Lagos doctor challenges medical negligence judgment

The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has reserved March 10, 2026, to hear the appeal filed by Dr Ferdinand Orji, Medical Director of Excel M...

The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has reserved March 10, 2026, to hear the appeal filed by Dr Ferdinand Orji, Medical Director of Excel Medical Centre, Lagos, who is challenging his conviction and one-year jail term for medical negligence.

A three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Yargata Nimpar, fixed the date after both parties regularised their court processes.

The other justices on the panel are Danlami Zama Senchi and Abdulazeez Muhammed Anka.

The court will also hear a cross-appeal by the Lagos State Government, which is seeking to overturn the portion of the lower court’s judgment that discharged and acquitted Orji on Count One of the six-count amended charge.

The state wants him convicted and sentenced on that count as well.

At Monday’s proceedings, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN) appeared for the appellant, while Dr Babajide Martins, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Lagos State, represented the respondent.

Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the Lagos State High Court, sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, had on January 20, 2023, convicted Orji on four out of six counts bordering on negligence and sentenced him to one year imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently.

The conviction followed the doctor’s treatment of a 16-year-old boy, a basketball player who sustained a leg fracture while on holiday in Nigeria.

The boy was taken to Excel Medical Centre, Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, where Orji, who is not an orthopaedic specialist, applied a Plaster of Paris cast.

According to the prosecution, the doctor’s negligence led to severe complications that caused permanent damage to the boy’s leg, ending his chances of pursuing a basketball career in the United States.

Justice Akintoye held that the prosecution had proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, finding the doctor guilty on Counts 2, 3, 4, and 6, while discharging and acquitting him on Counts 1 and 5.

“The defendant committed a breach of duty as a medical practitioner when he wilfully refused to remove the POP cast despite the patient’s complaints of severe pain, which resulted in compartment syndrome,” the judge ruled.

The court found that the cast had been applied without an X-ray, without the mother’s consent, and by unqualified personnel under Orji’s supervision, actions that the judge described as reckless and dangerous.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, Orji filed a notice of appeal, arguing that the prosecution failed to prove criminal intent, a crucial element of the offences alleged.

He maintained that since the trial court found no intent in Count One, the same reasoning should have applied to the remaining counts.

He is asking the Court of Appeal to set aside his conviction and sentence, and to quash the judgment of the lower court.

In its cross-appeal, the Lagos State Government is seeking to overturn Orji’s acquittal on Count One, insisting that the trial court erred in law by failing to convict him on that count.

Martins, representing the state, urged the appellate court to dismiss the appeal, contending that the evidence presented at trial proved the offences beyond a reasonable doubt.

He argued that Orji’s conduct was “grossly negligent and reckless,” falling far below the professional standards expected of a medical practitioner.

However, the case was adjourned to March 10, 2026, for the hearing of both the appeal and cross-appeal.

Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).