Lawyers getting killed, doctors getting sued

Today is Innocents' Day, so may I ask a dangerous question out of innocence? What is happening to our country, general? That was the unforgettable question asked by the late Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez to the police general, while he was being transported to the hospital after an attempt to murder him sometime in the ‘80s.

The same question may be asked today, as we are about to bid goodbye to this rather nasty year of viral pandemic, typhoons, and killings. And about killings, there had been a wave of escalation in mysterious terminations of lives (the more neutral term) these last days of the year. Some sectors would call them summary executions, while the UN human rights group allegedly found some prima-facie evidence of human rights violations. But the president isn’t perturbed. He does not submit to the jurisdiction of any international organization from whom the Philippines has already disassociated with. The Philippines is a sovereign nation and no one can unduly interfere in our internal affairs. Besides, the president is enjoying a very high approval rating. The people don’t believe in the human rights spin on the killings.

But killing lawyers and doctors is not the usual run of things. The IBP may issue all their usual stuff of canned denunciations but this thing cannot be abated by mere manifestations of dissent. There must be a draconian measure, like a top Integrated Bar Commission of Intensified Investigation in cooperation with the NBI and the police and military. There was a motorcycle-riding doctor couple killed in Guihulngan City, not too far from the city hall, and a woman lawyer in Danao City, in the same week. Rappler (although its reports are usually suspected of bias by the government) pointed out that, as of today, no less than 54 judges/prosecutors and lawyers have been killed under this administration.

Lawyering has not always been hazardous to one's security, and being a doctor did not so much pose a danger to one's own life. Except, of course, when doctors are sued by lawyers for criminal negligence leading to death of patients. Although I wrote a series of columns a few months back, concerning Supreme Court-decided cases that involved hospitals and medical practitioners who were sued successfully for damages, due to reckless negligence leading to death, serious injuries, and disability, it does not mean that it is easy to prove these allegations in court. In the Philippines, no doctor or nurse would testify against a fellow medical professional. That is why plaintiffs need to import expert witnesses from the US and Europe to explain to the court the medical nuances and intricacies that would establish evidence of causal relationship between medical interventions and death.

Life is getting difficult. Being a lawyer is becoming very risky. Being a doctor too, entails a lot of risks. But in the US, suits for malpractice happen every day. Patients walk into the hospital entrusting their lives in the hands of doctors and surgeons who cover their faces while they undertake delicate surgical operations. The patients are put to sleep by general anesthesia. If a lawyer is operated on by a doctor, his life is in the hands of the medical professional. He can die out of negligence or recklessness. If a doctor is sued for criminal negligence, he can be jailed and be made to pay millions in damages. The doctor's defense counsel can also be inept and incompetent in handling the case for his client. There is always a risk involved. But if the risk was foreseeable and preventable, both the doctor and the lawyer can be sued.

And so, we end this column with two innocent jokes: A lawyer asked his doctor if he would get well soon. The doctor said: You will be on your feet in one week. Did the doctor fulfill his promise? Yes, in one week, the lawyer was on his feet, he had to walk. He sold his car to pay the doctor's bill. Then when the doctor, a dental surgeon, testified in a medico-legal case, he had to stand up before the lawyer and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. When the lawyer had his wisdom tooth pulled by that dental surgeon, he made him raise his hand: Do you swear to pull the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth? Just innocent jokes, I told you.