By Nadia Ntiamoah
A grieving family has launched a GH¢20 million legal battle against three major hospitals and several medical personnel, accusing them of negligence and failing to provide emergency care to a seriously injured accident victim who allegedly remained alive for hours while being moved from one facility to another.
The action has been filed at the High Court in Accra by Dr. Matilda Amissah, sister and administrator of the estate of the deceased, Charles Henry Amissah, against the Ghana Police Hospital, Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge Hospital) and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, as well as seven medical and nursing officers connected to the facilities.
The medical officers are Dr. Anne-Marie Kudowor (Police Hospital, Dr. Nina Naomi Eyram Adotevi, Greater Accra Regional Hospital,
Dr. Ida Druant, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Dr. Genevieve Adjar, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
The nursing officers are Akosua B. Turkson, Joy Daisy Nelson, and Salamatu Alhassan
The Attorney-General is also named as the 11th defendant.
Writ of Summons And Statement of Claim
According to the Statement of Claim dated May 14, 2026 and issued by Emmanuel Darkwa of Dankwah& Associates, Charles Henry Amissah, an Electronic and Automation Engineer employed by Promasidor Ghana Limited, was involved in a serious accident while travelling from work. The document says the accident occurred around 10:30 p.m. in February 2026, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Overpass.
The family says that after Charles failed to return home at his usual time, relatives reported him missing at the Adentan Police Station. Four days later, police allegedly contacted the family after an unidentified accident victim was found and taken to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
What the family allegedly discovered at Korle-Bu has become one of the most disturbing aspects of the lawsuit.
The claim states that relatives were directed to the mortuary, where they found Charles lying somewhere in the corridors, with his remains already decomposing and infested with maggots because, according to the plaintiff, his body had not been placed in the cold room. The family was subsequently asked to pay for preparation of the body before it could be preserved.
But the family’s central allegation concerns what allegedly happened before Charles died.
The plaintiff says police informed the family that an ambulance had been called after an accident involving Charles at about 10:30 p.m. on February 4, 2026, and that he was seriously injured and required medical attention.
According to the claim, Charles had suffered a severe injury to his right upper arm, involving damage to the axillary and brachial arteries, causing him to bleed profusely.
The lawsuit alleges that when the ambulance reached Ghana Police Hospital, medical personnel allegedly said there was no bed available and instructed the ambulance crew to take the victim to Greater Accra Regional Hospital.
The family further alleges that ambulance personnel pleaded with medical staff at the first hospital to at least administer first aid and stabilise Charles because he was bleeding heavily, but that the request was allegedly refused.
At Greater Accra Regional Hospital, the plaintiff claims, the same situation occurred. The senior medical officer on duty is accused of also citing the absence of a bed and directing the ambulance to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital instead.
The allegations become even more serious at Korle-Bu
The family claims that when the ambulance arrived, medical personnel allegedly refused to provide primary care, again citing the absence of a bed. The plaintiff says the ambulance crew pleaded with staff to treat Charles because he was losing a significant amount of blood and even asked that he be treated while still on the stretcher.
The claim alleges that those requests were unsuccessful.
According to the court document, Charles eventually went into cardiac arrest at about 12:50 a.m. at Korle-Bu and was declared dead by a doctor on duty, identified in the claim as Dr Kwasi Sobre Nkrumah. The plaintiff maintains that Charles was alive when the ambulance first took him to the Ghana Police Hospital at about 10:30 p.m.
The post-mortem findings cited in the lawsuit reportedly identified several injuries and complications, including a deep laceration of the right upper-arm blood vessels and muscles, a comminuted open fracture of the right upper humerus, severe internal bleeding, shocked kidneys from exsanguination, cerebral oedema and mild cardiomegaly.
The plaintiff is therefore accusing the first 10 defendants of negligence, alleging failures including the failure to provide emergency stabilisation, conduct a vital assessment, provide emergency triage, administer temporary intervention and stabilise the patient on a trolley.
The claim also alleges that the hospitals failed to rapidly assess Charles and prioritise his treatment based on the seriousness of his condition, and failed to escalate his case internally.
Family says “no bed” became a death sentence
One of the most controversial allegations in the court action is that Charles was allegedly moved between three hospitals for roughly two hours while medical personnel allegedly refused to provide basic emergency care because there was supposedly no bed available.The plaintiff contends that the alleged negligence deprived Charles of potentially life-saving treatment after his accident.
The family further alleges that the failure by Korle-Bu to properly preserve Charles’ body resulted in such severe decomposition that his coffin could not be opened at the funeral, denying relatives the opportunity to see him and pay their final respects.
The lawsuit says a commission of enquiry was subsequently established to investigate the circumstances surrounding Charles’ death and that the report had been presented. According to the plaintiff, the first through 10th defendants were found to have been negligent in their handling of Charles
