Heartbreaking Story of Nigerian Woman Whose kidney was Illegally Harvested in Italy (photo)

This is one of the many pathetic stories from Nigerians in the Diaspora. And it is a story that will bring tears to many eyes.

Ms Julie Osamese felt a little feverish when she walked into the Ospedale Maria Vittoria Cibrario Hospital in Turin, Italy sometime in November 2008. Her only complaint was a slight increase in body temperature, and that she explained to the doctor who attended to her. Tests were conducted, following which she was given medication to use and instructed to return for evaluation after a week.

But her second visit to the hospital could be described as the greatest mistake of her life. For this Nigerian lady, it marked the beginning of years of woe. It was the beginning of years of trauma during which she was moved to six other hospitals. She eventually ended up in a mental home, despite being mentally stable.

Some of the hospitals Osamese was taken to include Amedeo Di Savoia Svizzerra and Ospedale San Giovanni Bossco.

According to the chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Rita Orji, who recently led other members of the committee to investigate Osamese’s disheartening story, the woman, in her 30s and a legal immigrant in Italy, was, on her follow-up visit to the Ospedale Maria Vittoria Cibrario hospital, given drugs which made her dizzy. It was gathered that as she complained to the medical personnel who attended to her, she was tied to the bed despite her protests. By the time she woke up, part of her buttocks had allegedly been chopped off, and her kidney tampered with. That was how she lost control of her bladder, leading to uncontrollable urination, it was gathered.

Narrating the inhuman treatment meted out to Osamese, the lawmaker said:

“After taking the drugs for one week, she came back to report how she was feeling. On that day, she was asked if she came to the hospital alone, and she said, ‘yes’ innocently without knowing the reason why that question was put across to her. That marked, the beginning of her paralysis. She was asked to lie down that they were going to give her some medication. Within two, three minutes, she was approached with a mixture in a cup and she drank it, believing that it was for the fever she complained of. But she became dizzy and she was telling them how she felt. But they said there was no problem.

“Suddenly, the team of doctors came around and tied her legs and her hands on the bed and she started shouting, ‘why are you tying me’? She said one of the doctors responded that she could shout at the top of her voice, but that nobody would know what was being done. That was how they faced her down and gave her injection on her base bone. After the injection, she passed out. When she finally regained consciousness, she saw that the lower part of the buttocks on both sides had been chopped off, to the extent that the bones  in her buttocks had cracked and she saw the pieces of the bones. Also her bladder was disengaged from the source with urine pouring out uncontrollably. In fact, she woke up on a catheter and a big plaster by the region of her kidney.