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Cebu City, Philippines - Danilo (not his real name) made good his threat to file a complaint at the Office of the Visayas Ombudsman against the medical staff of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) involved in his January 3 rectal operation.
He filed a complaint on Monday afternoon after the VSMMC refused to name the doctors and nurses who operated on him to remove a canister of Black Suede body spray from his body.
Danilo, 39, was accompanied by his lawyer Guiller Ceniza and Basak Pardo barangay (village) Captain Dave Tumulak when he submitted his a complaint against three doctors and a nurse for violating the right of privacy and confidentiality, professionalism, justness and sincerity.
Danilo also filed a complaint of damages, but Ceniza said they still could not estimate how much they would ask.
Danilo and his lawyer submitted medical records to the Ombudsman including signatures and dates on when Danilo was confined and underwent surgery at the VSMMC.
Danilo denied he was out to make money of the traumatic experience now known as “Black Suede scandal” on the Internet.
He said that if he was, he would have done it when one of the doctors involved in the operation approached him and suggested to upload the video online.
Danilo said in his affidavit that the doctor made his offer on January 5 while he was having lunch inside his room at the hospital.
“Nangwarta ko? Ambot nila. Sauna ra unta pag-offer nila. (Make money out of it? I don't know. I would've done that after they made the offer.)”, said Danilo.
Before Danilo filed his complaint, the VSMMC management submitted the results of its investigation to the Ombudsman-Visayas. Included in the report was the list of names of the medical staff involved in the surgical operation.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña agreed with Danilo that the medical staff involved should be named.
He said the doctors and officials of the hospital are working for the people and the government and so they should be named.
“Things like these make medical profession here in the country look bad,” Osmeña said.
But Assistant Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Virginia Santiago-Palanca said the names of the medical team will remain confidential until the anti-graft office thoroughly studied Danilo's complaint and the results of the VSMMC investigation.
Danilo underwent a surgical operation on January 3 to remove a body spray from his rectum after a night of sex with a stranger on New Year's eve.
The VSMMC medical staff and nurse trainees took video using their camera phones and made fun of him during the operation. The video was uploaded in the Internet.
He only knew about the video on April 11 when Tumulak informed him about it.
The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) upheld the recommendations submitted by the VSMMC that found basis to file administrative charges against the three doctors and a nurse involved in surgery.
Doctor Susana Madarieta, DOH-7 director, said the five-member committee she created to look into the video came up with “practically the same” findings as the VSMMC probe except for “minor changes.”
The VSMMC probe also recommended the issuance of a “stern warning” against a doctor and three nurse supervisors to be more cautious in the performance of their duties as supervisors.
Madarieta refused to name the members of the hospital staff involved because it would be unfair to identify the persons concerned since Health Secretary Francisco Duque had yet to approve the DOH-7 recommendations.
Danilo's lawyer, Ceniza, was disappointed with the DOH's decision, which he said was similar to that of the VSMMC probe.
“They still refused to name the doctors and nurses. The trend of the investigation is to sanitize the personalities involved,” Ceniza said.
Madarieta defended their investigation, saying that they studied the case carefully before they came up with the findings.
While the findings of the DOH probe committee were “practically the same” as the VSMMC findings, she said there were minor differences in determining the gravity of the offenses since the doctors and medical staff had different levels of participation.
Madarieta said the levels of participation were classified as grave, less grave and simple so that the DOH head office could come up with sanctions immediately.
Medical staff involved in the controversy continued to work at the VSMMC but the management reassigned them to other responsibilities.
Madarieta said the hospital did not have enough manpower so they could not ask those linked to the scandal not to work.
"Besides, it's not a question of their capability to handle cases because these doctors and nurses are capable to do so. It's more of a behavioral problem," she said. /with reports from Correspondents Marian Z. Codilla and Carine M. Asutilla
