Baby Yohannes
Four nurses and one midwife on duty denied taping the upper mouth of baby Yohannes in an in-house investigation by the Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House Inc.
Lawyer Cornelio Mercado, spokesman of the private hospital, said the incident reports of the baby-taping controversy were finished and statements were taken from the three nurses, a supervising nurse, and a midwife.
He said that according to the staff, ‘None of them really know (who did it). We are open to everyone. There is nothing to hide,” Mercado told Cebu Daily News yesterday.
He said the private maternity center will release its official statement when the inquiry is completed, but has to wait for the parents to file official sworn statements.
“All of their concerns were raised verbally, on Facebook and in the media,” Mercado pointed out.
The baby’s father, Ryan Noval, a bicycle advocate, first first posted photos last May 9 of his son, showing the infant sleeping in the hospital nursery with an upper lip taped with adhesive from ear to ear.
His account titled “NIGHTMARE @ MATERNITY HOSPITAL” expressed the parents’ outrage over the treatment of their newborn. The photos, taken by cellphone, have since gone viral on the Internet, triggering cries of condemnation and a slew of investigations.
The Cebu City Council also passed a resolution deploring the treatment by unnamed hosptial staff as “inhumane”. Noval, who addressed the council last Wednesday, said he would continue his “quest for justice” and cooperate with authorities to “fix the system”.
When the parents sat down with directors of the hospital board last week, they were assured that an internal investigation was underway, because “gagging” a baby was not part of hospital protocol.
The adhesive tape was used to hold in place a pacifier that had fallen out of the baby’s mouth. Baby Yohannes was discharged last week.
INTER-AGENCY PROBE
Mercado yesterday said the hospital will cooperate with the inter-agency investigation proposed by the Department of Health (DOH-7) , Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-7), Commission on Human Rights (CHR-7), and Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).
“We are open to that. Everything will be presented . It will come out and the truth will set you free,” he added.
“We will sit down for that together. There is no problem with that.”
The joint inquiry is headed by the CHR-7.
Grace Yana, social worker of DSWD-7 said during the press conference last Friday that they will request the National Telecommunications (NTC) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI-7) to seek guidance for the Facebook photos posted and the camera used.
Jasmine Badocdoc, the baby’s mother, uploaded a separate album of photos on her own Facebook account last May 10.
The pictures posted by the couple in social media have stirred angry public reactions here and abroad.
“Why condemn us in public and in the whole world? They should give us a chance to react first before posting that online,” said the hospital’s lawyer.
“I can’t imagine a professional who tapes the mouth of a newborn baby,” he said, adding that this is not a protocol in the hospital.
He noted that the Facebook comments of the parents focused on the tape on their child’s face but not the use of a pacifier.
Mercado said pacifiers are avaiable in the market and aren’t considered dangerous.
“Pacifiers are only used in a certain and exceptional case and this is not a common practice in the hospital,” Mercado explained.
He said the incident report of one nurse observed that the baby’s mother took pictures of other infants in the nursery and had finished breastfeeding her son Yohannes before the disputed incident happened.
“Why was she taking pictures of other babies in the nursery room? There’s something to that.”
Mercado said he’d like to know what cellphone was used to take the photos and the memory card where images were saved in order to pinpoint the time the incident happened.
He asked the public not to hasty in judging the nurses and the hospital management.
“If there was an error then we will admit but if there’s a malicious thing that happened then there is something wrong,” he added.
“People should not condemn us but hear our explanations first because everyone needs due process,” Mercado explained.
The nurses and midwife under investigation are still working at Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House Inc.
In her Facebook account, the baby’s mother said that when she asked one nurse why her son’s mouth was taped, the nurse explained that the infant wouldn’t stop crying.
“She (the accused nurse) is really depressed. Her family and friends are very affected,” Mercado said.
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