Family of Deceased Kisumu Nurse Accuses Hospital of Negligence and Cover-Up After Fatal Twin Delivery

The family of nurse Lin Atieno Okoth seeks justice after a postmortem revealed she bled to death following a C-section at Kisumu County Referral Hospital.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 29, 2026, 8:20 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from TUKO.co.ke

A Tragic Loss Within a Professional Community

Lin Atieno Okoth, a registered nurse who had served at the Kisumu County Referral Hospital for two years, died at the same facility nearly seven hours after a planned cesarean delivery. Her death has sent shockwaves through the local medical community, as she was a healthy patient who had been admitted five weeks prior for monitoring due to a twin pregnancy. Her family, speaking through her aunt Caroline Olonde, noted that they chose the facility specifically so that Atieno would be under the care of her own colleagues, never anticipating that professional familiarity would lead to a fatal oversight.

Postmortem Findings Reveal Surgical Error

The primary cause of death became a point of contention between the hospital and the family. While the hospital initially claimed a vein had burst, a postmortem conducted by a family-appointed pathologist told a different story. The report revealed that an artery in the uterus was not properly sealed during the surgery, resulting in massive internal bleeding. Investigators recovered five liters of blood from Atieno’s uterus during the examination. "This case could have been avoided," Olonde lamented, pointing to the surgical failure as the direct cause of the nurse’s death.

Allegations of Negligence and Inadequate Supervision

Further compounding the tragedy are allegations that Atieno was left under the supervision of nursing students immediately following her surgery. The family claims that when they questioned the students about Atieno’s fluctuating pulse and blood pressure, the students were unable to provide adequate medical responses or intervene. This alleged lack of senior medical oversight during a critical post-operative window is central to the family's claim of medical malpractice, suggesting that the facility failed to provide the standard of care required for a major surgical procedure.