THREE female nurses of the Tuburan District Hospital have been suspended for taking a video of a drug personality who was wounded in a police operation and uploading it.
The video of suspect Jimby Casas, 23, went viral on the internet.
Esteban Ligaray, Tuburan District Hospital chief, said the nurses were suspended for two days after the incident on Friday, Feb. 8. Provincial Health Office (PHO) Chief Rene Catan said the video was taken by one on-duty nurse, who shared it with friends from another shift. The nurse’s friends then uploaded the video.
Catan said he had warned hospital employees not to take videos of patients as it violated the data privacy law. He also forbade them from posting on social media any comments about their jobs.
“There have been several cases nga natangtang sa trabaho ug gikasohan (of workers losing their jobs or getting sued) because of social media. And there’s even an order from the governor nga (to) please (refrain) from using the media or making comments on the media kay dali ra kaayo na ma-misconstrued ba (because these can easily be misconstrued),” Catan said.
Initial treatment
The health official also clarified that Casas, a resident of Barangay Cogon, was given intravenous, antibiotics and Lactated Ringer’s fluids to preserve his vital signs when he was first brought to the hospital.
However, this was not captured on the video. What was uploaded was the video of the patient writhing in pain with no medical staff attending to him.
“Ang nakit-an sa video, naglamboglambog ang bata, pasyente, untoxic na siya (What is seen on video is the patient in pain). Niubos na ang iyang supply sa oxygen (His oxygen supply had dropped) but that was taken unfortunately base sa (based on the) report by one of our personnel. Mao nay (Those are the) facts,” Catan said.
According to their protocol, the patient in an emergency situation should be referred to the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Balamban before transferring the patient to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.
Casas, however, succumbed to his injuries while the medical staff tried to stabilize his condition.
Catan said he conducted an initial investigation on the incident before the video went viral, but the PHO’s formal investigation wouldn’t start until Monday, Feb. 18.
According to Tuburan police desk officer PO3 Achles Bacorta, Casas resisted arrest during a drug bust led by SPO4 Samuel Cañete in Barangay Poblacion last Feb. 8.
Casas allegedly pulled out his gun after he noticed he was dealing with a police officer pretending to be buying shabu from him.
The suspect was hit in the face, cheek, chest, left arm, shoulder and leg.
Police rushed him to the district hospital, where he died after an hour of confinement.
The suspect yielded four sachets of white crystalline substance believed to be shabu and a .357 revolver. (From SCG of SuperBalita Cebu, Jolissa Mae Taboada, USJ-R Intern, KAL)