The Victim-Patient’s Search for Redress: Evaluating Responses to Patient Safety Incidents in Nigeria

Patient Safety Incidents (PSIs) remain a pressing global concern, significantly impacting patient outcomes, healthcare quality, and the overall welfare of populations. Despite advancements in medical science and technology, the occurrence of preventable harm in healthcare settings continues to pose substantial challenges, undermining the fundamental responsibility of healthcare systems to “do no harm”. With a PSI rate of 42.8%, Nigeria faces a malpractice crisis that demands an urgent, patient-centered approach to redress. However, academic discourse on patient safety in Nigeria remains limited, particularly in exploring patient responses beyond negligence-based claims. This thesis critically examines existing response models to PSIs in Nigeria, identifying their strengths and limitations by testing them against the goals of patients, broadly articulated as Communication, Rectification, Accountability, and Compensation, the CRAC objectives. The study identifies three primary response models: Litigation, Ombudsman, and No-Fault Compensation, and evaluates them on the framework of the CRAC objectives. Litigation, while ensuring individual accountability, is hampered by systemic inefficiencies, financial barriers, and protracted processes amongst other challenges. The Ombudsman model, which in Nigeria is the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), shows potential in advancing communication and rectification objectives but suffers from operational inefficiencies and jurisdictional ambiguities. The No-Fault Compensation model, inspired by successful implementations in New Zealand and Sweden, emerges as a superior mechanism for timely and equitable compensation with great potential to advance the communication and rectification objectives. By assessing these response mechanisms against the CRAC objectives, the study concludes that no single response model adequately addresses all patient needs. Therefore, a complementary hybrid framework, combining a reformed Litigation model with a No-Fault Compensation system, is recommended. This dual approach leverages the strengths of Litigation in accountability and the No-Fault system's superiority in compensation, communication and rectification. The proposed model aligns with Nigeria’s socio-economic realities, offering a pragmatic path toward improving patient redress and enhancing healthcare quality. By establishing a more accessible and responsive system, this research contributes to the global discourse on patient safety and healthcare justice.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Laws (LL.M.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Law

Grantor

University of Saskatchewan

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Duruiheoma, Genevieve Chinyeaka

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• von Tigerstrom, Barbara

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Keet, Michaela
• Hansen, Robin

• Patient safety
• Patient Safety Incidents
• Patient-Centered Redress
• Unsafety in Healthcare
• Medical Malpractice
• Adverse Events in Healthcare
• Responses to Patient Safety Incidents
• No-Fault Compensation in healthcare
• Patient Safety in Nigeria
• Litigation Response to Patient Safety Incidents
• Ombudsman Response to Adverse Events in Healthcare
• Healthcare Justice.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10388/16873

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:harvest.usask.ca:10388/16873