Woman Awarded Sh7.5 Million Over Baby’s Death and Loss of Womb at Pumwani Hospital

A Kenyan woman has won a landmark High Court case against Pumwani Maternity Hospital over a traumatic childbirth experience in 2019 that led to the death of her baby and the removal of her womb.

The woman, identified in court records only as LL to protect her privacy, was awarded Sh7.5 million in damages after Justice Lawrence Mugambi found the hospital guilty of gross medical negligence and violating her constitutional rights.

According to court testimony, LL arrived at the hospital in severe distress and was promised urgent surgery. 

However, she was left unattended for nearly 12 hours, during which her condition worsened. Her waters broke at 3pm, but no medical intervention was carried out until 9pm. By then, the baby had died during delivery, and doctors removed her womb, a decision she said was made without her consent.

In a disturbing account, LL told the court that a nurse later showed her both the deceased baby and the removed womb in a basin placed under her hospital bed.

Justice Mugambi ruled that the hospital’s actions amounted to a serious violation of her dignity and rights under the Constitution. He cited Article 43(1)(a), which guarantees the right to health, and Article 28, which affirms the inherent dignity of every individual. 

The judge noted that LL had been “irrevocably deprived of the dignity and joy of motherhood,” and that the psychological and social harm she suffered was immeasurable.

The court heard that a previous investigation by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council supported LL’s claims. The Council’s Disciplinary and Ethics Committee found that the hospital failed to treat her case as an emergency and neglected to perform a necessary caesarean section in time. Although the committee recommended mediation and compensation, LL said the hospital ignored her efforts to settle the matter, leaving her with no choice but to seek legal redress.

In her testimony, LL described the nurses as “callous and irresponsible,” recounting the pain of losing her child and the trauma of an unconsented hysterectomy.