Sexagenarian commits suicide in Pasig City

To save his family from the heavy burden of paying his exorbitant hospital bills, a sexagenarian afflicted by tuberculosis committed suicide yesterday in Pasig City by jumping from the third floor of a hospital.

The victim, Juanito Reyes, 73, of Santos St., Barangay Ugong, sustained a broken skull and fractured bones when he hit the cement pavement head first.

Doctors at the Pasig General Hospital tried to save him but failed.

Superintendent John Sosito, Pasig City police chief said Reyes, who was suffering from chronic tuberculosis was billeted at Room 3-A Medical Ward of the Pasig City General Hospital for sometime now.

Sosito said days before he committed suicide, Reyes confided to a fellow patient identified only as Adonis that doctors told him that his sickness was hard to treat.

He also complained of difficulty in breathing each time he was in a coughing spell.

According to Adonis, Reyes, too, took pity on his family who shouldered the high cost of his hospitalization, knowing that his children were not earning that much.

While his fellow patients were sound asleep at about 3 a.m. yesterday, Reyes slowly got up from his bed and walked towards the window unnoticed.

The security guards were caught by surprise when they heard a loud thud on the pavement below.

When they rushed to where the noise came from, they saw Reyes bathed in a pool of blood, with his skull broken and his hands and feet fractured.

The security guards rushed Reyes to the operating room where an attending physician declared him dead.

The body of Reyes was brought to the crime laboratory of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Camp Crame for autopsy.