AFTER clearing the hospital of any liability, the Department of Health (DOH) 7 yesterday said that the doctors and personnel of the St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital (SAMCH) are not liable for the death of an eight-month-old patient.
In a press conference, Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH 7 director, said that the decision was based on the result of their investigation on the death of Harry Morgan Ylaya Visaya.
The health official said that the investigation report was made after assessing the letter-complaint of the boy’s parents and the results of the fact-finding investigation of SAMCH.
According to the investigation of the hospital, the doctors offered all options to rehydrate Harry Morgan, including providing an intraosseous fluid diffusion, but the parents reportedly did not give their consent.
Intraosseous fluid diffusion is the process of injecting material through to the baby’s bone marrow.
It was only when the baby was transported to the VSMMC that he was already administered with the intraosseous fluid diffusion, but it was too late.
Bernadas said that the DOH 7 will provide the result of their investigation to the parents’ legal counsel, lawyer Ferdinand Beronggoy.
If Harry Morgan’s parents decide to question the results of the investigation, Bernadas said they can file a case before the court or the Professional Regulation Commission.
Sought for comment, Marifhe Ylaya, Harry Morgan’s mother, questioned the DOH 7’s decision.
Marifhe claimed that they submitted separate requests to SAMCH and VSMMC for the results of their investigation.
She said she was surprised why the DOH 7 concluded its investigation when the two hospitals have yet to provide answers to her request.
Marifhe said she will wait for the copy of the DOH 7 investigation report before deciding what to do next.