CONTROVERSIAL SURGERY: DOH IDENTIFIES 'YOUTUBE' DOCTORS
MANILA, APRIL 23, 2008 (STAR) By Sheila Crisostomo - Health Secretary Francisco Duque III yesterday named five of the 15 medical staff and students who were present in the operating room during a controversial surgery last Jan. 3 at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City where doctors removed a perfume canister from a patient’s rectum. The procedure was recorded on video without the patient’s permission and uploaded on YouTube, a video sharing website.Named were Dr. Philip Leo Arias, head surgeon; Dr. Angelo Alinawagan, assisting surgeon; Dr. Max Joseph Montecillo, a surgeon at an adjacent operating room; nursing attendant Rosemarie Villareal and circulating nurse Carmenia Sapio.
The patient yesterday filed criminal and administrative charges before the Ombudsman for the Visayas. Although the complainant – a florist and resident of Barangay Basak-Pardo – did not name the respondents in his eight-page sworn statement, Assistant Ombudsman Virginia Palanca-Santiago said those responsible for the unauthorized uploading of the footage on YouTube may be identified during the investigation that formally started yesterday.
Another aspect of the investigation will focus on why the VSMMC medical personnel allowed so many people inside the operating room even if they were unauthorized.
The Department of Health (DOH) is now reviewing the recommendation of the VSMMC fact-finding committee that administrative charges be filed against the medical staff.
A “show cause order” has been issued by the DOH, directing these “primary respondents” to explain why charges should not be lodged against them.
A preliminary investigation will then be conducted by the DOH to determine the extent of their offenses and liability, leading to the possible filing of formal charges against them.
In a press briefing, Duque expressed dismay that the controversial video-taping of the surgery had spoiled what could have become a “good and ideal” case study for medical students, since the VSMMC medical staff successfully removed the perfume canister without performing an invasive operation on the patient.
He said the case could even land in medical books had it not been for the behavior of the medical staff involved and the inappropriate video-taping.
Duque admitted that upon viewing the video, it was clear that there was a “breach of protocol and procedures” at the VSMMC.
“But this does not happen all the time and let us not forget that the operation was also very successful and it did prevent a more serious operative procedure where they would have done an incision,” he said.
The surgeons, he claimed, would have performed an “exploratory laparatomy” in which they will “open up the patient’s abdomen, take out his intestine and cut it to get the canister.”
Instead, the surgeons “directly extracted” the canister from the patient’s anal vault, a “conservative” procedure that is not invasive.
“This one is for history books. I don’t know in other countries but I think this is the first here in the Philippines. But instead of highlighting that it can be done by doctors, it did not happen,” Duque said.
Meanwhile, the Region 7 office of the DOH released the results of its investigation into the incident the other day.
DOH-Region 7 director Susana Madarieta and Integrity Development Committee head Elaine Teleron said they gave the same recommendations as the VSMMC fact-finding report, including the filing of administrative charges against three doctors and a nurse; stern warning to another doctor and three nurse supervisors; proper action by the university against the student who uploaded the video; review and change of policies on operating room procedures by hospitals; and banning a clinical instructor and three nursing trainees from practicing in the hospital.
“The non-staffers who were present in the operation such as the clinical instructors, interns and trainees are not under our jurisdiction. We recommended, however, that the VSMMC submit incident reports to their respective schools. It’s up to their own schools what appropriate actions should be taken,” Madarieta said.
Also yesterday, Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the so-called “rectal scandal.”
“Congress must exercise its oversight and legislative powers to contribute to efforts to stop the burden of oppressive stigma carried by the lesbian and gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT community),” she said.
House Resolution 524 calls on the committees on civil service and professional regulations and civil, political and human rights to conduct a probe on abusive physicians, nurses, interns and medical attendants who performed the operation. -With Delon Porcalla, Christina Paguinto, Jose Miguel Reyes, Rene Borromeo, Ferliza Contratista, Celeste Rivera, and Junel Gato
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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