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Life will never be the same again for 13-year-old Saratu Yusuf. She probably doesn’t know that yet, thanks to the merciful resilience of mind of youth and her boundless capacity for hope. She believes her severed upper limbs could somehow grow again or would be replaced like they were never lost in the first instance. Family members say she talks excitedly about getting well soon and going back to school. "But where are the arms and hands to write with?" asks her father, Yusuf Haske.
Haske, through his counsel, Dawud Sulayman is suing the doctor whom he alleges had amputated the arms of his daughter without first seeking his consent, for N50m damages. Saratu was taken to Allison Clinic and Maternity after she was involved in an accident while being driven on a motorcycle by her cousin, Bako Aliyu. "But unfortunately, before the parents could arrive at the hospital to give their consent to the doctor, Allison, whether to treat the girl or not, the doctor amputated both of Saratu’s arms," says Sulayman. "But according to the information given to us by the parents, Saratu told the doctor that he should not amputate her arms; that he should allow her parents to come over. But he induced the girl with a sedative and she slept off. When she woke up she realised her two arms had been amputated. They took the girl to the Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital upon which the doctors who examined the girl passed a comment that the doctor who amputated the girl’s arms shouldn’t have done so. Based on this, we wrote a letter to the doctor demanding a compensation of N50m. We equally petitioned the Commissioner of Police, the National Human Rights Commission and the Gwagwalada Police Area Command." Dr. D. Allison, a general practitioner who says he has been practising medicine for the past seventeen, years tells Weekly Trust he did not carry out the amputation of Saratu’s limb but rather both limbs were already crushed from the accident. He says what he did was to administer first aid to the girl to stop the bleeding by cutting off the skin holding the already crushed and dangling bones. "If there was a picture we don’t need to be talking at all," he says. Later, he explains why he did not wait to seek the consent of the girl’s parents before he could commence treatment. "The girl was dying," he says. "This was a girl that was resuscitated to the level that she can open her eyes and turn, but she cannot speak. I said we will lose this girl. I took the decision for the father. I know even if I have to put a pin on your body, I should get your consent. I am not a quack. I took a decision believing that the parents will be on my side." Haske, a driver, was not around when the accident happened, but came back from his trip around 7.00pm of the same day. "Saratu explained to me that the accident happened around 4-5.00pm," he says, trying to explain that he was around long enough for the doctor to be able to seek his consent. When he was not satisfied with the way the doctor handled his daughter’s case he says he reported the matter to the police. "I reported to the Kuje police station. The DPO later called me and said this is not a matter for them to handle. I should seek either settlement with the doctor or seek redress in court." He reported the matter further to the Gwagwalada Police Area Command whereupon Dr. Allison was arrested and later released on bail. Saratu says she could recall what happened before and after the accident. She told Weekly Trust: "We were coming back from the river after washing our clothes. Our motorcycle tyre was punctured by a nail. My cousin now came along on a different motorcycle and offered to take me home. It was after that we got into the accident. From there he took me to the hospital and the doctor asked for N1, 000 from him before he could start treatment. My cousin said he has to go home first and inform our parents. After he left the doctor started washing my hands and touching it. I asked what he was doing because I overheard them talking about cutting off my hands. He said it is nothing. Then I told him he should not cut off my hands. He said I should not worry; he will not cut off my hands. Next I was given an injection and when I woke up, I realised my arms are missing. I asked him why he cut off my arms. He told me if he had not done that, I would have died. I started crying and he said I should not cry. I asked him how I would recover my arms back. He told me not to worry, he is a doctor and he knows what to do about it." The accident Saratu refers to happened when they got to a road junction not too far away from the clinic and had to stop. After the accident, I was fortunate and did not sustain any injury. But when I turned round I found her lying on the road. The front tyres of the tipper ran over her hands before I could rush over and rescue her. I brought her from under the tipper and rushed her to the clinic. The doctor did not tell me at that point that he will have to sever her arms. But when I came back to the hospital some