–As Family Takes Dr. Nuahn’s Complaint To LMDC For Alleged Wrongful Death Of Lovette Tamba
A Liberian family has taken issues with the John F. Kennedy Medical Center for the wrongful death of their relative who was admitted for premature labor at the facility.
The JFK is the largest referral hospital in Liberia.
The Tamba family particularly took the complaint of Dr. Gonkernue Nuahn to the Liberia Medical and Dental Council (LMDC) for the death of their 32-year-old relative, Lovette Tamba, who was 26 weeks pregnant.
In their letter of complaint, dated January 27, 2025 and addressed to the Chairman of the LMDC, Dr. Benetta Collins Andrews, a copy of which is in the possession of the Hot Pepper, the family alleged that the victim died as a result of Dr. Nuahn’s alleged medical malpractice.
“We are very deeply saddened to formally complain the John F. Kenedy 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 with 26 weeks pregnancy when she started having mild abdominal pain on January 9, 2025 and was taken to the JFK Medical Center for care.
The family pointed out that Lovette was examined by Dr. Sannoh and admitted.
The complaint further stated 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 family reported that their relative, Lovette, was not transfused until she became symptomatic (shortness of breath); but later improved after the transfusion.
They maintained 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 2:59 a.m. on January 14, 2025 with retention of the placenta and bleeding per vagina.
“The midwife administered 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 4:00 a.m. (January 14, 2025).”
The complaint emphasized that the sister of the deceased, fearing that her sister (Lovette) was dying, went out to look for the doctors.
According to the complaint, 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.
They 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. 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 later today; 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.
According to the complaint, a doctor with Nigerian accent came to “round over” Lovette after 10:00 a.m. and asked for her to be taken to the theatre, where Dr. Nuahn and other staff were waiting; adding that, “this was after the morning meeting (8 hours after Lovette retained the placenta with associated bleeding)”.
The family emphasized that 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 after an alleged cardiac arrest. 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 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 was intubated (placed on an artificial breathing machine/ventilator) and kept in the operating room up to 4:00 p.m.; 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 a.m.”
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 (undeniable 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. Gonkernue Nuahn. The family and humanity is demanding immediate justice for Lovette Tamba,” the letter of complaint signed by, Joshua Tamba, a representative of the deceased family, stated.
When contacted via telephone, the Administrator of the John F. Kennedy Medical Center, Dr. Linda Birch, declined to respond to text messages and phone calls on the matter.
However, the Public Relations Officer of the JFK, Josephine Seekey, stated via telephone that the administration would comment on the allegation at the appropriate time as the matter is already being investigated by the LMDC.
The Chairman of the LMDC, Dr. Benetta Collins Andrews, confirmed that the complaint has been filed by the Tamba 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 procedure and practice.