The attention of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) management has been drawn to a viral news item on social media titled "Irredeemable Country" While the management is investigating the matter as the issue was first brought to our attention through the said publication, it is important to respond to the issue concerning "Autopsy" mentioned in the publication.
Coroner Law is a Lagos State Law, and the Law mandates that an autopsy should be carried out on a patient who dies within 24 hours of admission to ascertain the true cause of death. Thereafter, a death certificate will be issued. In many instances, patient's relations do refuse autopsy, as has happened in this case. In such circumstances, the hospital has a mechanism for resolution that involves our legal officer explaining the implications to the patient's relations, and this sometimes causes delay in releasing the body to the family.
It should also be stated that it is hospital policy to transfer the dead from the wards to the morgue for proper documentation before they are released to the family. The management is poised to investigate the circumstances of this case, but we are of the opinion that the writer who by his/her own admission claimed the management of the hospital was not aware, should have contacted the Head of Department of Anatomic and Molecular Pathology in charge of Mortuary Sevices or the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee (CMAC) or Servicom, rather than resorting to social media.
As a responsible institution, we will contact the writer and the family of the deceased to get full details of what transpired.
Thank you.
Dr. Ayodeji Oluwole
Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, LUTH