Doc on Napoles’ vaginal bleeding: She has her urges
Janet Lim Napoles INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The vaginal bleeding suffered by alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles may have been caused by physical and mental stress and by “private, intimate contact” or sexual intercourse, her doctor said on Friday.
“Our patient is human, she has her urges,” Dr. Efren Domingo, Napoles’ gynecologist, told the Makati City Regional Trial Court in Friday’s hearing.
Domingo’s testimony prompted the prosecution to ask if there was a possibility of sexual contact. But Domingo said he did not ask Napoles.
Napoles’ lawyer, Bruce Rivera, however, said that Domingo’s testimony that sexual contact was a possible cause of vaginal bleeding was taken “out of context.”
“The question asked by the prosecutor was if sexual contact could cause vaginal bleeding. And the doctor [Domingo] couldn’t tell a lie, so he said ‘yes,’ but it was a general question and wasn’t specific to Mrs Napoles,” Rivera said in a phone interview.
Article continues after this advertisementDuring cross examination, public prosecutor Christopher Garvida had pressed Domingo on his statement and asked the doctor if he ever asked Napoles if she had sexual contact in the hospital, and if the doctor had ever advised her against it, to which the doctor replied in the negative.
Article continues after this advertisementJudge Alameda also asked if sexual contact could cause the bleeding, to which Domingo said yes.
But Rivera, in a phone interview, maintained it was impossible to apply this to Napoles’ case. “Nurses enter the room every 10 to 15 minutes. There are guards 24/7. The door is always open and someone is always checking on her,” the lawyer said.
Rivera bristled at how “people are making a big deal” out of what Domingo said. “It is demeaning. Bastos na,” he said.
Napoles’ lawyers on Friday called Domingo to the witness stand to testify on Napoles’ vaginal bleeding.
According to Domingo, Napoles’ vaginal bleeding started on May 17 but learned about it only two days later after it was reported by one of her attending physicians at Ospital ng Makati (OsMak).
Complete bed rest
Domingo said that on May 20, gynecologist Elsie Badeo-Pascua conducted a digital pelvic exam on Napoles in his presence. “The bleeding, though I will not say was profuse, was significant. In two hours, [Napoles] soaked through three sanitary napkins,” Domingo recalled.
Domingo ordered that Napoles take medication and complete bed rest. On May 21, he deferred her May 6 discharge order.
No further bleeding has been reported as of 5 p.m., May 21 until Friday afternoon, but Domingo said: “I would need seven to 10 days of no bleeding … before I can assume she’s fit for discharge.”
Domingo said he was “guarded” on Napoles’ condition. “We have pulled her out of life-threatening hemorrhage, but in order for me to sustain her in this period, I would require her to be treated, observed and monitored. I am very worried that the bleeding can repeat if the prevailing ambience that provoked it is present,” he said.
Napoles’ vaginal bleeding prompted her lawyers to ask Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda to recall and reconsider his May 20 order directing the Philippine National Police to transfer Napoles from OsMak to her detention cell in Fort Sto. Domingo in Santa Rosa, Laguna, on or before May 23.
No other option
Alameda initially questioned why the matter was never raised during the hearing on May 20, before he issued his order for Napoles’ transfer. But the judge eventually gave in: “How can the court countermand the order of the attending physician?”
Alameda said “the court had no other option” but to suspend the May 20 order pending the resolution of Napoles’ motion.
With the order recalled on Friday afternoon, Napoles can stay for at least one more weekend at OsMak.
Alameda’s May 20 order denied Napoles’ bid to extend by three months her confinement at OsMak, where she had surgery to remove her ovaries and uterus last April 23, and was already ordered discharged on May 6. Napoles had been in the hospital since March 31.
But during a hearing on Friday, Alameda called for his May 20 order to be “held in abeyance,” pending the resolution of a motion filed by Napoles’ camp on May 21 asking Alameda to recall and reconsider his order after Napoles suffered vaginal bleeding.
Next hearing May 26
Alameda set the next hearing on the motion on Monday, May 26.
State prosecutors said they would present OsMak medical director Perry Peralta and OsMak physician Flor Villanueva on Monday to testify on Napoles’ condition.
Napoles is facing a serious illegal detention charge in Alameda’s sala, filed by her cousin, former employee, and primary pork barrel scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy.
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