Grieving mother sues KNH, State over son's death

On October 10, 2022, Judy Muthoni woke early to fend for her two children, whom she left with her aunt for daycare.

However, a distress call from her relative that a tragic accident had happened would change her life forever.

Muthoni rushed home in Ndula Scheme, Kilimambogo, Kiambu County, only to find tragic news that her two-year-old boy, Travis Maina, was writhing in pain after being struck with a fork hoe on the head.

With his life fleeting right before her eyes, she first rushed to the government-owned Ndula dispensary, then Thika Level Five Hospital and then to Kenyatta National Hospital.

18 hours passed, and the baby died.

Ms Muthoni is now in court, arguing that the infant’s life would have been saved were it not for the country’s ailing emergency care system.

She has sued KNH, the Ministry of Health (MoH), Thika Level Five Hospital, Kiambu County Government and Ndula.

In her case, Muthoni said she rushed to the nearest government medical facility due to the urgency of the minor's condition.

However, she claimed that the day was a public holiday, and she was informed that Ndula had been closed, and no services were available.

She further said that she then sought help in a private medical facility known as Ndula Medical Centre.

It is at the facility, she said, that the nurse removed the handle and volunteered to rush the minor to Thika.

“We, Baby Travis, my sister, and I, who has since passed away, arrived at Thika Level Five Hospital at around 3:15 am. Baby Travis was taken by the doctors and assessed,” she said, adding that an X-ray and a subsequent CT scan revealed that the hoe had penetrated to the deceased’s brain.

Muthoni further said doctors recommended a pediatric neurosurgical intervention, which the hospital’s management allegedly indicated had no capacity to handle.

“I was informed by medical officers at Thika Level five Hospital that the facility lacked pediatric neurosurgical capacity to manage the injury, and that they had decided to urgently refer the case to Kenyatta National Hospital,” stated Muthoni.

Nevertheless, she claimed that despite the Kiambu County-owned facility knowing that the minor was in a critical condition, it only allegedly provided an ambulance without medical personnel.

She added that when they arrived at the national referral facility, things were not any better, as there was no emergency care personnel to receive them.

Muthoni argued that KNH had allegedly no personnel to provide information on what to do with the patient, nor were there emergency reception procedures to help them know where to head first.

According to her, she handed the boy to Kenyatta staff after a long wait, which was 11 minutes to 7pm and was admitted to the resuscitation room A, at the accident and emergency department.

However, Muthoni narrated that at around 6:55 pm, the minor was reviewed, then the doctors allegedly left them without giving an explanation and unassisted until 9:15 pm.

A second doctor, she stated, came and did another review and this time informed her that he needed a surgery to remove the hoe’s head from the head.

Maina’s mother told the court that doctors scheduled the procedure for the following morning at 7:30 am. It, however, never allegedly happened.

“I was instructed to hold the baby in an upright position, supporting his head while sitting on a plastic chair in the emergency room and not to give him anything to eat or drink. Although we had been told that the surgery would take place at 7:30 am, we were not attended to. We asked the personnel in charge and were told there was another emergency, and Baby Travis’s surgery had been rescheduled,” she continued.

Muthoni said her son was prepared for surgery at 12.30 pm, with doctors’ assurance that after two hours, they would get a progress report on the exercise.

She told the court that doctors came back with news that crushed her heart into pieces at around 2:55 pm, that the boy had succumbed to injuries.

“Following widespread public outcry, the matter was investigated by the Senate Standing Committee on Health. My sister and I were called to testify and gave our statements. The committee conducted hearings, reviewed hospital records and received testimony from various institutions, culminating in a formal report,” she stated, adding that the findings by the upper house were that Maina’s life would have been saved but systematic delays, poor coordination, and failures of emergency preparedness materially contributed to the fatal the outcome.

“Further to the above, I state that the conduct and omissions of the respondents subjected my son to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, violated his dignity, and denied him the constitutional right to life, the right to the highest attainable standard of health and the right to emergency treatment,” she argued.

Muthoni narrated that she lives with permanent wounds, knowing that her son’s life was not salvaged by an allegedly ailing government health emergency system.

According to her, KHN failed by keeping the minor waiting and languishing in pain for extended periods without definitive treatment.

She stated that Maina, being a baby and vulnerable at the time, deserved humane and compassionate treatment.

At the same time, she accused the MoH of failing to prioritize the Kenyan lives by putting up seamless emergency referral systems.

“The respondents’ acts and omissions reduced the deceased to an object of systematic neglect and administrative inefficiency, stripped him of the dignity owed to him as a human being and a child and deprived him of humane care in the final hours of his life,” argued Muthoni.

She wants the court to find that the health facilities and the Ministry violated Maina’s right to life and the right to the highest attainable standard of health.

At the same time, she wants the court to also find that he was subjected to 18 hours of cruelty and torture.

She is also seeking an order compelling the ministry and the county to offer a clear guideline on emergency medical cases, which will run to 2030.

Muthoni also wants the court to force them to come up with a single short code public ambulance number, which will be connected to an ambulance dispatch centre with trained personnel who ought to be deployed in emergency cases.

The mother of two is also seeking an order for clear standard operating procedures and guidelines on emergency medical treatment and referral protocols.

She is also seeking compensation for the alleged negligence and the pain and trauma caused.