An eagerly awaited Post-mortem report on Friday, 6 August 2021, confirmed that 53-year-old Aga Khan Hospital Kisumu nurse Caroline Mwenesi died while undergoing a harmful medical procedure at the same facility.
According to the autopsy report by Dr Dixon Mchana, a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test conducted on nurse Mwenesi’s spine before she underwent surgery left her bladder and brain heavily damaged.
Speaking to members of the press, the National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNAK) Kisumu Branch Chairman revealed that Mwenesi’s family, as well as her colleagues, now plan to seek legal redress against Aga Khan Hospital Kisumu whom they accuse of negligence that led to her death.
President NNAK Alfred Obengo shares postmortem results of the late Caroline Mwenesi.
Autopsy Reveals How Caroline Mwenesi Died At The Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu . Read More : www.uzalendonews.co.ke . . #Kenya #News #AgaKhan #nurses DEGREE NURSES ASSOCIATION OF KENYA (DNA-K)Imechapishwa na Uzalendo News kwenye Ijumaa, 6 Agosti 2021
Nurse Mwenesi who sadly passed away on the eve of Friday 31st July 2021 was an experienced critical care nurse who had worked at the facility for over 10 years and even famously provided care for late Baby Samantha Pendo during the 2019 post-election chaos in Kisumu.
In recent months, a back problem which she developed while on the job gradually started to worsen and prevented her from running her normal duties at the hospital.
As a result, a section of the Aga Khan Kisumu hierarchy including, CEO Jane Wanyama and the nursing director Elizabeth Kamau felt like Mwenesi was a weighty burden that needed to be offloaded.
They offered her an ultimatum to either resign or undergo surgery to fix her spine and resume full duties at the facility.
One of the requirements before surgery was a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test on Mwenesi’s spine.
But this was an idea nurse Mwenesi strongly refuted due to a past near-death experience with the MRI machine.
According to one of Mwenesi’s family and colleagues, she tried to explain to the administration that her oxygen levels normally drop when undergoing such procedure but it all fell on deaf ears.
“She tried pushing the MRI till last week when the nursing director told her if she doesn’t do the MRI she would be fired,” one nurse narrated.
“Medics compelled her to undergo a procedure which they knew endangered her life; either way, she was unwilling,” added Eliud Kidake, a cousin to Mwenesi.
Being a widow with a family dependent on her, the nurse chose to swallow the bitter pill and proceed with the risky operation just to save her job.
On Friday, July 30, 2021, nurse Mwenesi, accompanied by her daughter, went for the MRI under sedation.
During the MRI, she suffered a cardiac arrest which even the medical director, an anaesthetist, could do nothing about.
Mwenesi was then rushed to the emergency room where she underwent an unsuccessful resuscitation under the watch of Nursing Director Kamau and CEO Wanyama who had forced her to go through with the risky surgery.
She was later transferred to the ICU where after a few hours, doctors pronounced her dead.
So far, the Aga Khan Hospital management is yet to issue an official statement on nurse Mwenesi’s death.
When cnyakundi.com tried reaching the officials for comment, they declined, saying they were busy attending the funeral mass of the same nurse Mwenesi whose death sentence they signed.
