DOH-7 hears husband of patient who died of alleged malpractice

CEBU, Philippines - After hearing the side of Mandaue City Hospital management and personnel, the Department of Health-7 yesterday gathered information from the family of the late Jocelyn Coliflores, who allegedly died due to medical malpractice.

Cesar Coliflores, Jocelyn’s husband, was accompanied by lawyer Inocencio dela Cerna when he met with DOH-7 director Jaime Bernadas and Licensing Division chief Dr. Sophia Mancao at the regional health agency compound.

Data obtained from the patient’s family will be incorporated with the information gotten from the hospital management and concerned personnel will both be incorporated with the DOH independent investigation as requested by the Commission on Human Rights-7.

This, along with the recommendations from DOH, will be the content of the report to be addressed to Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes as the hospital is run by the city government.

As the full investigation results and recommendation have yet to be drafted and submitted, Mancao said they will advise the hospital management to follow guidelines on issuing only one discharge summary as investigators found that two summaries were made (one for billing, the other the final discharge summary).

Bernadas, for his part, said that the agency will emphasize on “completeness of records” so that no questions will be raised when these shall have been reviewed.

Dela Cerna and the patient’s husband both expressed satisfaction on the outcome of the meeting with the DOH as the health agency committed cooperation in terms of providing enlightenment and assistance to their camp in accordance with their mandated jurisdiction.

The lawyer stressed that since out-of-court discussion with hospital management yielded no positive results, especially on identifying the hospital personnel involved in the alleged malpractice, they may have to seek the help of the court.

Apart from administrative case, Coliflores is also eyeing on pressing criminal charges like “probable homicide” against the hospital personnel.

These will be filed with the Office of the Ombudsman since the persons involved are government employees.

Bernadas emphasized that while the health agency is coordinating with both the sides of the hospital and the patient, they insisted that the proper agency to address the issue of malpractice is the Professional Regulation Commission. — (FREEMAN)