Epidural: Don’t use personal experience to issue public warnings – Doctor tells Toyin Lawani

By John Ogunsemore

A renowned anaesthesiologist, Dr. Raji Bello, has cautioned socialite, Toyin Lawani against relying solely on her personal experience to issue public warnings on medical procedures.

Bello stated this in a Facebook post on Wednesday after Lawani advised expectant mothers against epidural during childbirth.

An epidural is an injection that numbs an area of the body by blocking pain signals.

During labour, an epidural allows women to stay awake and feel pressure without pain.

In a video posted online on Tuesday, the mother of three stated that since receiving the injection, she has not felt like herself.

Lawani claimed that doctors do not fully inform women about the long-term side effects of epidurals.

The fashion entrepreneur disclosed that she has been suffering from severe back pain and spinal degeneration since receiving the anesthetic injection during the birth of her last two children.

Reacting, Bello said, “Some people use their personal circumstances and experience to issue warnings to the whole world. They don’t recognise that many other people are in different situations and have experiences that are vastly different.

“I sympathise with her bad experience but it remains hers only. Using her own experience of a medical procedure to issue public warnings is as unreasonable as someone warning people to run when they see a car because of their experience of a car accident, or a woman warning other women to avoid Adamawa men because of her own experience with one of them.

“It is only medical literature that could give the full picture of the risks associated with treatment procedures not any individual’s personal experience. Unfortunately, she is a ‘celebrity’ and her warning will gain some traction.”