RESEARCH PROPOSAL

GASIOKWU GOODNESS FAVOUR

Suggested Title of Thesis

ANALYSIS OF MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE IN NIGERIA AND ITS IMPACT ON PATIENTS

HUMAN RIGHTS

Details of the proposal

INTRODUCTION

The services of medical practitioners are of paramount importance everywhere in the

world and they are expected to exercise sufficient practice of experience and skill to help people
from health damages and harm however in recent times, there has been an increase in reports of
medical negligence in Nigeria as experience has shown that patients sometimes do not receive
such care as commensurate with the seriousness of their conditions1, principally attributed to the
lack of sufficient/qualified medical practitioners and infrastructure in the health sector, some
studies show cases ranging from wrong diagnosis, administering wrong treatment, accidentally
severing vital blood vessels or nerves and handling of patients by unqualified health personnel2.
One of the cornerstones of healthcare is patient safety. Patient safety is acknowledged as a global
public health concern. Acknowledging this difficulty, relevant institutions have put in place
systems to promote better patient care and safety. Commemorating World Patient Safety Day on
September 17, 2019, the world observes this day annually. The World Health Organization
(WHO) designated this day to raise awareness among all relevant parties in the healthcare system
of the vital necessity of patient safety and to push for its enhancement.3

In the course of providing care to a patient, a registered medical practitioner is held accountable
for professional negligence if he does not exercise the skill or act with the degree of care that is
expected of his experience and status. This can happen when he neglects to provide emergency
care to a patient when he is in the position to do so also a medical practitioner is held
accountable for medical negligence if he blatantly displays incompetence in the assessment of
the patient, such as making a wrong diagnosis where the clinical features were so obvious that no
skilled practitioner could have failed to notice them. Medical errors such as prescribing the wrong
medicine, prescribing the wrong dose of medicines, amputation of the wrong limb, operating on the wrong
side or carelessness that result in the termination of pregnancies all constitute negligence. A research
analysis conducted by the volunteering group I belong to the Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN)
revealed that 90% of the deaths in Nigerian hospitals are caused by medical negligence. Medical

1
Costly error: Tales of patients killed, disabled by health workers negligence, Available at
https://punchng.com/costly-error-tales-of-patients-killed-disabled-workers-negligence
2
I.P, Enemo, ‘Medical Negligence: Liability of Health Care Providers and Hospital’ (2011- 2012) 10 Nig. J.R.
3
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/patient-safety Accessed March 2024

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negligence directly impacts people’s rights to life, health and appropriate medical care, making it a grave
human rights violation. It is also possible for therapeutic error or negligence to be held legally liable as a
violation of a patient’s basic human rights. The relevant basic human rights of a patient should be borne as
a main priority and securely protected in the course of medical treatment and therapy by clinical experts.
Medical negligence violates multiple international human rights law instruments including the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the ICCPR, the ICESCR and others, it also infringes on various human
rights that exist outside the scope of commercial or tortuous liability. Numerous international human rights
instruments may be violated in different ways by medical negligence.

My educational and personal experience over the past few years has fueled my aspiration to
further my master's in law at a research-intensive institution, which could help me acquire the expertise
required to advance in my chosen field of specialization, finding solutions to long-standing issues and
turning my passions into goals.

Research Methodology

The key objective of this research is to critically analyze the impact of medical negligence in Nigeria and
its effect on the human rights of patients, the methodology for this research will be a combination of
doctrinal, historical and a comparative law approach. The doctrinal approach will be applied to set out the
current state of the law in Canada and Nigeria, the historical approach will show how the laws and
principles have evolved, and the comparative law approach will involve a comparison of both human
rights laws and principles. The comparative approach will provide a framework that will consider the laws
safeguarding medical malpractices/ human rights, discover how well they have worked and the lessons
Nigeria law can learn. This study is conducted taking into account secondary sources such as existing legal
documents, international human rights conventions, scholarly articles and data published in different
books and journals to ultimately identify the rights which are breached by medical practitioners and
experts who fail to meet the required standard of care.

Research Questions

 What are the impacts of medical negligence on the rights patients?

 What are the regulatory measures that have been put in place to redress such cases?
 What are the current tort system for medical malpractices in Canada and its lapses?
 How does medical negligence impact patient’s right to health and access to quality
healthcare services?
 In what ways can patient advocacy groups and legal aid services contribute to supporting
individuals affected by medical negligence and human rights violations in the healthcare
system
 How do healthcare provider’s attitudes, practices and communications affect patient’s
human rights in cases of medical negligence?
 What are the barriers and challenges faced by patients in seeking redress and remedies for
human rights violations related to medical negligence?

