WHAT CHIMAMANDA’S LETTER MADE ME THINK ABOUT
Tales From Litigation by Lawyer Fredericka
As a lawyer, I understand Euracare’s strategy.
I just read Chimamanda’s letter about the death of her son, KanKan, and it broke my heart.
I sometimes put myself in the shoes of the legal team. The junior lawyers being tasked to find authorities that favour their client’s case should the matter proceed to court. The lawyers drafting letters, preparing responses, managing public outrage, and advising management.
And I ask myself:
What would I have done if I were their lawyer?
The answer is uncomfortable.
Admitting negligence can cost a company millions. It can damage a reputation built over years. It can lead to reduced business, layoffs, and consequences that affect hundreds of employees and patients who depend on the institution.
From a legal and business perspective, it is easy to see why organisations fight.
But a human being died.
No legal strategy can make that fact disappear.
KanKan died.
Chimamanda’s son died.
We care because aside loving her, Chimamanda has given a voice to countless others whose stories never made headlines, the patients who spoke up and were ignored, families who suspected something went wrong but lacked the knowledge, resources, or courage to challenge it and those who accepted tragedy as fate because they were taught that “God gives and God takes.”
Sometimes God gives. Sometimes systems fail.
The two are not always the same thing.
This is not the first allegation of medical negligence, and it will not be the last. The question is not whether mistakes will happen. They will. Healthcare professionals are human. Human beings make mistakes.
The real question is what happens after the mistake.
- Do we create systems that encourage transparency or systems that reward silence?
- Do we make it easier for patients to report concerns?
- Do we strengthen independent investigations?
- Do we provide affordable legal and medical review mechanisms for families seeking answers?
- Do healthcare institutions learn from mistakes, or do they merely defend against them?
Accountability should not be viewed as the enemy of healthcare. In fact, accountability is one of the things that builds trust in healthcare. Patients are more likely to trust institutions that acknowledge errors, investigate complaints thoroughly, and demonstrate a commitment to improvement.
Likewise, the public must appreciate that not every bad outcome is negligence. Medicine is not an exact science. Some patients die despite receiving excellent care. That is why independent investigations, expert evidence, and due process matter.
We must resist two extremes: blindly defending institutions because we fear the consequences of criticism, and condemning institutions before the facts are known.
Justice lives somewhere between those extremes.
If there is one lesson in all of this, it is that every tragedy should leave us with a better system than the one that existed before it.
The purpose of accountability is not simply to assign blame. It is to prevent the next preventable loss.
Perhaps that is the most meaningful way to honour those we have lost: by ensuring their stories make the system safer for those who come after them.
~ Lawyer Fredericka