We Hold Your Brief

Dear Counsel, As a Medical Lab Technician, I was on duty one night when a patient was rushed into the hospital where I worked at about 2.15am. He had lost quite a lot of blood, and needed to be transfused immediately. Initially, we thought it was an accident, but later, we were informed as we were attending to the patient, that he was a bus driver who was attacked by armed robbers, and his bleeding was from gunshot wounds he sustained, during the attack.

The two nurses on duty and I, did our best to stabilise the patient until the morning. But, to our greatest surprise we were summoned by the Medical Director, and on getting there, we met two Policemen waiting in his office. We were queried on why we had to treat someone with wounds sustained from gunshots, when we didn’t know whether or not he was an armed robber.

The Police invited us to their station to write a statement, and I was queried at the hospital, and warned against attending to such a patient in future. If we didn’t give prompt medical attention to the driver, he would certainly have died. Although the Police didn’t detain me, I voluntarily resigned from the hospital, because I felt I didn’t deserve the query.

My nephew who is a final year law student, later told me that unlike in the past, it is against the law not to attend to a patient with gunshot wounds. Kindly, enlighten us on this. P.I., Markudi, Benue State.

Dear P.I., Your nephew is absolutely right, about the position of the law on the treatment of gunshot victims.

Indeed, the position hitherto was that, to treat a patient with gunshot wounds, a medical attendant or the hospital must request for a written note from the Police. But, as innocent victims of gunshot attacks were dying in droves, there was a need to reverse this.

So, 10 years ago, the National Assembly passed the Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Bill 2009. Under the law, it is now a serious offence for any medical personnel, to refuse to treat a victim of gunshot.

The Act specifically provides in Section 12 that: ‘It shall be the duty of the hospital that receives any person with gunshot wounds, to notify the family members or relations of the victim, as far as they may ascertain within twenty- four hours of becoming aware of the victim’s identity.

Section 13: ‘Any person or authority including any Police officer or other security agents or hospital, who stands by or omits to do his bit which results in the unnecessary death of any person with bullet wounds, commits an offence and shall on conviction, be liable to 5 years imprisonment a fine of N50,000 or both.

Section 14 further provides however, that: ‘Every hospital or facility that takes or receives for treatment any person with bullet wounds, shall keep adequate record of the treatment’.

Though your resignation, in my view, was hasty, because you did no wrong in the circumstances, you are correct to feel that you didn’t deserve a query.