Filipino doctor in Las Vegas practiced until he succumbed to COVID-19

A Filipino obstetrician-gynecologist from Las Vegas, Nevada continued to practice until he succumbed to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) last April 22.

According to an article in the Asian Journal, Dr. Arthur Tayengco had been practicing for over 50 years until he was infected with the viral disease. He was 81.

“He loved medicine. He just wouldn’t stop. I kept asking, ‘Don’t you want to retire yet?’ He would say, ‘No, I’m not done,’” his eldest daughter Michele Tayengco, told the Asian Journal.

Arthur’s ex-wife Delia said he got infected in mid-March after two medical assistants at his office on Charleston Boulevard tested positive for COVID-19.

Arthur got tested after showing symptoms such as a fever, cough, and loss of taste. The test came back positive.

Tayengco was initially quarantined at home but was eventually taken to hospital on April 5.

Arthur fought COVID-19 for 16 days and was transferred to hospice care on April 21 until he passed away the next day.

Dr. Teresita Melocoton, a pediatrician and the president of the Philippine Medical Association of Nevada, an organization of which the late doctor was a founding member, said Arthur became the first practicing Filipino doctor in Las Vegas to die from COVID-19.

Arthur, who was born in Iloilo City, received his medical degree from the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center College of Medicine in Manila.

He came to the United States in the early 1960s for his OB-GYN residency at St. Clare’s Hospital and Health Care Center in New York.

He also completed a fellowship at Nassau County Medical Center and served as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Las Vegas School of Medicine.

Arthur eventually purchased a property for his practice on the corner of Charleston Boulevard and Darmak Drive in 2004, where he worked each day until he died.

Although he lived in Las Vegas for 48 years, Arthur still participated in regular medical missions in the Philippines, his classmate Dr. Cefereno Cheng said.

“We’d organize medical missions back to the Philippines and go to provinces to help those in need. Of course, we wouldn’t forget to visit our medical school and see old friends,” Cheng, a retired physician in Torrance, California, said.

Arthur is survived by his two daughters Michele and Stephanie, ex-wife Delia, sisters Lopinco, Yvonne Pacquing, Rose Tayengco, and Anne Tayengco, stepdaughter Guinevere Torres and her husband Gino, and their children, Gino, Gianna, and Giovanni. — Ma. Angelica Garcia/DVM, GMA News