ILOILO City – Twenty-five personnel of the West Visayas State University Medical Center (WVSU-MC) have been sued over the death of a mother and her newborn baby.
Mary Jane Prologo and Ervin Tieso Jr., the mother and common-law husband, respectively, of 20-year-old Shipy Mae A. Prologo, charged the said hospital personnel with violation of Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code as amended by Republic Acts Nos. 1790 and 10951 or Imprudence and Negligence Resulting in Homicide.
The complainants from Barangay Cabolo-an Norte, Oton, Iloilo, together with their legal counsel headed by Atty. Mario Emilio O. Aportadera, filed the complaint on April 27, 2023 at the City Prosecutor’s Office.
“Technically, duha ni ang napatay pero waay pa kalab-ot 24 hours so waay pa personalidad ang bata nga lapsag. So isa lang ka count sang homicide ang aton ginpasaka,”said Aportadera.
Based on the joint complaint affidavit of Prologo and Tieso, for four hours from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. of April 13, the respondents did not attend to Shipy despite visible signs of severe blood loss.
They alleged that negligence resulted to the death of the baby at 10:44 p.m. and of Shipy at 1:22 p.m. on April 14.
“The (respondents) did not even empathize with family members by not giving updates on the condition of both mother and child from the moment Shipy was wheeled into the delivery room and/or operating room. The only moment they talked to us was on the occasion to obtain our consent to stop resuscitation of the baby on April 13 and on Shipy on April 14. This attitude added to our grief and pain over the loss of Shipy and her child,” read part of the joint affidavit of the complainants.
According to Tieso, his wife’s pregnancy was good as she had regular pre-natal checkups. He lamented that even if they were struggling financially, they made sure that all the needs of Shipy were provided especially that it was their first child. The baby was also doing well based on the result of the ultrasound taken on March 10 and still normal on another ultrasound result on April 11.
According to Aportadera, who is also a medical doctor, one of the pieces of evidence they obtained was the charge slip showing Euromed dextrose and Oxytocin bought for Shipy based on doctor’s prescription.
“May pruweba kami nga nag-inject sang isa ka bulong nga Oxitocyn nga waay pa kagwa ang bata sa matris ni Shipy. Ma-connect namon kay certificate of (fetal) death, Asphyxia or ginatawag nga daw ginkuga. Ti, ang epekto sang bulong nga na, tanan man nga doctor kabalo, nga ginapuga ya na ang matris. Medical doctor ‘ko, naka-intindi ako sang nagakatabu…” said Aportadera.
According to Mary Jane, around 10 a.m. on April 13 before Shipy was brought to the emergency room, she complained to her that she could no longer bore the pain and was already so pale.
At around 10:30 a.m., Mary Jane was called inside and she saw her grandchild being revived but since she could not bear watching it, she left the room and called Tieso so the doctors could talk to him.
According Tieso, he was told that despite many attempts, they could not revive the baby. They asked for his consent to stop reviving, to which he agreed but asked them to save Shipy.
They waited and it was already 10 p.m. on April 13 when they were informed that Shipy was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There was no update since then.
Tieso narrated that at 10:30 a.m. the next day, the doctor went out of the ICU and told them that Shipy had cardiac arrest but was revived. They were told there was a possibility of another cardiac [arrest].
At around past noon that day, three doctors came to them to inform that Shipy had her second cardiac [arrest] at around 11:30 a.m. and was followed by another cardiac [arrest] at 12 noon. Though she was revived they were told that Shipy had no chance of surviving.
Tieso further narrated that past 1 p.m., his wife had another cardiac [arrest] and was declared dead.
“Nag-hirinibi kami. Ako nagpinsar nga kon indi sa pagpabaya sang mga doctors buhi si Shipy kag ang bata niya. Asta sang April 11 normal ang pagbusong sang bata ko. Naganubo dugo na, waay pa sila nag-atender kag ginpabay-an nila asta apat ka oras sa ER. Sa apat ka oras damo tani nahimu nga masalbar sila… Amo ina nga kasuhon na lang,” according to the testimony of Shipy’s mother./PN