On The Cebu Hospital Scandal

The hype has not died down yet. The disgraceful incident is still seen on the nightly TV news, and still fills up the radio airwaves as well as the frontpages of the major dailies. The ways it has been referred to and described are assorted and numerous --- Surgery Scandal, YouTube Surgery Scandal, YouTube Doctors Scandal, Vicente Sotto Hospital Scandal, Cebu Hospital Scandal, YouTube Rectum or Rectal Scandal, Cannister Scandal, etc.

I have not seen the controversial video. But from news reports, it is said that the scandal involves the uploading of a video in YouTube showing doctors and nurses "laughing, giggling and cheering in the operating room."

Here are my unsolicited thoughts on the matter:

1. Teaching Hospital - the hospital involved in the case, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu is a teaching hospital. Because I am also a product of a teaching hospital, I can now understand why there were so many people inside the operating room while the surgical procedure went on. As part of the teaching and learning process, senior doctors usually allow student doctors (medical clerks or interns) and student nurses to observe surgical operations. Most teaching hospitals in the Philippines are not equipped with a viewing gallery, where student observers can stay separated from the actual operation setting. So, what senior doctors do is allow the students inside to observe.



2. Unusual Case - having a patient come to you complaining of a 15-centimeter long cannister of perfume spray stuck inside his rectum qualifies as an unusual surgical case. It does not happen every day. Because of this, I suspect that the primary surgeon wanted this case presented in their weekly surgical conference. This is done with the consent of the patient, and I am quite certain that the patient must have signed a consent form prior to the operation. Hence, it is not surprising that an official video recording of the whole procedure might have been taken. The video uploaded in YouTube, however, came from a cellphone-camera. This means that, someone, other than the official video recorder, might have recorded the whole procedure using his/her cellphone.

Of course, it was wrong! Where can you find doctors that would allow photos to be taken that violate a patient's confidentiality? Regardless of whom you did it to, it was very bad." ~ DOH Sec. Duque




3. What Went Wrong - poor crowd control (there must be a limited number of observers inside the O.R.), and no clear enforced rules and hospital policies on unofficial and unauthorized recordings of surgical operations, whether an unusual case or not (I still wonder if each of those student observers knew how important it is to protect and respect patient's privacy). Clearly, whoever uploaded the salacious video did not know what "sacred trust" meant.



4. "Sacred Trust" - this is clearly stated in Article II, Section 6 of the Code of Ethics of the Medical Professionals in the Philippines. Every doctor, aspiring doctor, and even student nurses must take this wise guideline into heart. The sick patient is already in pain and suffering when he seeks medical help. Doctors and other medical personnel must not add nor contribute to the emotional anguish of the patient.

Art.II, Sec 6. --- The medical practitioner should guard as a sacred trust anything that is confidential or private in nature that he may discover or that may be communicated to him in his professional relation with his patients, even after their death. He should never divulge this confidential information, or anything that may reflect upon the moral character of the person involved, except when it is required in the interest of justice, public health, or public safety. ~ Code of Ethics of Medical Professionals




5. Who is to Blame? - a Catholic priest from Cebu insists that the surgical team shouldn't get all the flak from the unfortunate incident, "but it should be the person responsible for the indecent incident." Meaning? We should all castigate the patient instead? Hasn't he suffered enough? Before we point fingers, I suggest we wait until all the investigating teams have finished their work. Someone clearly erred in this controversy, but let us not commit another error by giving half-baked conclusions.



6. Filipino Humor and Homosexuals - Let's face it.....gays are still ridiculed in our society. Dolphy, the so-called King of Comedy, achieved this feat by playing various homosexual roles on film. I think he, along with a host of other comedians after him, helped a lot to perpetuate the way our society treats people of a different sexual orientation. Whether willfully or not, and given the Filipino's propensity to create homosexual jokes, I suspect many of those observing inside that O.R. were thinking a number of funny thoughts. When the perfume spray cannister was finally extracted, it was not surprising to see why so many of them laughed, and did it vociferously. It might be human nature to laugh, but it becomes very disrespectful when it is done at the expense of a poor, suffering patient.



7. Benefit of the Doubt - I have given it some thought that the boisterous laughter might not have been mocking in nature, but more of an expression of relief and achieving success after what would probably be a difficult surgical extraction of a large foreign object. It might be a case of misunderstanding, too. Surgeons are one of the most highly stressed among medical personnel, and surely, if they yelled as an expression of triumph after a tedious operation, certainly, there can be little fault in that. But hey, that's just me and my theories. The cat is already out of the bag and I bet many will not agree with me.



8. Shooting Our Foot - DOH Secretary Duque said the whole thing would have been "praise-worthy," hadn't we shot ourselves in the foot. I couldn't agree more. Remember the much-ballyhooed Teri Hatcher joke last year? Don't be too surprised now when you see or hear that kind of joke flourishing into more colorful versions. I bet it will! Let's hope the trigger-happy and sensitive ones among us do not pounce on her again when she does it. Foreigners have a different way of showing their amusement and humor. Besides, we have brought this latest incident upon ourselves, anyway.



9. P6M in Total Damages - this is what the victim is asking those whom he felt offended him. I have always believed that a person's reputation is priceless. If it gets damaged, it might be lost forever. My prayer is if ever he gets to win this case and collects the money, let the real issues not be forgotten. Collecting money is not the issue here; protecting patient confidentiality is. Everyone involved must learn and remember this always.
Jan-Jan, the patient, is asking P1 million in moral damages and P5 million in exemplary damages. He filed yesterday a supplemental affidavit to his complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas. - Sun Star Cebu


10. Code of Ethics - How many physicians make it a point to review and read this guideline on a regular basis? I suggest that all hospital administrators begin posting this on every operating room for the ready reference of concerned parties. Also, for medical schools, make sure that medical students learn the importance of truly caring for the patient's needs and wants. It is never a fault to over-emphasize an important code of conduct, especially if it means avoiding another dreadful incident in the future.