A mother who expected to deliver her baby by cesarean section but was allegedly advised by the staff of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) to opt for a normal delivery instead is now blaming the government-run hospital for the death of her infant son last June 5.
Edalene Añosa, 32, a housewife from Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City, recounted her ordeal to employees of the Department of Health Region 7 and vowed to pursue the filing of charges against VSMMC.
According to Añosa, she was surprised to learn from the hospital when she came in for admission that she would have a normal delivery when her last ultrasound showed that she had a breech baby which would need a cesarean delivery.
“I was asked to sign a waiver that they would not be responsible in case anything would happen. I want justice for my son. Why did they ask me to have a normal delivery?” she said in Cebuano.
Añosa also claimed that during delivery, her son’s feet came out first while it took time for the staff to bring the baby out.
“When the baby came out, I was informed that his condition was fifty-fifty. He was immediately brought to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on the same day,” she said.
VSMMC Information Officer Nonoy Mongaya refused to comment on the incident until a formal complaint is lodged before his office.
In the afternoon of June 5, Añosa’s son named John Niño was declared dead. He was laid to rest on the following day.
A photo posted by Brigada Benjie Talisic on Facebook showed the baby’s body bore dark patches on his skin that seemed like bruises.
John Niño was Añosa’s fourth child with her husband, Roldan, who works as a construction worker in Lapu-Lapu City.
The couple planned to go to the Fuente Police Station today to have the incident recorded in the police blotter and then submit an affidavit before the DOH-7 office.
Ligaya Moneva, acting spokesperson of DOH-7, told reporters yesterday that although both the mother and father of the baby went to their office on Monday afternoon to report the incident, no formal complaint has yet been received by their office.
Moneva said the written complaint would serve as basis for DOH-7 to start an investigation.