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  What are the common types and causes of human rights violations resulting from medical
negligence internationally?
 What role do legal frameworks, regulations and accountability mechanisms play in
addressing human rights violations due to medical negligence?
 How can international human rights frameworks and standards be effectively applied to
prevent, address and remedy human rights violations caused by medical negligence in
Nigeria?

Significance of study

The main significance of the study is that it gives an insight analysis of the reasons for medical
malpractice/ negligence complaints, provides a comprehensive understanding of the negative effects of
medical negligence on a patient’s life and the quality of life of such patients, it should be understood that
harmful consequences due to medical negligence, error and malpractices are in violation of certain human
rights of patients, exploring the research questions as provided above can contribute to a deeper
understanding of the complex issues surrounding human rights violations in the context of medical
negligence and advocate for certain policies that will promote patient safety and the protection of human
rights in healthcare settings. The author of this research paper seeks to identify specific ways to prevent
them and implicitly improve the medical practice in Nigeria, to do so the author seeks to make a
comparative analysis about the Nigerian laws alongside other laws enacted in Canada which are much
more developed and advanced, determine essential pointers on what and what not to do to substantially
enhance the human rights of patients and avoid the constant reoccurrence of medical negligence.

List of preliminary Reading

Secondary Materials: Articles

 B. Hanganu, M. Lorga: Reasons for and Facilitating Factors of Medical Malpractice

Complaints. What can be done to prevent them? (2020)
 L.P Freedman: Human Rights, Constructive Accountability and Maternal Mortality in the
Dominican Republic: A Commentary. International Journal of Gynecology (2003) Vol82,
No1 pg 114
 E. Nelson: Some Questions about No-Fault Reform of the Medical Liability System
(2021)
 F. Macdonald: The Criminalization of Medical Mistakes in Canada: A Review, Health
Law Journal (2008) Vol16
 D. Momodu, Oseni T.I.A: Medical Duty of Care: A Medico-Legal Analysis of Medical
Negligence in Nigeria “American International Journal of Contemporary Research”
(2019) Vol 9 pg 56.
 P. Moffet and G. Moore: The Standard of Care: Legal History and Definition: Bad and
Good News “Western Journal of Emergency Medicine” (2011) Vol12 No2 pg 1

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  P. Enemo: Medical Negligence: Liability of Healthcare Providers and Hospitals The
Nigerian Juridical Review10 (2012) pg1
 B.A Ushie, K.K Salami, A.S Jegede: Patients Knoelege and Perceived Reactions to
Medical Errors in the Tertiary Health Facility in Nigeria African Health Sciences (2013)
Vol 13 No2 pg820.
 G. P Marchidon, S. Allin, S. Merkur: Canada Health System Review Health Systems in
Transition (2020) Vol22 No. 3 Pg 101
 D. Pranka: The Price of Medical Negligence- Should it be judged by the Criminal Court
in the Context of the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights? Baltic
Journal of Law and Politics (2021) Vol14 No1 pg 124-152
 K. Fyanka: An Assessment of the Right to Privacy and Confidentiality of Patients in the
context of Medical Negligence, Error and Malpractice in Nigeria African Journal of law
and Human Rights (2023) Vol 7 No 1 pg 1
 Shahinoor Khanam, Afronza Perveen “Medical Negligence and Liability: A perspective
from violation of international human rights law”. World Journal of Advanced Research
and Reviews (2023) Vol 18 No2 Pg 45

Secondary Materials: Online Materials

 B. Zipursky: “The Fraud on the Market Tort” Available at

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2346315 accessed 13th March 2024

 D. Goguen, “Medical Negligence” Available at

https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/medical-malpractice/negligence accessed 24th April
 O. M. Atoyebi “ An Insight into Medical Negligence under Nigerian Jurisprudence”
Available at https://omaplex.com.ng accessed 13th April
 J. Dickinson: “The Criminalization of Human Errors in Healthcare” Available at
https://www.americanbar.org accessed 2nd April 2024
 Human Rights, World Health Organization. Available at https://www.who.int/news-
rom/fact-sheets/detail/human-rights-and-health accessed 1st April
 “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” OHCHR. Available at
https://www.ohchr.org/en/universal-declaration-of-human-rights. accessed 1st April
 Costly error: Tales of patients killed, disabled by health workers negligence, Available at
https://punchng.com/costly-error-tales-of-patients-killed-disabled-workers-negligence
accessed 2nd March