(Eagle News) — The Philippine General Hospital on Sunday, Aug. 19, stood by the doctor whom Ramon Tulfo accused of negligence after he allegedly failed to treat a child the columnist’s car bumped in Navotas.
“We reiterate that at no point was necessary medical intervention withheld from the victim when the child was at the Triage of the ER of PGH. If ever there was any disruption in service to the victim is was directly caused by the behavior of Mr. Tulfo,” PGH said in a statement.
According to PGH, the ER doctor whom Tulfo identified as Jay Guerrero, continued to treat the child but refused to have it captured on video.
Tulfo, however, took a video of the same and uploaded it on social media, thereby “humiliating” the doctor, who was the subject of tirades from Tulfo’s camp, the hospital said.
According to the PGH, “the doctors’ strict implementation of the PGH policy prohibiting the video recording of the minor victim” in the first place is “in accordance with the right to privacy of the minor victim and the mother as provided under the Data Privacy Law.”
It said “the videotaping was done without the prior written informed consent of the mother.”
As such, the hospital said it was leaving to the discretion of the doctor any legal action he might take , noting that he was “merely attempting to perform his duties as an ER doctor and did not deserve to have his reputation and character besmirched.”
It said the “further legal implications of the act of uploading the video in social media, which we maintain is illegal, we leave to the lawyers.”
Tulfo’s “abusive language” and actions “compromised the performance of the ER services of the hospital and the efficiency of the medical personnel,” PGH said, noting that the incident “could have been an outright endangerment of the lives of the patients had there been those in a life or death situation,” and that “it was only by the providence of God that there was no such case at that precise moment.”
Tulfo’s behavior was “completely unacceptable and unbecoming especially from a supposedly veteran journalist seeking help for the victim his vehicle had bumped,” PGH added, also noting what it said was the fact that the child was taken “all the way” to the hospital in Taft Avenue, Manila, 13 kilometers from Navotas, where he was bumped.
“We also would like to think that Mr. Tulfo had such high regard for the capabilities of our doctors at PGH that he (did this)..This regard is further highlighted by the fact that despite there being multiple health facilities both public and private along the way, his hospital of choice for the victim remained to be PGH,” PGH noted.
“In the light of all the facts a public apology from Mr. Tulfo is warranted and a commitment to take down ASAP the video taken at PGH as well as all objectionable related posts,” PGH added.
“For future legal reference”
But in another post, Tulfo defended his videotaping of the incident.
He said they initially “planned to record the condition of the child for future legal reference at hindi yung doktor na titingin sana sa bata…”
He said “the doctor refused to look over the patient, driving me to get upset.”
“Kung kayo ang nasa kalagayan ko, mga kaibigan, magagalit din kayo,” he said, noting that the child had been vomiting while he was being rushed to PGH, a “sign” he believed to mean he (the child) was already in danger.
“Labis akong nabahala,” he said.