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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Health office maybe morally liable over woman's death: NBI
By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
THE health officer of Bago City may be held morally liable for the death of a 39-year-old mother who underwent tubal ligation during a free medical mission at the Bago City District Hospital on Nov. 25.
Philip Pecache, officer-in-charge of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Bacolod District Office said, "it might be the moral responsibility of Dr. Pilar Mabasa."
Mabasa, he said, is supposed to screen unaccredited providers, like the Cebu-based Marie Stopes, from conducting voluntary surgical contraception (VCS) or tubal ligation in the city after the Department of Health 6 issued a radio message last April 20, 2005.
In the message, Health Region 6 Director Dr. Lyndia Depra-Ramos urged the governors, provincial health officers, family planning coordinators and health representatives in Western Visayas to disallow VCS providers that are not accredited with the Department of Health (DOH).
"It is the policy of the Department of Health to accredit providers on VCS since 1986. According to our roster of accredited providers, Marie Stopes is not one of those...It is the responsibility of the LGU to police their ranks," she said in the message.
When reached for comment through her mobile phone, Mabasa said she cannot entertain questions yet as she is driving a car and heading towards a mountainous area in Negros.
Mabasa appeared before the NBI Tuesday morning and submitted all the medical records of the victim.
She also disclosed the name of the doctor who administered the tubal ligation on Sioco.
She said the doctor was Dr. Ailene Apurillo of Bantayan Island, Cebu.
Percy Miranda Sioco, of Hacienda Socorro, Purok Paghidaet, Barangay Sagasa, Bago City, reportedly died of septicemia or blood poisoning at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City three days after the operation.
Her husband, Raymundo, sought the assistance of the NBI to look into the death of his wife.
An autopsy examination is now being conducted on Precy. The results of the autopsy will determine whether the the family has the right to pursue the filing of charges.
According to Pechache, "If Mabasa only said no to the offer, then the mayor of Bago would probably not allow the mission."
He stressed though that, legally, Mabasa has no liability "nor that she committed any violation."
But she ran the risk when she allowed the mission at the expense of the Bago constituents, Pecache said.
In a telephone interview, Bago Mayor Janet Torres appealed to everyone to wait for the result of the NBI investigation.
She said there is no conclusion yet whether or not what happened to Sioco can be considered as a case of "medical malpractice."
But she vowed not to allow anymore of the VCS providers to conduct medical/surgical missions in Bago.
On the investigation, the NBI in-charge said they still need three documents for them to be able to probe the case further.
These documents include the patient's medical abstracts from Bago's health office, the CLMMRH and the results of the autopsy conducted by Dr. Angelie Oropella of NBI-Manila.
In the meantime, he said they cannot yet conclude whether there really was a crime committed in this case.
But if there was, he said, all those found liable may face charges of negligence or simple negligence resulting in homicide.
For his part, Governor Joseph Marañon said based on the monitoring by a DOH-representative and the PHO Family Planning Program coordinator on Marie Stopes, it was found out that its sterilization processes was not in accordance with DOH standards.
This reportedly happened in Don Salvador Benedicto Memorial Hospital in La Carlota City and at the Cadiz District Hospital.
The governor also revealed that his office has received reports from health personnel of the different local government units that certain complications reportedly arose from Marie Stopes' conduct of tubal ligation, such as hematoma, infected wounds and failure to ligate two fallopian tubes.
Efforts to reach Marie Stopes proved futile.
Last April 29, the governor, after receiving the radio message from DOH 6, also issued a memorandum to all city and municipal mayors in the province, reiterating the health deparment's message.
(December 14, 2005 issue)
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