Wednesday, May 28, 2008 Do docs, nurses stay suspended? By Elisabeth P. Baumgart & Karlon N. Rama Of Sun.Star Cebu
THE Department of Health (DOH) will turn over to the Office of the Ombudsman the administrative investigation on 12 government doctors and nurses, over the circulated video of a surgical patient’s case.
With this decision, however, questions surfaced on whether the DOH had any authority to preventively suspend three personnel of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
Lawyers of the three respondents are now asking for the preventive suspension to be lifted, although the DOH hearing committee clarified they were in no position to do
that.
Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol, in a separate interview, said that the health department confirmed receipt of a single-page letter sent late yesterday afternoon on the Genaro “Jan-jan” Jorolan case.
Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Santiago signed the letter, addressed to Department of Health 7 Regional Director Dr. Susana Madarieta.
Apostol said he hopes that the formal letter ends the issue of who will handle the administrative aspect of the Jorolan case, adding that the anti-graft office is holding on to the commitment earlier given by Health Undersecretary Alexander Padilla.
Sent a copy of the letter, Padilla told Madarieta to stop their inquiry and forward the case records to the anti-graft office instead.
Grounds
DOH hearing committee head Dr. Angelita Salarda announced they received the communication from the ombudsman, during a pre-hearing yesterday. At that meeting were six VSMMC personnel and Dr. Gerardo Aquino, the hospital chief.
In its letter, the ombudsman stated two grounds why their agency should take over the case: the complainant’s wishes and the fact that the ombudsman formally docketed the case before the health department did.
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas earlier filed criminal charges against 14 VSMMC doctors, nurses and clinical instructors after a fact-finding investigation on the original complaint.
Twelve of them were to be investigated administratively—Dr. Phillips 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 one assigned in documenting the procedure; Drs. Joanne Mae Merilles, the resident anesthesiologist; Serapio Salazar, the consultant of the Department of Anesthesiology; Joseph Montecillo of the Department of Surgery; Isabelita Remulta, the operating room nurse supervisor; circulating nurse Carmina Sapio; operating room nurse supervisor Consuelo Tecling; the nurse on call, Ida Sumayang; and nursing attendant Rosemarie Villareal.
Damages
The investigation could not immediate proceed, however, as the VSMMC chief lodged an administrative complaint of his own. This led to the preventive suspension of three people: Arias, Montecillo and Sapio.
Jorolan, in his complaint, accused unidentified staff members of the VSMMC of acting inappropriately by videotaping the medical procedure he underwent to remove a body spray canister lodged inside his rectum and then uploading the footage on YouTube.com.
He is claiming damages of up to P6 million.
The respondents’ lawyers said they will abide by the order for the ombudsman to take over the case, although the development also raises other questions.
“What would now be the effect of the preventive suspension order? It would be null and void because the suspension order was issued without jurisdiction,” said lawyer Joselito M. Alo, legal counsel of circulating nurse Carmina Sapio.
He pointed out that since his client’s preventive suspension began, she has been deprived of her salary.
DOH Central Office Prosecutor Harry Novella admitted that the ombudsman’s impending takeover of the case came as a surprise to him.
