Doctor, doctor, is she sick?

Filipino doctors can now heave a sigh of relief after reason prevailed among our Senators. They scrapped earlier plans to summon to the Senate public hearing the doctors of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Had this pushed through, Philippine medical practitioners fear the dangers this might pose to their professional ethics and doctor-patient confidentiality.

Speaking for himself, former Health secretary Dr. Alberto Romualdez said it is sacred to their profession to keep such privileged information about their patients. Romualdez told me doctors can talk about the “diagnosis” of their patients. But he stressed they can never discuss the medical “prognosis” of their patients that may or may not come true.

In a special article he wrote for Malaya that came out last Nov. 24, Romualdez cited international opinions on confidentiality are generally quite restrictive in favor of individual patients agreeing to disclosure only in cases of imminent potential harm to other persons or the public. Before he joined the Estrada Cabinet for two years, Romualdez was with the World Health Organization as director for Western Pacific.

Generally, Dr. Romualdez wrote, the medical community would agree with the following opinion of the American Medical Association: “When the disclosure of confidential information is required by law or court order, physicians should notify the patient. Physicians should disclose the minimal information required by law, or advocate for the protection of confidential information and, if appropriate, seek a change in the law.”

For now, it’s too early for medical professionals to rejoice over the Senate decision not to invite anymore the Arroyo doctors to their public hearing. Militant, left-leaning party-list representatives bared their own initiative to compel the Arroyo doctors to be investigated before a House public hearing.

This developed as Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, also announced over the weekend they would no longer summon the Arroyo doctors to their next hearing. Guingona said the statements made by the Arroyo doctors before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) in last Friday’s hearing were deemed “sufficient for its own purposes.”

Judge Jesus Mupas, of Pasay RTC Branch 112 handling the electoral sabotage case filed against the former president, summoned three of the Arroyo doctors from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City, Taguig. The judge asked them to testify on the petition for the continued “hospital arrest” of their patient.

Called to the court hearing were Dr. Mario Ver, the attending physician who did the neck/spine surgery on Mrs. Arroyo; Dr. Juliet Gopez-Cervantes, and endocrinologist Dr. Roberto Mirasol. They were joined by the battery of defense lawyers of Mrs. Arroyo led by former Manila City fiscal Jose Flaminiano.

Initially, Mrs. Arroyo’s lawyers vehemently objected to attempts by the prosecution panel to compel her doctors to divulge details of the medical condition of their patient. As a compromise, the judge allowed Dr. Ver to discuss the post-surgery condition of his patient.

Dr. Ver testified that Mrs. Arroyo was still suffering from lower back pain and that treatment might range from “days” to “weeks.” However, he told the court that his patient could continue treatment as an outpatient.

Thus, the Arroyo lawyers withdrew during the court hearing their previous motion for the “hospital arrest” of their client. They informed the judge of their intent to file a motion for the “house arrest” instead of the former president at her family mansion in La Vista, Quezon City.

However, government lawyers pressed that Mrs. Arroyo should be brought to a detention facility, preferably at the Southern Police District (SPD) headquarters located near St. Luke’s in case she might need any emergency treatment.

At the end of the hearing, the judge agreed to give time to both the prosecution and defense panels to formally file their respective motions and subsequent comments before deciding on the detention of the former president. Until then, she will remain under “hospital arrest” at St. Luke’s.

The next day, Guingona issued an official statement: “The doctors’ statement has clearly established the true and accurate medical condition of Mrs. Arroyo. Dr. Mario Ver, her orthopedic spine surgeon, has testified that she is physically fit to be treated as an outpatient. The committee has therefore decided that there is no more need to invite the said doctors.”

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee is investigating jointly with the Senate committee on electoral reforms chaired by Sen. Koko Pimentel, the alleged involvement of ex-President Arroyo in electoral sabotage during the May 2007 polls. Guingona earlier said he would invite the doctors as resource persons, adding though that Mrs. Arroyo’s health would only be incidental to the Senate investigation.

The two Senate committees are scheduled to resume tomorrow their inquiry “in aid of legislation” into the alleged electoral sabotage. Incidentally, the Pasay RTC has already assumed jurisdiction over the electoral sabotage case after the formal charges were filed against Mrs. Arroyo by the joint DOJ-Comelec panel that looked into the allegations.

Now, here comes the monkey wrench! Seven militant lawmakers led by Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna urged the House of Representatives to investigate the lawyers and doctors of ex-President Arroyo for allegedly hiding the truth about her health. Speaking for his group, Casiño accused the lawyers and doctors of having “participated in a grand deception to hide the true medical condition of GMA.”

Critics and political foes of Mrs. Arroyo are making hay over her chief attending doctor’s testimony that she is already “fit” to be treated as an outpatient. This belies, they said, the supposed “life-threatening” condition of Mrs. Arroyo that requires her further treatment abroad.

So what more do these militant party-list representatives want to ask? “Doctor, doctor, is she sick?”