Chimamanda Adichie, the celebrated Nigerian author, has levelled a grave accusation against a British hospital: that it has deliberately stalled a review into the death of her son. The UK’s medical regulators, she claims, are complicit in this bureaucratic obfuscation. If true, this is a scandal. But let us pause. Let us think. Because in the age of social media and celebrity grievance, the line between legitimate complaint and performative outrage has blurred to the point of invisibility.
The hospital, of course, denies the allegation. The regulators say they are investigating. But Adichie, never one to wait for due process, has taken her case to the court of public opinion. And why not? It works. The mob is easily stirred. A famous name, a dead child, a racist undertone: the ingredients are all there for a perfect moral panic. But I ask: is this how a mature society resolves disputes? By tweeting accusations and demanding scalps before the evidence is in?
Let us recall the fall of Rome. The late Empire was plagued by informers and public denunciations. Anyone could wreck a reputation with a whisper. The legal system became a tool for vendettas, not justice. Sound familiar? Today, we have replaced the informer with the influencer. The result is the same: a degradation of trust in institutions. Hospital staff cannot defend themselves without breaching confidentiality. Regulators cannot comment on ongoing cases. So the accuser has the floor, unchallenged. This is not justice. It is a lynching.
And yet, we must not dismiss Adichie’s pain. Losing a child is a horror beyond words. If the hospital has indeed been dilatory or deceitful, they should face the full force of the law. But the call for a review is reasonable. The problem is the public trial. The assumption of guilt. The demand for a symbolic punishment to satisfy the crowd.
Adichie is a novelist. She understands narrative. She knows that a story with a villain and a victim sells better than one with nuance and grey areas. But real life is not a novel. Hospitals are complex systems. Mistakes happen. Delays happen. Sometimes they are malicious. Sometimes they are just the grinding of bureaucratic gears. We need to know which it is here. A proper investigation, conducted quietly and thoroughly, would tell us. A public shaming campaign will not.
The regulators should be vigilant. But they should also be resistant to pressure. If they cave to the mob, they betray their duty. And if Adichie is proven wrong, she should have the grace to apologise. But I doubt she will. The game, after all, is about virtue signalling, not truth.
We are sliding into a society where emotion trumps evidence. Where the loudest voice wins. This is the road to anarchy. The Romans tried it. They ended up with barbarians at the gate. Let us hope the UK medical system is made of sterner stuff. But I am not optimistic.
