Cebu surgery scandal: Findings anger victim of abuse

CEBU CITY, Philippines - Jan-Jan was “disappointed" and “dismayed" with the results of the investigation of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center’s committee on the conduct of its medical team during his surgery. He appealed to the hospital administrators to be honest. He said the results of the investigation gave him “more reason" to file civil action for damages not only against the medical team who attended to him but also against the hospital for “not telling the whole truth." His request to have the names of the medical team disclosed was not granted. “Bati ilang gibuhat. Wala sila nisulti sa tinuod. Final na akong decision mupasaka og kaso. Wala na’y atrasay. Mu-atras ko, samot man ang uwaw. Daghan man pud ni suporta," Jan-Jan said, identifying a certain Dr. Arias as one of those who should be held liable (They did an injustice. They withheld the truth. I will file a case against them. I will no longer hold back. It will be more shameful to do so. I have a lot of support on my side). Jan-Jan is filing the case against the hospital staff after he saw a video of his operation for the removal of a perfume canister from his rectum. It was inserted by a male sex partner on New Year’s Eve. He sought medical attention and underwent a procedure to have it removed. However, he later learned that video footages of the procedure were circulated through mobile phones and was uploaded in the video sharing site Youtube.com. The videos showed the medical team giggling and laughing inside the operation room. After a long wait, Jan-Jan was disappointed to hear the probe results contained in a one-page report read by Dr. Roque Paradela, the hospital’s chief of clinics, in a press briefing yesterday morning. Although the committee recommended the filing of administrative cases against the medical personnel involved in the procedure and the imposition of disciplinary action against the student who uploaded the video on Youtube.com, the committee refused to name names. “Considering that it is really an unusual case, excitement and clapping may have been elicited but the committee found these excessive and inappropriate and some acts were already in violation of some hospital policies," he said. The committee’s recommendations were: * There are three doctors and one nurse involved. The committee recommended that an administrative case will be filed against the medical team present as there might be a possible violation of the provisions of RA 6713. * One doctor and three nurse supervisors were sternly warned and advised to be more cautious in the performance of their duties as supervisors. * The clinical instructor and nurse trainees alluded to by the staff as the other person who probably misbehaved in the emergency operation room II during the procedure should no longer be allowed to rotate in VSMMC. * That the alleged student who was responsible for uploading the video in the YouTube should be endorsed to the concerned school for proper disciplinary action * That the existing standard operating procedures of the operating room should be reviewed, revised and updated for the information of all concerned. It is also suggested that the revised standard operating procedure should be disseminated. The committee, led by administrative officer Maricon Esparagoza, was composed of chairperson on special concerns Dr. Joseph Al Alesna, chief training officer Dr. Celia Mabalatan, assistant chief training officer Dr. Marian Denopol and assistant chief nurse Amosa Pascual. Dr. Gerardo Aquino, the hospital chief, was still on an official trip in Manila Friday and is expected to arrive back in Cebu today. Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquiel, who was in Cebu and who met with Jan-Jan Friday, said she plans to file a resolution seeking for a Senate inquiry on the incident. Baraquel described the surgery spectacle on “Jan-Jan" as “terrible hate crime against a gay man" and the actuation of the medical practitioners as “doubly terrible behavior." During yesterday’s briefing, Paradela insisted that the committee could not disclose the identities of the medical practitioners involved because “they do not want to preempt the investigation being conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas and the Department of Health and also for security reasons." The hospital will refer the results of the fact-finding to the DOH for final legal actions. “We have the power to suspend internally. We need an administrative case filed first. But (in this case), the administration cannot suspend because of the limited number of days of suspension for a case that already reached the central offices. We can only give 30 days of suspension. Beyond that, the case will have to be elevated to the higher offices such as that of the regional office of the Department of Health," VSMMC media liaison officer Dr. Emmanuel Gines said in a phone interview. Paradela, for his part, assured reporters that there was a thorough investigation on the incident but the committee had to be “careful" in speaking with the persons involved because “there are individual liabilities and we are also very concerned with their careers." “It’s very clear in the principle of law that as long as there is no conviction, they are still innocent. They are still with us. We also have to remind you that because doctors are becoming nurses, we need these doctors badly," he added. Paradela only answered at least six questions during the briefing, saying he still had a hospital to run. Paradela is the officer-in-charge while Aquino is away. Outside the hospital, members of Bayan Muna, Akbayan and Gabriela held a rally and asked that there will be no “whitewash" in the probe. “We are worried that the indigents will no longer trust their public hospitals. What the doctors did in the video is also a bad example to our nursing students as there was a violation in the code of ethics," said Arman Perez of Bayan Muna. Jan-Jan’s legal counsel lawyer Guiller Ceniza described the statement as something “for media consumption." “What they presented was only recommendatory. Nearly three months passed and this was what they produced? This will be like the NBN-ZTE deal controversy. This will not stop until the truth comes out," he added. Basak-Pardo Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak, who is assisting Jan-Jan, presented hospital’s receipts, the discharge order and medical records to prove that Jan-Jan was the patient operated on in the video. Nonoy Mongaya, a member of the media liaison committee, they still need to verify if Jan-Jan was really the patient in the video. “I would also like to ask the help of media, the Sun.Star website and the National Bureau of Investigation, if possible, since we don’t have the technology, to help us identify who uploaded the video and the one who inserted the canister to the patient," he said. Tumulak said they are in the process of identifying the person who inserted the Black Suede canister into Jan-Jan anus. This weekend, Ceniza said they will come up with a complaint and form a legal team. Initially, lawyers Magdalena Lepiten and Ramsey Quijano already volunteered their services to tap the help of pro-gay groups and to question administrators of Youtube.com. “We are ready to file civil action for damages next week against the team as well as the hospital for covering (the incident) up. We will leave it to the Ombudsman to check what criminal charges will warrant by the circumstances. But we still have to assess the damage because the whole family of the patient has been affected. We will also include exemplary damages to give a stern warning to other hospitals that even a poor patient has his rights," said Ceniza. He is also studying the liability of the school where the nursing student is connected. Meanwhile, Tumulak will look for funds for Jan-Jan’s therapy and counseling. According to the Web site of GMA 7, Ang Ladlad, an organization of lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgenders, will send a gay psychologist over to Cebu to help Jan-Jan cope with the aftermath of the scandal. The DOH 7 will also work overtime on its separate and comprehensive investigation and submit recommendations with sanctions on Monday to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III. - Sun.Star Cebu