Thursday, May 08, 2008 NBI to trace person who uploaded video
A TEAM from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Computer Crimes Division will be in Cebu today in a mission to identify who uploaded on Youtube.com. the video depicting the removal of a body spray canister from a patient’s rectum
The team, headed by Supervising Agent Palmer Mallari, will also be visiting the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) to physically establish that the video now in their possession is the same as the one taken during the operation.
It was the management of the VSMMC, represented by hospital chief Gerardo Aquino who asked the NBI to start an investigation.
It is possible to trace the Youtube.com file back to the Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the computer used to upload the video.
Administrative
The NBI has already written Youtube.com and asked for the IP address.
The question of who uploaded the video of the extraction on Youtube.com remains unanswered.
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas, who investigated the incident, did not delve on the issue in its Final Evaluation Report (FER) it released last Monday.
The FER resolved to place 14 people under criminal investigation but only for acts that transpired inside the operating room (OR) during the procedure - the alleged jeering and laughing of those inside the room.
Twelve of them have also been placed under administrative investigation for grave misconduct.
Genaro Jorolan, the alleged victim, has submitted a motion asking that the anti-graft office place 12 of the 14 people identified in the Ombudsman FER under preventive suspension.
Impleaded for criminal investigation are Drs. Philipps Leo Arias, the surgeon in charge; Marlowe Parreno, the consultant of the Department of Surgery; Angelo Linawagan, the assistant surgeon and Joseph Alfred de Leon, the person assigned in documenting the procedure.
Also included are Drs. Joanne Mae Merilles, the resident anesthesiologist, Serapio Salazar, the consultant of the Department of Anesthesiology, and Max Joseph Montecillo of the Department of Surgery.
The nurses involved are Isabelita Remulta, the operating room nurse supervisor; Circulating Nurse Carmenia Sapio, OR Nurse Supervisor Consuelo Tecling, the nurse on call; Ida Sumayang, and Nursing Attendant Rosemarie Villareal.
Supervisor
The clinical instructors named are a certain A. Oplado and Ramon Penley “Monching” Pandaan.
Doctors, Arias and Linawagan admitted that there were too many people in the OR when the operation took place but said that they had no control over the matter as they were so focused on the procedure.
Montecillo, for his part, admitted he was one of those in the OR at that time but said “(he) could not help but react to the way my colleagues handled the operation.”
“Several times I smiled and laughed (at their side comments and jokes) but I never said a word or did anything than to continue my observation and to document what transpired.”
It was Dr. de Leon who was authorized to take videos of the procedure. (KNR)
