Bill defining rights of persons under medical treatment proposed

Congress should seriously consider passing new legislation defining the rights of persons under medical treatment, Sen. Loren Legarda said over the weekend.

"It is high time we draw up a Patient’s Bill of Rights in order to ensure patient’s safety and welfare," Legarda said.

"Existing legislation has proven inadequate in protecting patients from medical malpractice and negligence," Legarda noted.

She stressed that patients are entitled to a minimum standard of medical care. "We must protect and advance this right," she added.

Legarda’s call came not long after two physicians and two nurses of a first-class hospital in San Juan, Metro Manila were slapped a P50-million civil suit for the alleged "wrongful death" of a prominent lawyer from Bacolod City.

The heirs of lawyer Romeo Geocadin Sr., 61, alleged in a suit lodged with a Pasig City court that one of the physicians gave the patient an overdose of the powerful sedative Dormicum.

"If a patient in a first-class medical facility can be a victim of alleged malpractice or negligence, we can just imagine the risks faced by patients in public or private hospitals perceived to have less rigid service quality controls," Legarda pointed out.

Legarda said a Patient’s Bill of Rights would give more meaning to the constitutional mandate for the state "to protect and promote the right to health of the people."

Legarda was the second lawmaker to comment on the filing of a civil suit against the two physicians and two nurses of the Cardinal Santos Medical Center.

Former Senator and now Rep. Ernesto Herrera earlier urged the Dangerous Drugs Board to crack the whip on physicians who abuse their licenses to issue prescriptions for regulated drugs such as the sedative Dormicum, and painkillers Nubain and morphine.