Wednesday, April 30, 2008 4 more medical practitioners in surgical scandal named
FOUR more medical practitioners are being investigated in connection with the controversial rectal surgery scandal in Cebu City.
A fact-finding team by the Department of Health's (DOH) regional office in Central Visayas has added another doctor and three nurses in the list of respondents being investigated in the rectal operation scandal at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
Ronald de Veyra, director of the DOH Legal Division Office, identified the additional respondents as Dr. Marlo Pareño and nurses Consuelo Ticling, Aida Sumaya and Isabelita Remulta.
Earlier, the DOH placed under investigation three doctors and two nurses for breaching medical practitioners' code of ethics as a body spray canister was being removed from the rectum of a 39-year-old patient.
The extraction, done in January this year, was posted on the video-sharing website YouTube that prompted the patient to file charges seeking P5 million in exemplary damages and P1 million in moral damages from the medical team and from the hospital.
Last week, the team put under investigation doctors Philips Leo Arias, Angelo Aliwanagan and Max Joseph Montecillo, and nurses Rosemarie Villareal and Carmiña Sapio as those being investigated for breach of medical protocol.
If found guilty of violating medical practitioners code of ethics, the respondents may face administrative sanctions and revocation of license, said the DOH.
The incident blew to a full-blown scandal after the VSMMC case was posted on YouTube where an "overcrowded" operating room was shown with hands holding mobile phones and taking video clips of the procedure. People were also seen giggling and the surgeon aiming the body spray against the crowd after removing the object from the patient's body. (FP/MSN/Sunnex)
