Sunday, July 13, 2008 New complaint v. medical team draws question
THE lawyer representing some of the respondents in the Black Suede scandal is calling the complaint against his clients at the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) forum-shopping.
“The matter is already under administrative investigation, and the proceedings before the PRC are also administrative in nature,” said lawyer Frank Malilong.
Forum-shopping occurs when similar complaints are filed before different but co-equal venues in the hopes of getting at least one favorable result.
“I will definitely bring this to the attention of the PRC,” he said.
Genaro “Janjan” Jorolan lodged his latest complaint before the PRC Monday last week and asked for the revocation of the licenses of doctors and nurses who took part in his Jan. 3 surgery at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
The surgery, which involved the removal of a canister from his rectum, was videotaped by a still unidentified member of the medical staff and later uploaded on the file-sharing website Youtube.com.
He submitted a letter-complaint asking the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas to conduct an administrative and criminal investigation against the hospital and to compel the hospital management to identify the members of the medical staff.
He also asked for P6 million in damages.
An anti-graft investigation is ongoing. The Department of Health also launched its own investigation but later turned it over to the ombudsman.
Jorolan, the probe notwithstanding, filed the administrative complaint before the PRC anyway.
Impleaded were Dr. Angelo Alinawagan, assistant surgeon during Jorolan’s operation; Dr. Joseph de Leon, a member of the surgical team and the person in charge of the documentation of the operation; Dr. Max Joseph Montecillo of the VSMMC’s Department of Surgery; Dr. Phillips Leo Arias, surgeon in charge during the operation; and Dr. Marlowe Parreno, the consultant of the Department of Surgery.
He wants their licenses revoked.
A separate complaint targeting the nurses involved in the operation is reportedly in the works.
The PRC has acknowledged receipt of the complaint but the legal counsel, Mildred Antipuesto, said it is still subject to review and verification. (KNR)
