Butuan hospital denies cruel treatment of emergency patient

MANILA, Philippines – The staff of the hospital tagged as “cruel” in a viral social media post by a grieving mother maintains that they are not to blame for the death of her 10-year-old daughter.

On August 15, Dr Purita Escobar, Director of Nursing of the Butuan Doctors Hospital, said in a news briefing that they do not practice a deposit-first policy prior to admitting patients. She also said hospital is investigating the report and is prepared to cooperate with authorities who may conduct a probe on the incident.

“It is not the policy and practice of the hospital to refuse urgent medical care. Butuan Doctors’ Hospital has always been committed to its mission of giving care to all patients, much more to the less privileged sector of the society,” Escobar said

This is contrary to the narration of  Tutz Salarda-Chan, who shared her ordeal in a Facebook post dated August 12.  She claimed that the policy taken by hospital staff had led to the death of her daughter, Jannary “Yanna” Chan, on July 16. (READ: Mother cries foul over ‘cruel’ hospital)

According to Chan, the private hospital refused to admit Yanna because the parents could not pay the full admission deposit for the intensive care unit (ICU) despite the emergency situation, and even after pleading them that the full amount would be settled the following day.

The child was reportedly in critical condition while confined at the San Francisco Doctor’s Hospital in Agusan del Sur, and was brought to the Butuan hospital in Agusan del Norte for better medical treatment as it had complete equipment. After being reportedly refused by that hospital, the Chans had no choice but to bring Yanna to Davao but she died in transit.

Escobar said the Butuan hospital management is conducting an investigation on the incident which came to their attention only on August 12, through Facebook. 

“We are appealing to the public to please allow us the time to conduct a thorough investigation. We also pledge our cooperation to the appropriate government bodies which may conduct their own investigations of this incident….We appeal to the public for understanding and fairness by hearing the side of the hospital,” she said.

Conflicting claims

Even as she made the appeal, she said that in preliminary interviews with people at their admissions office, the hospital staff denied the claims of Salarda-Chan. 

She said the result of the initial investigation also reportedly showed that there was no endorsement from the San Francisco Doctor’s Hospital,  a standard operating procedure. (Chan had said that they had the proper medical certificate and referral document.)

 

Escobar also said that a doctor in their hospital conducted a preliminary  examination of Yanna “noted her to be stable and recommended to the mother that Yanna be admitted in the hospital and referred her to the admissions department.”

 

“Later, the mother of Yanna told her that, upon finding out the projected costs of treatment in our facility, the family decided to bring Yanna back to San Francisco Doctors’ Hospital,” Escobar claimed. 

 

In Chan’s narration, her family pleaded with the admission staff to admit Yanna but were berated as they only had a third of the required deposit money for admission. The Chans also attempted to bring Yanna to the Davao Hospital, and not back to San Francisco Doctors.

 

Escobar also said that Chan did not mention to the Butuan hospital doctor who checked Yanna that she received rude treatment from the admissions office or were turned away. She said the doctor observed that Chan even left in a “calm manner after thanking our doctor.”

 

She said that Butuan Doctor’s Hospital is in the process of validating the claims of its staff and will release its findings upon completion of the final investigation with appropriate government agencies. 

 

Meanwhile, the Department of Health on August 14 reiterated that no health facility can refuse to admit any patient, especially during emergency cases. 

“The law states that all cases should be treated and admitted, if necessary, by a hospital.” Health Secretary Enrique Ona referring to Republic Act 8344 which prohibits the demant of deposits or advanced payments before admitting. – Rappler.com