THE Philippine College of Chest Physicians (PCCP) on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, issued a statement of support for its two colleagues in Cebu who have been indicted for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide over a complaint filed by the wife of the late Barili mayor Marlon Garcia.
In a statement signed by its officers and members of its Board of Directors, the PCCP said it stands "in solidarity" with its colleagues who currently face a medical malpractice suit.
The colleagues it is referring to are Chong Hua Hospital Doctors Edelfleda Hernandez, an infectious disease specialist, and Yvonne Bettina Montejo, a pulmonologist, who were doctors of Garcia, a Covid-19 survivor, before he died in September 2020.
The PCCP said physicians have the sacred duty and responsibility to treat the sick to the best of their abilities as they are bound by their Hippocratic Oath, or an oath of ethics taken by physicians.
"It is therefore disheartening to hear of medical practitioners being publicly maligned and at times unjustly accused in relation to the practice of their profession," read a portion of the statement.
"To our affected colleagues, please be assured that TRUTH, ETHICS and MORALITY are on your side and shall be your formidable allies to help you see through to vindication," it added.
The PCCP urged the rest of its colleagues who are also frontliner to "stay strong" in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.
In a 34-page resolution, the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor recommended the filing of charges in court against Hernandez and Montejo, saying the doctors' defenses of denial, adherence to the best standard of care of the patient and the limitations set by the family on the treatment of the late Mayor Garcia are "all evidentiary in nature and should be ventilated in a full-blown trial."
It also found the opinion of Dr. Ravi Venkata Durvasula on the existence of questionable standards of care as "sufficient to establish the element of breach of duty." (WBS)