Following the recent death of a COVID-19 patient in Lagos, a Nigerian medical doctor identified as Dr. Olufunmilayo has alleged that the family of the dead patient lied about his health status.
According to Dr. Olufunmilayo, the family failed to disclose his travel history to the medical personnel at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, where the man died.
They even lied he only felt tiredness and ordinary fever.
He wrote:
A man came to LUTH Lagos. Said he had only fever/tiredness. But he had cough and just came back from Europe- but family hid that information. He died today of Coronavirus. Many doctors and nurses exposed. Pls DO NOT LIE when you go to hospitals. That lie can get people killed.
Doctors were exposed. Nurses were exposed. Cleaners were exposed. Many innocent health workers were exposed to the man. Safe precautions were not taken because nobody knew early enough that this was potential Coronavirus. Pls don’t lie at hospital. Lies can kill health workers.
When you go to hospital, the truth you say is not just for your own good- it is for the safety of those health workers taking care of you. Health workers have loved ones too. If your lies gets a nurse killed, who will raise her children? Pls do NOT lie at hospital. It is evil.
Also, doctors and nurses can only treat you based on the information you give them. If you hide any vital information, it does NOT help you in any way. You will make doctors treat ringworm when your problem is eczema. Please do not lie at hospital. You harm yourself a lot more.
This happened at the Accident and Emergency Unit of LUTH in Lagos. And this patient was put in the same space as many other patients. Just imagine the same nurse or doctor that attended to him attended to other people there. The virus may have been transferred. This is evil.
There should be a law in Nigeria about this thing. If you lie to a health worker- or you hide vital information that puts their life at risk- you should be tried in court and jailed. It is evil to the health worker. It is evil to other patients who that health worker will see.
He further revealed that 4 doctors of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, are now in self-isolation over the family’s selfish and cruel attitude.
He wrote:
4 doctors in LUTH Lagos have gone into isolation as we speak. They were exposed to a patient in the accident and emergency room whose family has lied about his symptoms and hid the fact that he just came back from Europe. If your family is a health worker, Pls pray for them.
The patient was put in the same open space with many other patients who were also in the LUTH emergency room. Doctors, nurses, cleaners, and other health workers have been exposed to the man. The patient is now dead. And he is confirmed positive for Coronavirus.
So as we speak now Many doctors, nurses, health workers who attended to that patient without special protection outfit may have caught the virus. Except you are a health worker at the battlefront, you will never understand that everyday at work, these people’s lives are at risk.
4 doctors in LUTH Lagos have gone into isolation as we speak.
They were exposed to a patient in the accident and emergency room whose family has lied about his symptoms and hid the fact that he just came back from Europe.
If your family is a health worker,
Pls pray for them.
— #OurFavOnlineDoc (@DrOlufunmilayo) April 3, 2020