Hospital given 72 hours to submit incident report
Michelle Joy L. Padayhag, Correspondent
The Department of Health (DOH-7) yesterday formed a fact-finding team to investigate the death of an 8-month-old boy at a government hospital in Cebu City.
Dr. Jaime Bernadas, DOH-7 regional director, said St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital has been given 72 hours to submit its incident report.
“We need it (incident report) for us to know their side, too. The investigation includes the time frame – what time the boy was discharged from St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital then what time he was admitted at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC),” Bernadas said.
Baby Harry Morgan Visaya was admitted on June 2 after suffering loose bowel movement and vomitting.
Five days later, he was dead, after being rushed to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Center. The death certificate said the infant died of acute gastroenteritis with severe dehydration in hypotensive shock on June 7.
The parents, Marifhe Ylaya and Haryl Visaya, blamed St. Anthony personnel for the baby’s death. They submitted a formal complaint before the DOH regional office yesterday afternoon.
In their complaint, the couple accused Dr. Venus Barte, Dr. Roselle Lampayan, medical director Dr. Robert Dinopol and Dr. Rhea Dinopol – Pacana of medical negligence.
The letter-complaint was prepared by lawyer Ferdinand Berongoy and signed by the couple. They also asked DOH-7 to furnish them a copy of the medical and clinical abstract of the baby.
Bernadas said the DOH-7 can conduct administrative proceedings since the hospital and its staff are under the agency’s jurisdiction.
“On our end, we can suspend or dismiss as sanctions. DOH-7’s concern is more on the quality, efficiency, and competence of medical care,” Bernadas said.
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has jurisdiction over the doctors as individual professionals.
Bernadas said the fact-finding team, which will be headed by Dr. Sophia Mancao, will check whether the hospital is undermanned.
“Let’s check into that because at present we have just augmented staff in all DOH hospitals,” Bernadas said.
St. Anthony is a 25-bed hospital in Basak, San Nicolas that started as an extension of VSMMC. It became an independent government hospital offering maternal and child care in 1994. It can accommodate emergency cases involving adults.
In their letter-complaint, the parents said they first brought the baby as an outpatient to St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital at 11 a.m. on June 2, 2015 because of loose bowel movement and vomiting.
Dr. Pacana allegedly advised the mother to give the baby oral rehydration solution. The baby was sent home. The baby was brought back to the hospital on June 3. He was admitted and given intravenous (IV) therapy. The IV line was dislodged midnight of June 6, 2015 and repeated attempts to re-insert the IV failed.
“Baby Morgan kept on discharging fluid continuously at least three (times) in an hour. Few hours later without IV, symptoms of severe dehydration started to appear such as extreme thirst, very dry mouth, sunken eyes and sunken fontanels,” the complaint stated.
The parents asked the next day to be allowed to transfer the baby to Chong Hua but Dr. Venus Barte allegeldy brought the baby to VSMMC. The baby died at VSMMC the following day.
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