A United Kingdom healthcare company has admitted negligence after one of its nurses accidentally switched off the life-saving ventilator of a Nigerian teenager, Joy Osundeko, for nearly six minutes, months before her death.
Joy, 14, who lived in St Helens, Merseyside, died on June 13, 2022, following a stroke that caused brain stem death. Her parents, Bisi and Mayo Osundeko, believe the incident contributed to a sharp deterioration in her health before her death.
Optima Health and Social Care Ltd, which provided Joy’s round the clock care, admitted breaching its duty of care over the February 15, 2022 incident. However, the company denied that the incident caused her any injury or contributed to her death. It later agreed to an out of court damages settlement with the family.
According to the family, the incident happened about an hour after two carers arrived at their home around 8am.
Joy Osundeko, whose mother Bisi is a former deputy mayor of St Helens, died four months after the incident in February 2022, with her parents saying they have been left devastated and without an explanation as to how it happened.
Joy’s mother, Bisi, reportedly entered her daughter’s room and discovered that the ventilator had been switched off, leaving the teenager unable to breathe independently.
Her father, who had been sleeping after caring for Joy throughout the night, rushed downstairs to help.
“I grabbed the bag, removed the ventilator from the trachea, and manually provided oxygen to Joy myself,” Mayo said.
He said Joy appeared lifeless as he desperately tried to revive her, calling her name until she started breathing again.
The family had installed a closed-circuit television system in Joy’s room because of her complex medical needs. Footage reportedly showed the nurse pressing and holding buttons before shutting down the ventilator.
The machine remained switched off for almost six minutes before Bisi turned it back on.
Joy had Down’s syndrome, pulmonary hypertension and Moyamoya syndrome, a rare condition affecting blood vessels supplying the brain. She required oxygen support from birth and depended on continuous ventilation because she could not breathe independently.
Following the incident, she spent nine days at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Her parents said they subsequently noticed changes in her movement, general health and behaviour.
Mayo said Joy’s right leg became increasingly difficult to move and that she stopped smiling as her condition worsened.
Joy died four months after the incident, following a stroke.
Her family pursued legal action through Hudgell Solicitors, alleging that the interruption in oxygen supply caused a period of oxygen deprivation that contributed to her deterioration.
The case also triggered a criminal investigation, which initially resulted in charges against the nurse and a scheduled trial. However, the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued the prosecution in December 2025. A request by the family for an inquest was also rejected.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council is investigating the nurse, who is subject to precautionary restrictions on her practice while inquiries continue.
Optima said it sympathised with the family and maintained that medical investigations, including an MRI scan, found no evidence of lasting injury following the incident.
The company said it believed Joy’s underlying life limiting condition was connected to her death.
For her parents, however, the circumstances remain deeply troubling, with the family still seeking an explanation for how their daughter’s ventilator was switched off.
