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THE
Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the one-year
suspension imposed by the Board of Medicine (BOM) on a
doctor whose incorrect diagnosis and operation led to
the death of a 17-year-old boy 10 years ago.
In an
11-page decision penned by Associate Justice Marlene
Gonzales-Sison, the CA’s Thirteenth Division junked the
petition for review filed by Candido San Juan seeking
the reversal of the orders of the Professional
Regulation Commission which dismissed his appeal from
the resolution of the BOM that found him grossly
negligent in the practice of his medical profession.
The CA
maintained that the four elements involved in medical
negligence cases—duty, breach, injury and proximate
causation—were established by the substantial evidence
presented by Ruben and Yolanda Rejuso, the parents of
the boy.
“First,
there was a physician-patient relationship between
petitioner and Richard [the Rejusos son]; second, San
Juan breached his duty as a physician when he made an
incorrect diagnosis and operation on Richard; third, San
Juan’s actions led to the death of Richard and caused
undue injury to the Rejusos, being Richard’s parents;
and fourth, the injury suffered by the Rejusos may be
attributed to the actions of San Juan,” the appellate
court said.
Court
records showed that Richard’s parents sought the help of
their neighbor-doctor on
February 18, 1997, after their son complained of severe abdominal pain.
After
examining the boy,
San Juan
immediately recommended that the patient be taken to the
Urdaneta Sacred Heart Hospital in Urdaneta City for
admission.
San Juan
then went to the hospital and conducted a physical
examination on Richard and then told his parents that
his case was serious and would require immediate
operation based on his x-ray result.
The
Rejusos initially asked the doctor to conduct an
ultrasound examination on Richard, but the doctor
insisted that an x-ray was sufficient.
The
physician claimed that based on the boy’s x-ray result,
there was an obstruction in the intestines and that
there was a need for an immediate operation. The parents
asked that medication be given first to their son and
that he be observed in the meantime.
But San
Juan told the parents that Richard should be operated on
immediately.
However,
a day after the operation, Richard’s parents noticed
that their son’s condition was not getting better, and
that his knees down to his feet had turned dark.
When
they told San Juan about their son’s condition, the doctor did not give an answer. The
physician, according to the parent, even managed to take
his leave to attend a mahjong session and just left a
number where he could be contacted.
After an
hour, the boy’s parents noticed that their son turned
black and that his breathing was not normal. Upon their
prodding, the nurse called up San Juan to inform him of
Richard’s deteriorating condition.
After
two hours the doctor arrived, and after examination,
told the Rejusos that their son will not last until the
morning.
This
prompted Richard’s parent to request their son’s
transfer to Dagupan Villaflor Hospital, which was
initially opposed by the physician.
When
they arrived at the
Dagupan Villaflor
Hospital,
the doctors immediately conducted an examination on the
boy and found out that he had a wound in the intestine.
The doctors also were able to get two bags of pus and
fecal matter inside.
During
its inquiry, the BOM found SanJuan guilty of gross
negligence or incompetence.
The
board was able to establish that the operation conducted
on Richard was improper and incorrect since there was no
obstruction in the boy’s intestines, and what San Juan
did was to “close the sites of the evacuation” which
caused the infection that led to his death.
Concurring with the decision were Associate Justices
Juan Q. Enriquez Jr. and Vicente Veloso. |
