My mother is 59 years old and has a health condition for which she consults periodically at one of the major hospitals in Kenya. Earlier this month, while attending her scheduled clinic appointment, she was instructed by a nurse to proceed to another section of the hospital for insertion of an intravenous needle. On her way there, she collapsed and broke her arm. At the time, she was already under hospital care, dressed in patient attire, and following medical instructions, yet she was unaccompanied. Can we sue the hospital?
Patient safety, as defined by the World Bank, is the avoidance of unintended or unexpected harm during the provision of healthcare. It is not merely a concept but a framework of organised activities—protocols, procedures, behaviours, technologies, and environments—that collectively reduce risks and prevent avoidable harm. Hospitals are therefore expected to embed patient safety as a fundamental component of their healthcare infrastructure.
Kenya’s National Policy on the Safety of Patients and Health Workers (2022) reinforces this obligation by recognising patient safety as a global health priority. The policy underscores the shared responsibility of providers and patients in ensuring quality care, a responsibility so significant that it is commemorated annually on September 17. This establishes a clear expectation of accountability for hospitals and their agents.
The Health Act, 2017, further strengthens this framework. Section 14 grants individuals the right to lodge complaints regarding treatment in any health facility, while Subsection (2) obligates national and county governments to establish procedures for handling such complaints. Section 15 requires health facilities to act on complaints, with failure inviting intervention from the Kenya Health Professions Oversight Authority (KHPOA). These provisions make clear that hospitals are legally bound to safeguard patient safety and respond appropriately when lapses occur.
The Constitution of Kenya provides the ultimate foundation for this duty. Article 22(1) empowers individuals to seek judicial redress when their rights are violated. Article 43 guarantees the right to health and healthcare, Article 28 protects inherent human dignity, Article 27 guarantees nondiscrimination and equality and Article 29 secures personal and physical safety. In the incident under consideration—where a patient collapsed and sustained a broken arm while under hospital care—these constitutional rights were compromised.
The case against the hospital rests on negligence. Once admitted, a patient is owed a strict duty of care. It should be known that the duty of care in a hospital set-up is a strict undertaking to safeguard patients’ safety once admitted, just as your mother was (having collapsed while in hospital regalia).
The central questions are whether the hospital had clear patient safety protocols, whether staff adhered to them, whether the fall was foreseeable, and whether the resulting injury was preventable. Sending a vulnerable patient unescorted to another treatment station constitutes a breach of reasonable precaution.
Negligence is the act of offending responsibility. Responsibility in this scenario is shared, tiered and representative in nature. It therefore provides a succinct legal argument indicting both the specific healthcare worker and the hospital, with each having a fair share of responsibility for their roles.
The hospital bears liability for systemic failures, while the healthcare worker involved bears personal liability for failing to act as a reasonable professional would under similar circumstances. The accident was foreseeable, the harm is evident, and the hospital’s response—together with KHPOA’s handling of the complaint—violated Article 47 of the Constitution, which guarantees fair administrative action.
The hospital’s failure to safeguard patient safety, both at the institutional and individual levels, amounts to negligence. The incident demonstrates a breach of duty of care, a violation of constitutional rights, and a failure of administrative justice.
Accountability must therefore be sought through judicial intervention, not only to secure redress for the harm suffered but also to reinforce the principle that patient safety is a non-negotiable obligation in healthcare delivery.
