THE Court of Appeals has sustained the one-year suspension meted on a physician in Urdaneta City who was found liable for incorrectly diagnosing and operating on a teenager in 1997, causing the youngster’s death.
In a decision authored by Associate Justice Marlene Gonzales Sison, the appellate court’s Thirteenth Division denied the petition for review filed by physician Candido San Juan seeking the reversal of the orders of the Professional Regulation Commission’s board of medicine that found him grossly negligent in the practice of his medical profession.
The CA noted that the four elements involved in medical negligence cases— duty, breach, injury, and proximate causation— were established by evidence presented by Ruben and Yolanda Rejuso, the parents of the teenager Richard Rejuso.
“First, there was a physician-patient relationship between petitioner and Richard; second, petitioner breached his duty as a physician when he made incorrect diagnosis and operation on Richard; third, petitioner’s actions led to the death of Richard and caused undue injury to the respondents, being Richard’s parents; and fourth, the injury suffered by respondents may be attributed to the actions of petitioner,” the court ruled.
Associate Justices Juan Enriquez Jr. and Vicente Veloso concurred with the ruling.
Richard’s parents sought the help of their neighbor-doctor on Feb.18, 1997 after their son complained of severe abdominal pain.
After examining the boy, the petitioner immediately recommended that the patient be brought to Urdaneta Sacred Heart Hospital for admission.
San Juan then followed to the hospital and conducted physical examination of Richard and then told his parents that his case is serious and would require immediate operation based on his x-ray result.
The respondents initially asked the doctor to conduct an ultrasound examination on Richard, but the doctor insisted that an x-ray was sufficient already.
The doctor claimed that based on the boy’s x-ray result, there was an obstruction in the intestines and 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 advised the parents that Richard should be operated on immediately.
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 allegedly did not respond and even took a leave.
An hour later, the boy’s parents noticed that their son had 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 Rejuso’s 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 doctor.
When they arrived at the Dagupan Villaflor Hospital, the doctors immediately conducted examination on the boy and found out that he had a wound in his intestine. The doctors also were able to get two bags of pus and fecal matter from inside the boy.
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