minutes later, I realised her two arms have been severed." He adds: "She was in her senses and knew what was going on around her. When I told her I will be going to inform our parents about the accident she answered back and said alright, that she will be waiting for me to come back." Counsel to Dr. Allison, Usman Adams says the doctor is a victim of his good intentions. "She could have been tutored," he says about Saratu’s allegations. "She is a minor." He says "the doctor in his own magnanimity being someone who wants to save human life is now looked upon as someone who has committed a very serious crime." "I don’t think there is no room for negotiation," Usman says later. "The deed has been done, something has happened, they should find a solution." Dr. Allison gave a written statement to Weekly Trust which he read at the same time, describing how the girl was brought to him, her state of health at the time, the constraints he faced and what informed his professional judgement with respect to her treatment. The doctor says in his report that "all along the patient was restless and in stupor. She was not aware in any way of her immediate environment." He says: "I called the attention of the young man who brought her (whom I was later made to understand was the rider of the motorcycle and a cousin of the patient) but he was no where to be found. I again [sought] the urgent attention of any of the girl’s relative to obtain informed consent to remove the adjoining skin fragment of the devitalized amputated arm to enable me apply pressure dressing. A young man who introduced himself as her stepbrother was allowed into the premises where the young girl was lying but could not stand the site of the devitalized limb. He wailed and quickly left the scene." Shortly afterwards, according to the doctor’s report, the driver of the lorry was led into the clinic to see Saratu. He was about to be beaten by few of the angry relatives who were present. But the story becomes controversial here. The policeman says when he came in, the girl’s arm was already severed. Dr. Allison says he wasn’t saying the truth. "The policeman that was there could have told them that ‘look, I saw the limb, it was damaged beyond repair’. But for fear of being beaten or accused, he said as of the time he came the limb had been severed." But when Weekly Trust spoke to the emir’s secretary he says, "When I came in I saw that one of the girl’s arms was already severed. She only had one hand when I came and saw her lying down." He acknowledged however that the whole place was rowdy and youths were attempting to beat up the driver of the lorry. By now, when news got to the youths that the girl’s arms have been severed they began threatening they were going to burn down the clinic. "They were saying that the doctor should come out, so they could strangulate him, or een kill him," says Dr. Allison. "My wife was just arriving from a journey. I called her and told her not to come to the clinic; she should move straight to the house, there is trouble. It took the grace of God for the violence to be quelled." The doctor says he sought the intervention of the emir who now sent his brother, Salisu Tanko, and some kinsmen to douse the tension. "The crushed limb was shown to them and the uncle of the patient," he says. "They unanimously agreed with me that the limb cannot be salvaged and congratulated me for my timely intervention aimed at saving the life of the young girl." A combustible mix to the whole controversy is the fact that the severed limb in question has been buried by the girl’s parent before they were later told to exhume it as it constitutes evidence. But it has rotted in many places, making it slightly complicated to say. They alleged the doctor told them to bury it. Weekly Trust asked Dr. Allison why he is predisposed to settlement when he feels he had done nothing wrong. "I took that decision to save her life." Haske says he is fighting to see that justice is served and to ensure that nothing like this happens to another person’s child. So then, is the doctor a hero who should have been celebrated for saving life or a quack who should be punished for deforming a promising, innocent young girl for life? That is something the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council is set to find out as counsel to Saratu has completed all the necessary formality to get them to set up a disciplinary panel that will call the doctor to explain why he did what he did. But more importantly, it is Saratu’s life and future that is more at stake. She has still not been prepared by her parents and the doctors looking after her to understand that her arms will never grow again, and neither will artificial ones be quite the same as the ones she had lost. Out of a class of 104 students at the Science Primary School, Kuje, she was second place in her last exams. Innocently, she keeps waiting for when she will be discharged and start attending classes with her friends. The sad part of it all is it might not be any time soon.
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