Kennedy Medical Center, Dr. Gonkernue Nuahn and other personnel/Staff to be identified who were involved with the care of our deceased family member Lovette Tamba who died from Medical malpractice in the Operating Theatre of the JFK Maternity Hospital on January 14, 2025.”
The victim, according to the family, was perfectly well at 26 weeks of pregnancy when she started to feel abdominal pain on January 9, 2025 and was taken to the JFK Medical Center for care.
They pointed out that Lovette was assessed by Dr. Sannoh and admitted, disclosing that Dr. Sannoh informed the family that “cervix was tip of finger, with no leakage of amniotic fluid.”
According to the family, the victim managed on Metronidazole infusion, nifedipine, ceftriaxone (which was stopped until and later started) among others.
“Her hemoglobin on admission was 8.2g/dL. She started to shiver and to have preterm rupture of membrane leading to mild leakage of amniotic fluid. She was then restarted on IV Ceftriaxone, ampicillin and Amoxicillin; the fetal heart rate began to drop after the administration of the medication curtail; erythromycin was later added,” the letter maintained.
The family reported that their relative Lovette was not transfused until she became symptomatic (shortness of breath); but later improved after the transfusion.
They asserted that the abdominal pain worsened during the admission and review by Dr. Kamara showed that the victim was 4cm dilated at which time a decision was taken to take her to the labor ward.
At the labor ward, the family claimed that Lovette “expelled a dead fetus at 2:59AM on January 14, 2025 with retention of the placenta and bleeding per vagina.”
“The midwife administer 40mg of Buscopan with oxytocin after the fetus was passed; the midwife called the doctors immediately, but they failed to come; Lovette continued to bleed continuously up to 4:AM (January 14, 2025),” the letter noted.
Their letter further emphasized that the sister of the deceased, fearing that her sister (Lovette) was dying went out to look for the doctors, pointing out that the sister of the victim was able to get Dr. Kamara who immediately went to see Lovette at the time her cervix was already closed.
The family maintained that Dr. Kamara called another Doctor on loud speaker who instructed him/Dr. Kamara to take Lovette to the theatre immediately for removal of placenta under anesthesia.
“Her pulse was abnormal by then (105-110 beats/min) but other vitals were normal. Urine bag had 1200mls of urine when she was taken up. A family member (Medical Doctor) followed her to the theatre where the procedure was due to take place but to her surprise, Lovette was lying in the recovery still bleeding.
According to the letter,she then asked why her sister was doing in the recovery room wondering if the procedure was completed. One Dr. Kamara informed her that the procedure will be done after the morning meeting; that they were waiting for Dr. Nuahn (Anesthesiologist) to come.
The Tamba family stated that the victim continued to bleed until her hemoglobin dropped to 6g/dL, noting that a doctor with Nigerian accent came to ‘round over” Lovette after 10:00 AM and asked for Lovette to be taken to the theatre where Dr. Nuahn and other staff were waiting.
They asserted, “This was after the morning meeting (8 hours after Lovette retained the placenta with associated bleeding).”
The victim’s sister, who is a medical doctor, was denied entry into the theatre because she was a “patient relative” coupled with lack of scrub for her to wear.
“The doctor relative saw the hospital staff running up and down shortly after her sister was taken into the theatre; the JFK staff from the operation room were heard asking the pharmacist “give me tranexamic acid and adrenalin quick, we will later bring the chart for you to mark it.
Lovette died on the operating table as they were looking for medication to resuscitate her. Interestingly, when her sister died on the operating table at the hands of Dr. Nuahn, disposable gown was found, and she was allowed to go in and see her,” the complaint alleged.
The family further claimed that Lovette’s sister could not palpate the radial, or the jugular pulses and the victim was cold with no obvious sign of life.
“Her sister asked Dr. Nuahn to explain what happened to her sister; Dr. Nuahn told the deceased’s sister that Lovette had cardiac arrest which could be due to anemic heart failure or medication.
In a bid to cover her death up, her dead remains were incubated and kept in the Operating room up to 4 pm; she was later moved into the ICU where she was kept for two days before she was declared dead on January 16, 2025, at 5:44 AM,” they asserted.
The complaint maintained that the victim’s sister Dr. Precious Tamba visited her to the hospital shortly after she was transferred to the ICU and found her pupils dilated, fixed and unresponsive light (signs of death).
“The ICU nurses immediately told her (Dr. Tamba) not to touch the patient for infection prevention purposes. As if this was not bad enough, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center issued a falsified death Certificate (attached) to the family this morning (13 days after her untimely death) stating that Lovette died from multiple organ failure due to cardiac arrest.
She suffered at the hands of the Anesthesiology Dr. Gonkarnue Nuahn. We are demanding immediate justice for Lovette Tamba,” the letter of complaint signed by, Joshua Tamba, a representative of the deceased family stated.
Meanwhile, the public Relations Officer of the JFK Josephine Seekey stated that the administration would comment on the allegation at the appropriate time as the matter is already being investigated by the Council.
The Chairman of the LMDC Dr. Benetta Collins Andrews confirmed that the complaint has been filed by the Tamba’s family to the Council.
According to her, the matter has been sent to the Grievance and Ethics Committee, comprising of members who are not in the employ of the LMDC, to commence the investigation in keeping with the normal procedures and practices.
“The case has been forwarded to the committee and they should be able to call them (parties involved) very soon because cases are looked at on a first come first serve basis.
Another thing is when sitting for cases, the people we have don’t work for LMDC. They use their professional expertise based on the specialty involved. We need to give them sitting fees and we supposed to get money from government,” she added.
