Ecija senior turned away by hospitals as he struggled to breathe buried

CABANATUAN CITY—A senior citizen, who was allegedly turned away by six hospitals, was buried on Tuesday (April 14), after dying without treatment on Good Friday (April 10).

The family of Ladislao Corrales now wants justice. “He was in agony,” said Corrales’ 42-year-old daughter, Girlie Cagaoan, of Sta Arcadia village.

Corrales had difficulty breathing so he was driven out by a village patrol vehicle on the night of April 9, Maundy Thursday. But they had to drive from one hospital after another, Corrales’ family said.

Corrales remained inside the vehicle each time Cagaoan’s husband, Arnold, and a village watchman, attempted to convince medical workers to take him in. “They did nothing for him,” Cagaoan said.

In some hospitals, a nurse or employee stepped outside to inform Corrales that there was no room for him, Cagaoan said. One hospital was harsher because an employee simply shooed them away, gesturing that the facility had no vacancy, she added.

The family proceeded to the emergency room of a hospital but none of the nurses and doctors paid them any attention.

“They just stood there, wearing their personnel protective equipment suits but no one moved forward to examine my father-in-law,” Arnold said.

Dejected, they brought Corrales home. He died at 1 a.m. on April 10.

Harol Sicat, Corrales’ nephew, posted the family’s sentiment on Facebook, drawing the attention of former Board Member Jay Ilagan, and Sen. Lawrence Christopher “Bong” Go who paid for the funeral.

President Rodrigo Duterte had warned hospitals that they face charges if they turned patients away.

Edited by TSB