Cebu

Garcia family sues doctors for death of brother

Lorraine Ecarma
Garcia family sues doctors for death of brother

The Garcia family during the press conference held in the CFI Building. From left: CFI Coop chairperson Winston Garcia, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Cebu 3rd District representative Pablo John Garcia and former Cebu governor Pablo Garcia.

photo by lorraine ecarma/rappler

The Garcias said this is just the first in a series of complaints they plan to file against the doctors and Chong Hua Hospital

The family of the late Cebu town mayor Marlon Garcia, brother to Governor Gwendolyn, sued his two attending physicians for alleged medical negligence.

The criminal complaint was filed on Tuesday, December 15.

Marlon Garcia, former Barili town mayor, died of septic shock second to catether-related bloodstream infection on September 6, about a month after he was admitted to Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City for COVID-19.

In a statement to media, the Garcia family said that the complaint was mainly based on the findings of US doctor and professor of medicine and infectious diseases Ravi Durvasula.

Durvasula reportedly concluded, upon studying medical records and physician notes submitted by Chong Hua Hospital to the National Bureau of Investigation, that there was “lack of observance of standard care and procedure, employment of highly questionable and unnecessary laboratory tests and treatments, and exaggerated or unsupported laboratory results which led to the death of patient Marlon F. Garcia.”

Lawyer Joan Largo, the family’s legal counsel, in a press conference on Wednesday, December 16, said that the “laboratory results do not support the physical condition or physical state of Mayor Marlon.”

They said that on August 24, Marlon was declared COVID-19 free and was willing to sign a waiver to be released but his physician reportedly advised against it.

“The lab tests were manufactured to justify the longer stay of our brother,” Winston Garcia, the current chairperson of the Cebu CFI cooperative alleged.

The family earlier questioned Marlon’s “unjustifiable” P5.2M hospital bill.

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In the press conference, it was clarified that the complaint was only the first of a series of cases the family planned to file against the physicians and Chong Hua Hospital for the death of Marlon and brother Nelson Garcia.

Nelson was also admitted in the hospital for COVID-19. He died September 1, while Marlon passed away September 6. – Rappler.com

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