A MEDICAL doctor, four nurses and the administrator in a private-run hospital in Davao City have been charged before the City Prosecution Office for alleged medical negligence and malpractices.
Facing charges for criminal negligence, which is punishable under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to medical negligence or malpractice, are nurses Krist Ann Camoro Longhay, Byron Miranda Laurente and Lolita Mante.
Also named in the charge sheet are Delma Gentapan, the hospital administrator, and Dr. Marcos Chan Siyong.
The complaint was filed by the National Bureau of Investigation in Davao Region Monday morning through regular filing procedure.
In the complaint affidavit dated October 5 executed by complainant Jean Jabagat, who was previously confined at the hospital after undergoing a surgical procedure called thyroidectomy on April 21 last year, she claimed that after her surgery, she was informed by her surgeon Dr. Henry Derla that she will be discharged by April 23.
But before that, accused Longhay allegedly injected a wrong medicine to the complainant.
According to the findings of NBI Davao supervising agent Exzel Hernandez, it was stated that the medicine Longhay injected on the complainant was allegedly made without conducting prior skin test.
It was in fact intended for another patient confined in the same room.
This was administered even as the complainant told Longhay she was advised by her doctor that she doesn't need antibiotics.
As a result, Jabagat reportedly started to experience rapid heart palpitation, difficulty in breathing, chilling, nervousness, and skin rashes started appearing but was not attended to by the nurse who had allegedly left the patient to check her medical records.
Another doctor from the hospital arrived at the room and administered an anti-allergy drug and saved the complainant from the situation.
The said doctor reportedly told the complainant that Longhay allegedly "admitted to her of being negligent in injecting the wrong drugs out of haste because of the lack of nursing staff at the surgery department that time.”
“Such negligence was rooted from and attributable to the negligent acts by the supervisors of nurse Longhay, for not being predisposed and present to exercise their supervisory functions and to address the shorthanded medical complement which caused their subordinates to falter and blunder in attending to the medical needs of hospital patients," the NBI’s findings stated.
The NBI findings further stated that the hospital’s personnel who were allegedly involved in the incident could be made to answer for the alleged medical negligence under the doctrine of "res ipsaloquitor," which means that "the injury [caused by the incident] in itself provides the proof of negligence."
The case filed against the respondents though are still to be resolved or is subject for a separate investigation by a City Prosecutor.