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| The couple exchanging vows a few months before the passing of the wife |
However, the move for an out-of-court
settlement which was at the instance of the defendants- the Ghana Health
Service (GHS), the Ministry of Health (MoH), Attorney General’s Department (AG)
and the Madina Kekele Polyclinic- has been crashed following the plaintiff’s
rejection of what he describes as a measly offer.
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| Mr. Bernard Otu, the widower |
Mr. Otu, in a legal action initiated in
February 2016 at the Accra Human Rights Court Division 1, is demanding a GHC 5
million compensation for the death of his 38-year-old expectant wife and unborn
baby girl which occurred at the Polyclinic on Thursday June 18, 2015.
The botched settlement plan:
Reliable information picked up by The Mirror,
indicated that the defendants reached out to the plaintiff on the sidelines of
the case for an out-of-court settlement after the latter had filed application
for directions on Wednesday November 16, 2016 .
The Mirror found out that though the
defendants’ request was not officially channeled through the court, the
plaintiff obliged, given the persistence by former.
A meeting was subsequently convened on May 4,
2016 at the Legal Department of the GHS during which a meagre offer of GHC
10,000 was made to the plaintiff which was rejected outright.
Having followed the case closely, the
defendants have consistently failed to appear in court, and would not comply
with Order 21 of the C.I. 47 (Discovery and Inspection of Documents) as
directed by the court presided over by Justice Gifty Agyei Addo.
They were also not in court when the case was
called in the last two instances on June 16 and July 11, 2017 and have since
not filed any document on which they wish to rely for the case even though the
plaintiff had filed his as far back as February 24, 2017 and after near one and
half years since the litigation set sail.
The case will next be called on Tuesday October
17, 2017.
Background:
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| Mr. Otu (right) in a pose with his four children |
Cynthia Nuworsu, a trader and a mother-of-four
died together with her unborn baby on Thursday June 18, 2015 at the Madina
Kekle Polyclinic where she had reported the day before to deliver her fifth
child.
According to an autopsy report from the Police
hospital, she died of “raptured uterus” (a tear of the uterus) and “breech
presentation”, explained by experts as childbirth in which the baby exits the
pelvis with the buttocks, feet or any other part of the body as opposed to the
normal head-first presentation.
The husband, Mr. Otu, a driver by profession,
who is presently in a legal tussle with the medical facility described the
circumstance surrounding Cynthia’s demise as “medical malpractice” and a
“preventable death” which breached the duty of care between the facility and
the deceased.
He consequently filed a GHC 5 million law suit
against the facility and three others -the GHS, MoH, and AG- praying the court
to declare that the duty of care owed the deceased was breached, leading to the
painful death of mother and child.
Additionally, he is praying the court to order
a compensation to the tune of GHC 5 million in his favour.
her on Monday July 24, 2017
