No Facebook updates for parents

Atty. Hiddie Orbiso (right) legal counsel of Jasmine Badocdoc and Ryan Noval (to her right) parents of the newly born baby boy who’s mouth was taped. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

ON the advice of their lawyer, parents of baby Yohannes are staying quiet for now by declining interviews and restricting their online exposure in Facebook.

Since Wednesday evening, Jasmine Badocdoc and Ryan Noval have withdrawn from public view photos and comments about their baby being taped in the mouth including the album “Nightmare @ Maternity Hospital” which started the uproar.

‘We didn’t remove or erase our posts and pictures. We just customized the settings to keep it private as per order of our lawyer to avoid technicalities,” said the mother.

This means only a select circle of friends with access to the Facebook pages of the parents can read what they continue to post.

The couple is preparing their next move with Noval family lawyer Haidi Orbiso after declaring last May 27 that they would sue the Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House, Inc. for covering their newborn son’s mouth with adhesive tape on May 9, apparently to hold in place a pacifier.

The couple said all they wanted was an apology but were frustrated when the hospital continued to deny the incident with the hostpial lawyer insinuating that the face-taping was made up.

Another cause of friction was the release of a June 27 amicable settlement signed by the baby’s mother and hospital officials, a document which Badocdoc has disowned.

She continued to deny reaching a “no-blame” compromise with the hospital after the hospital’s lawyer showed scanned copies of an endorsed check and voucher for P15,423.70 which she received as consideration according to the document.

The couple set their Facebook accounts on private mode after the documents were posted online in news websites.

Noval, a Fil-Am bicycle advocate, posted on his Facebook on June 26 but talked only about the campaign for bike lanes in Cebu City.

The special Facebook page “Unofficial: Breaking the Silence” which he earlier created to chronicle the case of baby Yohannes hoping to attract other cases of medical malpractice, can no longer be seen.

Last Thursday, both parents went to the Department of Health (DOH-7) office to wait for the resolution of the inter-agency fact-finding panel that looked into their case. The report was released last week but signatures of all members are still being gathered.

“Marami pang hindi nakapirma. It won’t be considered valid unless it will be completely signed by them,” Badocdoc said on Thursday.

The government panel confirmed the face-taping incident and found the hospital liable for malpractice. It recommended the filing of appropriate civil, criminal and administrative action.

The couple is expected to use the document in the lawsuit they plan to file even as questions arose over the impact of the June 27 amicable settlement.

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Cebu Maternity Hospital: We regret ‘taping’ of baby

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Taped baby’s mama denies signing settlement