Admin, criminal raps poised vs Cebu hospital personnel
By Edu Punay
Philippine Star
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas has recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against seven doctors, four nurses, two clinical instructors, and a nursing aide who were implicated in the operating room scandal at the government-run Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City.

The anti-graft investigators said they found ample grounds to file charges of violation of Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and grave misconduct against the VSMMC medical personnel who were caught on video laughing while conducting surgery on a 39-year-old gay florist to extract a perfume canister from his rectum last Jan. 3. The video recording was made without the consent of the patient.

The footage, which was uploaded on YouTube, a video-sharing Internet site, showed the medical personnel in the operating room making jokes and jeering as they performed the procedure.
The Ombudsman identified the accused as Doctors Phillip Leo Arias, Marlowe Parreno, Angelo Linawagan, Alfred Joseph De Leon, Joanne Mae Merilles, Serapio Salazar and Max Joseph Montecillo, registered nurses Isabelita Remulta, Carmenia Sapio, Consuelo Tecling and Ida Sumayang, clinical instructors Ramon Pandaan and a certain A. Opado from Southwestern University, and nursing aide Rosemarie Villareal.

In its recommendation, the Ombudsman-Visayas ruled that the medical staff committed misconduct for unlawful behavior and gross negligence as public officers.
Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol, head of the anti-graft office in the Visayas, said their fact-finding panel conducted a two-week investigation and assessment of the complaint filed by the patient, whose identity has been withheld, last April 21.

In his complaint, the patient said he suffered humiliation after the video of his operation was posted on YouTube.

In his nine-page affidavit, the complainant though did not identify the doctors, nurses and interns involved, but only gave reference to a certain Dr. Arias.
Clinical forms and a discharge sheet from the hospital were attached to the complaint prepared by his lawyer Guiller Ceniza.

The patient accused the VSMMC personnel who attended his surgery of violating his rights to privacy and confidentiality and reflecting a poor sense of professionalism.
He cited provisions of RA 4224 (Code of Ethics of the Medical Profession in the Philippines), the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses, the Hippocratic Oath and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials.

“I strongly believe the doctors and nurses of the Vicente (Sotto) Memorial Medical Center and the hospital itself violated my right to privacy and confidentiality. Without my consent, they took videos of the operation showing my private parts and my unusual and embarrassing condition,” he said.

“Instead of observing professional courtesy and giving sympathy to a victim of sexual abuse, the doctors, the nurses and the hospital entertained themselves at my expense, by making fun at my condition; they jeered, laughed, shouted, uttered mischievous statements and cheered on many occasions during the operation; evidently, they were trying to mock and ridicule me,” he added.

_____

Good to know! At least, medical practitioners now are more cautious on handling patients. Lessons learned from the incident happened.

Hope there will be no medical scandals that will happen again. Be professional and review the Code of Ethics.

Credits to: themousepotato.com

DoH names docs, nurses in Cebu ‘canister scandal’
By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 16:20:00 04/22/2008
MANILA, Philippines —

The Department of Health (DoH) has named the three doctors and two nurses of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City who may face charges for the so-called “canister scandal.”

Secretary Francisco Duque III identified the VSMMC medical staff as head surgeon Philips Leo Arias; assistant surgeons Angelo Linawagan and Max Joseph Montecillo; nursing attendant Rosemarie Villareal; and circulating nurse Carmina Sapio.

Duque said at a press conference Tuesday at the DoH main office in Manila that more persons may be named respondents, depending on the outcome of the preliminary investigation.
The violations they may be charged with, the secretary said, range from simple neglect to grave misconduct. But he emphasized that before administrative charges are filed, due process must be observed.

“I would like to clarify and stress, no charges have been filed as of yet because we need to follow certain procedures. It behooves upon us to make sure that the processes, the procedures are being followed. Ayaw nating ma-teknikal tayo [We don’t want to be caught in a technicality],” the DoH secretary pointed out.

He explained that, while the VSMMC and the DoH Central Visayas have conducted their respective fact-finding investigations, the hospital still has to issue show-cause letters to the respondents and allow them to explain why they should not be charged.

It is only after they have responded can the DoH conduct a preliminary investigation into the possible filing of administrative charges, during which the levels of participation and corresponding sanctions will be determined.

***

Below is the actual video on the operating room. Video is converted already to 3gp file, which you can download directly to your mobilephones.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

I'm lucky enough to upload the video from youtube before they remove it again. As I know, they prohibit the distribution of the video.


As what I've read in the news, the Hospital Administration were only blaming on a student nurse, who took and uploaded the video. What?! come on, try to see the video again. How many people were there on the footage holding their cellphone near the guy’s ass? While other people on the Operating Room are having fiesta.

Such a shame to those who were inside the operating room. You've violated the clients privacy.

This incident can bring lesson on students and professionals who are in the medical field.

A 39-year-old homosexual is planning to sue a medical team after he saw in a cellular phone of a friend last Friday a circulated video footage of the operation to extract a perfume canister stuck in his anus during a sexual act.

The operation on the man, who only wants to be identified as “Jan-Jan,” was done at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) last Jan. 3 yet, but the video footage has been circulating through cell phones since then and was even uploaded in the video-sharing web site, YouTube.

“I trusted them. And yet they ridiculed me behind my back…Was that something a professional would do? I can’t even walk the streets without being laughed at by neighbors. I want my ordeal to end. And I hope it doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Jan-Jan told Sun.Star Cebu in Cebuano.

The video that runs for two minutes and 28 seconds shows an operating team of more than 10 people laughing, with someone shouting instructions while the operation was going on.

It captures individuals with mobile phones and cameras taking footage of the operation. A brief panning motion shows some of the faces of the people involved in the procedure.Loud cheering and shouting can be heard as the canister that someone describes as a “baby” is slowly pulled out of the anus. One of the staff even opens the perfume and sprays it around.All the time, the patient whose face is not visible in the video, is unconscious.

**********

This is a violation in many levels:

* The doctor-patient confidentiality ethic was not followed.
* There were more than enough people in the operating room (most of them were only there to record the procedure on their cellphones).
* The loud, childish jeers from the crowd after the spray can was removed was sickening. A clear disrespect for the patient.
* And the doctor had the gall of telling this to the patient, as stated in that same report…“On Jan. 5, when Jan-Jan was scheduled to be released, his doctor approached him and asked if he wanted to earn money by uploading the video taken during his operation on YouTube. Ashamed with what had happened, he refused.”

When Terri Hatcher said that infamous line in “Desperate Housewives”, which maligned the medical practitioners in the Philippines, most of our countrymen went gung-ho in protest.
But you know, she may have a point.

-Sunstar