By: Villamor C. Visaya Jr.
(Published in its print edition on Nov. 30- Dec. 6, 2024)
The death of our beloved one and only grandchild, one-year-old Zhavia Denice Visaya at the Philippine Heart Center after an insertion of a catheter inside her body has opened an issue on medical negligence which may be the basis of a legal suit against the erring doctors.
Before going further, it is noteworthy to revisit the medical negligence issue.
According to a report of Christy Bieber published online at www.forbes.com, she relayed that medical negligence–mostly through errors or the lack of fulfillment of professional obligations–are “the third leading cause of death in the United States and account for more than 250,000 annual deaths.”
In the case of Zhavia, wherein a catheter was inserted in her very young body, the big question is how the doctors fared. Did they exercise prudence or standard care given the circumstances? The baby’s parents are witnesses to the lack of immediate care by the doctor and her fellows, including other healthcare workers such as nurses.
In heaven’s name, how come that the doctor failed to arrive on time and see the situation of the baby. Is it negligence that she (the doctor) arrived when the baby was already in a critical condition? While we are not doctors, let the appropriate quasi-judicial agency and the court to legally decide later on once the case is filed.
Bieber also cited cases such as misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose such as that of a serious heart disease, failure to perform or order appropriate medical testing, failure to adequately monitor a patient, anesthesia mistakes, improper prescription and administration of medication, botched procedures, and other mistakes.
For sure, not one but two or more have been allegedly attributed to the negligence of the attending doctors. Do we see a cover-up?
Medical matters are best left to them, but ill-informed relatives must have been given the benefit of the doubt. The lack of an incident report aggravates the matter.
Karma comes to those erring doctors.#
