Pasig hospital officials to be charged for death of infants

The Department of Health approved yesterday the recommendation of its legal service department to file administrative charges against officials of the Rizal Medical Center (RMC) for the deaths of seven infants due to sepsis infection.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the officials charged for gross neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the service were Doctors Clara Faustino, head of the pediatrics department; Maria Carmen Quevedo, head of the OB-Gyne department; and Josefina Carlos, chairman of the Infection Control Committee.

Meanwhile, charged for simple neglect of duty and conduct prejudicial to the service were Doctors Winston Go, RMC director; Louise Marie Flores, chief nurse; Bernardita Javier, chief of Medical Professional Staff; and Buddy Ortego, chief administrative officer.

If proven guilty, the RMC officials face a maximum suspension of six months even if the infection was not acquired at the hospital.

Lawyer Ronaldo Rivera, DOH Legal Service chief, said a hearing will be scheduled and the officials will be given due process.

Duque said the DOH only filed administrative charges against the officials but the families can initiate the filing of criminal charges against them if they want. The cancellation of licenses, on the other hand, is under the jurisdiction of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

Results of the preliminary investigation conducted by the DOH confirmed the outbreak of a highly fatal, early-onset newborn sepsis, which to date already has caused 15 cases and nine deaths.

The investigation showed that the babies who were born on Oct. 4 suffered difficulty breathing, poor sucking and fever within 90 hours after delivery.

The DOH said that they are also looking into the angle that the RMC staff may have failed to exercise the highest standards of care to prevent the outbreak even if the disease was not hospital-acquired.

The RMC officials went on leave during the investigation and were temporarily re-assigned to the office of the assistant health secretary.

As this developed, the 21-year-old nurse who injected a five-month-old infant with the wrong drug at the East Avenue Medical Center early this week has admitted her mistake, officials said.

Duque said Vanessa Formoso, who graduated last year, admitted that she had injected Rachel Guiana Barcelo with epinephrine, a drug that was supposed to be injected to the patient beside her.

The health chief explained that epinephrine is a drug needed by patients whose hearts stop pumping.

Barcelo died that day but the DOH and EAMC director Rolando Cortes are claiming that the drug did not kill Barcelo as reported.

Duque said Barcelo was already suffering from sepsis and meningitis when she was admitted to the hospital and the injected drug at only 0.5 cc was not detrimental. — Helen Flores