Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Jan-jan wants Sotto medical team suspended
TO give a strong message and stern warning that the behavior shown by medical practitioners during the rectal procedure of a florist was not good, the camp of Jan-jan wants preventive suspension imposed on those who deserve the sanction.
Jan-jan’s legal counsel Guiller Ceniza said they will study thoroughly the participation of each medical practitioner and identify those who deserve to be suspended.
This, before they will consider the possibility of filing a motion urging the Office of Ombudsman-Visayas to enforce preventive suspension.
Criminal case
They will also include the names in the filing of a criminal case in the Office of the City Prosecutor.
Jan-jan is the 39-year-old homosexual patient who is asking for P6 million in damages from the medical team and from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) for “violating his rights to privacy, confidentiality, and dignity as a human being.”
This was after a video of his Jan. 3 operation was uploaded to video-sharing website YouTube, showing a medical team either laughing, jeering, or cheering.
“The administrative case investigated by the VSMMC cannot be trusted even when the Department of Health (DOH) is part of the investigating process. But the problem with DOH is that they channel the investigation through the administrators of the hospital and depend on its recommendations,” Ceniza said in a radio dyLA interview.
“Based on the recommendations released by the VSMMC’s fact-finding committee, we can see that their recommendations cannot be trusted because they want to cover up the whitewash committed to repair them for the next case they will have to face,” he added.
Ceniza also said that while the DOH will continue their investigation, they will actively participate in the investigation of the anti-graft.
14 names
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas released Monday its final evaluation report (FER), recommending 14 people placed under formal criminal investigation; 12 will also be facing an administrative case.
To be placed under criminal investigation are Dr. Phillips Leo D. Arias, surgeon-in-charge; Dr. Marlowe Parreno, consultant, Department of Surgery; Dr. Angelo Linawagan, assistant surgeon; Dr. Joseph Alfred de Leon, who was assigned in the documentation; Dr. Joanne Mae Merilles, resident anesthesiologist; Dr. Serapio Salazar, consultant, Department of Anesthesiology; and Dr. Max Joseph Montecillo of the Department of Surgery.
Also included are Isabelita Remulta, operating room nurse supervisor; Carmenia Sapio, circulating nurse; Consuelo Tecling, operating room nurse supervisor; Ida Sumayang, nurse-on-call; and Rosemarie Villareal, nursing attendant.
They are directly connected with the VSMMC and are also being investigated administratively for grave misconduct.
The clinical instructors also facing administrative case are A. Oplado for University of Southern Philippines and Ramon Penly “Monching” Pandaan for Southwestern University.
Ceniza said that Jan-jan’s camp is happy with this new development.
The VSMMC, though, still has to receive a copy of the FER so that its administration can discuss it. (NRC)
