A dispute has erupted between the family of a 42-year-old woman, Adunola Abiola, and a Lagos-based firm, Medical Ambulance Service, over the circumstances surrounding her death at a hospital in the state in November 2025.
In a letter dated December 16 and addressed to the Managing Director of the ambulance service, Mrs Dara Mould, the family’s counsel, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, said the deceased was a critically ill ICU patient who was ventilator-dependent and entirely reliant on continuous life-support systems.
Falana said the late Abiola, whose cause of illness was not disclosed, had previously been medically conveyed across three continents under strict medical supervision and remained clinically stable before she was brought to Nigeria last year.
He said upon arrival in the country, the patient was first admitted to Genesis Hospital, GRA, Ikeja, which subsequently referred the family to Emazur Multispecialist Hospital in Ojuelegba, both in Lagos, for further treatment.
According to Falana, Mould’s ambulance service was contacted to convey the ventilator-dependent patient to the second hospital, based on the belief that the firm possessed the requisite competence, equipment and qualified personnel to handle such a critical transfer.
However, while en route to Emazur Hospital, the ambulance allegedly lost power and completely shut down, leading to the failure of the ventilator sustaining the patient.
Falana said following the power failure, the personnel resorted to manual ventilation, which “severely compromised and destabilised the critical but stable condition of the patient.”
“This occurrence, in our considered view, demonstrates a fundamental lack of preparedness and constitutes a grave breach of accepted medical transport standards,” Falana stated.
He maintained that the company’s failure was inexcusable, noting that conveying an ICU patient requires fully functional primary life-support equipment, verified and tested backup systems, and immediate contingency readiness.
According to him, the ambulance stalled during the journey due to basic operational lapses, including insufficient fuel and the absence of a functional siren, which he said hindered timely navigation through the heavily congested Lagos traffic.
“An ambulance assigned to convey a ventilator-dependent ICU patient must, at a minimum, be mechanically sound, adequately fuelled for the entire journey, and properly equipped to ensure uninterrupted transit,” the letter read.
The lawyer added that the company’s failure to meet these minimum standards amounted to gross negligence and a reckless disregard for the life entrusted to its care.
Falana said, “As a direct consequence of the equipment failure and the interruption of life support, the deceased suffered multiple cardiac arrests and tragically passed away shortly thereafter.
“Our client has strong and reasonable grounds to believe that the close temporal connection between these failures and her daughter’s death gives rise to a compelling inference of causation, for which your company bears strict liability.”
The family’s lawyer demanded that the ambulance service investigate the alleged failure and forward its findings to his law firm within five days of receiving the letter.
The renowned lawyer warned that unless a comprehensive and satisfactory response was received within the stipulated period, the family would proceed, without further notice, to commence legal action against the company.
The family’s outcry
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the deceased’s mother, Mrs Folashade Abiola, expressed sorrow over the death of her daughter, alleging that the ambulance carrying her broke down around the Maryland area of Lagos on the day of the incident.
She said her family departed London on November 7 and arrived in Nigeria the following day, but the patient died on November 15 after the hospital transfer incident.
“I was part of the journey that day,” she said.
“I sat beside the driver. But all of a sudden, the ambulance stopped and its electricity went off, including the siren. Yet, my daughter was on a ventilator inside the ambulance.”
She further alleged that when the vehicle stopped, the driver asked her to hand him a bottle of water from the dashboard while the personnel attempted to manually ventilate the patient, a development she said left her distressed.
“By law, an ambulance is supposed to have a four-hour backup battery. That means the ventilator was not working and there was no backup,” she claimed.
The deceased’s younger sister, Titilayo, who said her car accompanied the ambulance during the journey, described the conduct of the company as “gross incompetence.”
“It was the ambulance breakdown that led to my sister’s death. I became very nervous when the vehicle stopped. We were not very far into the journey,” she alleged.
Titilayo said before engaging their lawyer, the family had sent an email to the ambulance service detailing their account of what transpired.
However, she claimed that the company demanded full access to her sister’s medical records, a request she described as strange and unprofessional.
She claimed that the company failed to respond to their lawyer’s formal request, adding that the family was considering legal action.
“Since they have failed to comply with our lawyer’s request, our next line of action is to institute legal proceedings. We will take them to court,” she said.
The company’s reaction
However, in a strongly worded rebuttal, Mould rejected the allegations, insisting that at no point did the ambulance break down or stop during the journey.
Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, Mould said there was substantial evidence, including onboard CCTV footage and GPS tracking data, which she said showed that the ambulance remained in continuous motion throughout the transfer.
She said the records also indicated that the patient was continuously supported with effective ventilation for the duration of the journey and was not without respiratory assistance.
The managing director noted that the company’s ambulances are equipped with monitoring and recording systems to ensure accountability and quality assurance.
“The relevant CCTV footage has been preserved and made available to the lawyers,” she said, adding that allegations of a breakdown or loss of ventilation support were unfounded.
Mould stressed that prior to transport, “the patient was assessed at the bedside by skilled intensive-care practitioners, and the decision to proceed with the transfer was made in line with established medical and transport best practices.”
She said the patient was subsequently moved into the ambulance and conveyed to the receiving hospital.
According to her, the request for hospital medical records was made only after allegations were raised, adding that it was not connected to the initial transport assessment.
She explained that for the purpose of an independent and objective review, including any forensic determination of causality, a detailed and comprehensive medical report from both hospitals involved was required.
Mould said requesting such documentation was a routine and responsible step when serious allegations are made and should not be interpreted as a failure to properly assess or care for the patient during transport.
She, however, said the company had yet to receive a signed consent form from the deceased’s mother, which she said would enable access to the relevant medical records needed to conclude the investigation.
She further claimed that contrary to the family’s position, her legal team responded formally to Falana’s letter on December 22, and that the response was acknowledged by the law firm the following day.
“In our response, we requested that Mrs Abiola complete a consent form authorising access to relevant hospital medical records and any autopsy report, to enable a fair and independent review of the allegations raised.
“Despite this acknowledgement, we have received no further response from her legal representatives,” Mould said.
She emphasised that the company’s role was strictly limited to the safe medical transportation of the patient between healthcare facilities, adding that based on preliminary internal reviews and transport records, the patient’s clinical status remained unchanged from the point of departure to the receiving hospital.
She said the company only learned of the patient’s death four days after transferring her to the second hospital.
“To date, no medical evidence to the contrary has been communicated to us by the receiving hospital’s physicians,” she said.
Expressing sympathy for the bereaved family, Mould said, “Medical Ambulance Services recognises that this is a profoundly difficult time for Mrs Abiola following the loss of her daughter, and we extend our sincere condolences. We pray that God grant her the strength and fortitude to bear this loss.”
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