Victim in 'rectum scandal' seeks P6M in damages

CEBU CITY, Philippines - The patient of a controversial operation to remove a spray canister from his rectum is seeking P6 million in damages from the medical team and the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC). Jan-Jan, the patient, is asking P1 million in moral damages and P5 million in exemplary damages. He filed on Thursday a supplemental affidavit to his complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas. The rules governing ombudsman proceedings, however, do not provide for indemnification. Besides, a highly placed anti-graft official said Thursday, the incident is still under fact-finding investigation. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez also sided with Jan-Jan, saying that the hospital should be held liable for the incident. "I would think that this really is more on the ethics and on the civil action for damage. That's clearly a case for damages. The hospital would also seem to be liable, because why were people allowed to watch in the operating room?" said Gonzalez. In other developments of the case: * The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Central Visayas has sought the help of the Computer Crimes Division to determine who uploaded the video of the operation to YouTube, a video-sharing website. * The lawyer of one of the doctors said they can prove it was a nursing student who uploaded the video. A school official, however, says they are sure their student was not responsible for uploading the video. * Lawyer Magdalena Lepiten says Jan-Jan should have been given the same concern the hospital gives to a rape victim. * Basak-Pardo Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak criticized VSMMC Chief Gerardo Aquino Jr. for refusing to see him and Jan-Jan on Thursday and failing to act on their request for medical records of the operation. Jan-Jan said in his affidavit that the medical team "violated (his) rights to privacy, confidentiality and dignity as a human being." Lepiten has volunteered her legal services to Jan-Jan for free. In an interview on Thursday, she said she'll be handling the filing of administrative cases before the Department of Health (DOH) and the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC). Two non-government groups on gender equality, Ladlad and Gahum, also want to file a separate administrative complaint as concerned parties. "You can call it an intervention if you want," Lepiten said. NBI is also taking cognizance of the case, focusing on determining who uploaded the video. NBI Central Visayas Director Medardo de Lemos said he faxed to the Computer Crimes Division, based in Manila, a compilation of data regarding the incident. "We don't have the technical capability to make the determination at our level. But the Computer Crimes Division has the technology and the expertise. We have tasked one agent to coordinate with the division," de Lemos said. Jan-jan submitted his supplemental complaint-affidavit to the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas Thursday morning. In it, he said he and his family suffered "mental anxiety, social humiliation, wounded feelings and sleepless nights" because of the incident. He wants P1 million in moral damages. He also said he wants to give the hospital, its doctors and its staff a "stern warning that repetition of said act by any other person or entity shall not be countenanced." He wants exemplary damages of P5 million. The award of damages, he said, will "set an example (for) other hospitals and medical practitioners that...humiliating a patient while being unconscious is scandalous, outrageous and condemnable in its strongest terms." Tumulak criticized Aquino for refusing to see them and failing to respond to their request for medical records of the controversial operation. Tumulak said he accompanied Jan-Jan on Thursday to talk to Aquino to ask him why no certified copies of medical records were given to him despite a request sent last April 21. Tumulak said security guard Arnulfo Cuanon, who informed Aquino about their presence, told them that the hospital chief did not want to talk to them. "Dili kuno mo puwedeng makasulod, sir. Huwata lang kuno ninyo ang response (You can't come in. Just wait for the response)" Tumulak quoted Cuanon as saying. He said he wrote Aquino last April 16 and Jan-jan sent another letter on April 21. Both letters were not answered as of Thursday. Last April 20, Tumulak said lawyer Merlo Bagano went to the Basak-Pardo Barangay Hall. Bagano is the lawyer and brother-in-law of Dr. Philips Leo Arias, the head surgeon during the operation. On that day, Bagano met Tumulak and lawyer Guiller Ceniza, Jan-jan's lawyer. Bagano showed Tumulak and Ceniza the x-ray film that contained the name of the victim, the same which included in the video uploaded to YouTube. "I can still remember that it was X-ray film number 162", Tumulak said. Tumulak said Bagano told them that Arias religiously performed the operation. But Tumulak said as chief of the operating team, Arias has command responsibility for failing to maintain order in the operating room during the procedure. Bagano also showed a compact disc (CD) that he described as official video of the operation but Tumulak said it was edited. Tumulak also said a man who claimed to be a relative of Arias went to the victim's residence twice already, looking for Jan-jan and his mother. He said the visits were made when the two and their designated guard were not there. Alson on Thursday, a University of the Visayas (UV) official admitted that they have a nursing student who was suspended for one month in connection with the controversial operation. But lawyer Joseph Baduel, UV vice president for external affairs, clarified that the student was not present during the operation. Baduel, who did not identify the student during a dyLA radio interview, said he received a copy of the video and forwarded it to other people. Baduel said the school administration found what he did inappropriate. Baduel, however, said they are sure that the student was not the one who uploaded the video to YouTube. But Bagano said they can prove that the student uploaded the video. He told Sun.Star Superbalita they are prepared to present the proof in a proper forum. Despite the suspension, Baduel said the student graduated from Gullas College of Nursing. He said it is not true that the school held his records. "At the time of the operation, no UV students were scheduled to be at Vicente Sotto," Baduel said. The legal officer of PRC Cebu, meanwhile, said they will look into the background of doctors and other health professionals impleaded in the complaint and determine the extent of their participation. If there is basis, Mildred Antepuesto said, they will recommend sanctions that will take into account the professional's previous record and the gravity of the participation. "Usually, there is suspension for a year or two years," she said in an ABS-CBN report. Lepiten, in a separate interview, said they are now finalizing their complaint to DOH and PRC. She hopes to finish and file it Friday. Lepiten also took offense with a comment by the Archdiocese of Cebu, through its media liaison officer Monsignor Achilles Dakay. She said Dakay made it appear that Jan-jan was to blame for what happened because he was a homosexual. "If he had read the newspaper reports of what happened, the incident was done without Jan-jan's knowledge and consent. By definition that is rape," she said. As such, she maintained, the hospital should have treated Jan-jan's case as delicately as it would have any other rape victim, regardless of the sexual orientation. - Sun.Star Cebu