Catheter removed from policeman’s stomach

COTABATO CITY — An operative of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) has sought the help of the local media to seek justice for what could be a "medical malpractice" that nearly cost his life.

This, after doctors at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center (CRMC) removed the other day from the stomach of PO2 Molin Asigurado a 12-inch catheter left there apparently during a surgery on his urethra in a Manila hospital in January 2005.

Asigurado hails from nearby Midsayap, North Cotabato, but is based at the CIDG’s main headquarters at Camp Crame.

Naresh Buxani, an oncologist at the CRMC, recommended the operation after discovering that a "foreign object" inside Asigurado’s stomach had been causing him weakness and pain.

Buxani is now preparing a medical abstract on Asigurado’s case, which will be used in the filing of appropriate charges against those responsible for the malpractice.

"I am just a poor policeman and this wrongdoing has caused me not just physical suffering, but has made me even poorer," Asigurado said in an interview with Catholic radio station dxMS here.

Asigurado said he has asked his CIDG superiors to help him prosecute the Manila-based physician responsible for his ordeal.

Dr. Johnny Rabago Jr., a ranking official of the Philippine Medical Association in Mindanao, said Asigurado has the right to file charges against the physician and the management of the hospital where he underwent his urethra surgery.

"He should consult a good lawyer first on what to do so that he would be guided accordingly," he said.

Rabago, who is based here, said the catheter found inside Asigurado’s stomach might have, indeed, been left there accidentally when he went under the knife last year.