Hospital officials, mother of taped baby sign ‘no blame’ agreement

The mother of baby Yohannes, the newborn boy who’s taped mouth set off a furor last May,  has agreed not to sue the hospital where her son was delivered.

An amicable settlement, signed last Friday, by Jasmine Badocdoc is set to be submitted today by the Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House Inc. to the Department of Health (DOH) in Region 7.

“Parties ascribe no fault or blame no one on the incident as recorded by Jasmine and posted on Facebook,” said the document titled “Settlement of Dispute.”

A copy obtained by Cebu Daily News said the mother had requested and  received “financial assistance” as a consideration but emphasized that “For the record, money is not the motive why Jasmine entered into an amicable settlement.”

“After several meetings and discussions, parties herein have agreed to buy peace and put an end to disputes,” the opening sentence of the settlement read.

The  settlement was signed by Florencia Streegan, president of the board of trustees of the Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House Inc. and Dr. Iris Jakosalem as vice president. Elena Jumao-as, the chief nurse, was present during the signing.

Aside from formalizing “an end to the dispute”, the agreement may head off or preempt action by an inter-agency body headed by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

The seven-member group, which held two well-publicized hearings based on the complaint of Badocdoc and the baby’s father, bicycle activity Ryan Noval, is set to meet today to release its findings.

Badocdoc was alone when she went to the hospital on June 27 to sign the settlement, said hospital lawyer and spokesman Cornelio Mercado.

Mercado said he would leave it to the mother to explain the situation with Noval.

When CDN reached Noval for comment yesterday afternoon, the baby’s father said the family lawyer Heidi Orbiso was still ready to take legal action against the hospital.

The signed settlement, however, said it “is binding and final to the parties, with or without legal assistance.”

The baby’s parents are not married.  The document refers to the infant as “her child Johaness Badocdoc.”

The settlement said Jasmine stipulated that this would “serve as voluntary desistance and ground for dismissal” of her prior complaint.

The document did not deny the occurrence of the incident that set off the whole controversy – the mother’s discovery on May 9 in the nursery that her baby’s upper mouth was taped with adhesive that was supposed to hold a pacifier in place.

The settlement  said Jasmine has declared that the nurse on duty that night, Arianne Pacula, “is not responsible.”

The basis for any future lawsuit by either the mother or the hospital was hobbled by the terms of the settlement.

The agreement said  the parties, including Maternity Hospital’s officers and staff,  “release and discharge, and forever render free and harmless, each other from any further claim or liability, whether accrued or accruing, past, future or contingent.”

CHR-7 lawyer Dante Jadman who chairs the fact-finding panel said the members were set to release their resolution on what was earlier found to be a case of child abuse and a “violation of rights” of the infant.

“But because of the settlement, our resolution and recommendations will be useless,” Jadman told CDN last night when he was informed about the development.

Jadman said he will ask panel members to hold off making public their 15-page resolution.

The “baby taping” incident set off an uproar in Cebu, and a wider audience in  social media, drawing angry comments from Net users in the Philippines and abroad.

After the infant’s parents uploaded photos of baby Yohannes with his upper lip taped on their Facebook accounts, at least three other mothers reported that their babies were similarly handled in the nursery of Maternity Hospital.

The inter-agency government panel investigating the case has representatives from the DOH 7,  Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-7) , National Telecommunications (NTC), Department of Justice (DOJ) , Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) in Cebu City, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI-7) and the Women and Child Protection of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).

Grace Yana, a DSWD social worker, told CDN  their stand in the Regional Subcommittee for the Welfare of the Children (RSCWC) remains.

“It’s still the same. We found violations done by the hospital and individual service providers as to standards and policies,” Yana said. She said it’s up to the DOH-7 to mete administrative sanctions on the hospital.

The DOH-7 has submitted its own administrative evaluation to the office of DOH Secretary Enrique Ona. It did not fully disclose its findings.

Related Stories:

DOH sends evaluation on taped baby

4th ‘taped baby’ surfaces, cousin of Noval

Cebu City Council condemns photo of baby with taped mouth