2 nurses say they knew nothing about tape on baby’s lip

Kamille Isabel Neri (left) and Arianne Mae Pacula, nurses at Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House, swear to their statements in the Department of Health office during the investigation about a baby whose lip was taped. JUNJIE MENDOZA/Cebu Daily News

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The two nurses suspected of taping the upper lip of a 5-day-old infant with adhesive tape while at the nursery of a private hospital here denied the accusations.

Arianne Mae Pacula and Kamille Isabel Neri appeared on Friday during the hearing conducted by an interagency committee that looked into the case after photos of the baby with his upper lip sealed became viral on social media.

Pacula, attending nurse at Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House (CPCMH), said she was surprised to see the baby’s upper lip sealed and a pacifier near the baby when her attention was called by the infant’s mother, Jasmine Badocdoc, past 7 p.m. on May 9.

“It was only at that time when I saw the pacifier and the plaster. I was surprised to see the pacifier. And I presumed there was tape on the infant’s lip to keep the pacifier in place,” Pacula told the committee.

Neri, CPCMH medication nurse, said she was at the nursery about 6:30 p.m. on that day and the baby didn’t have an adhesive tape on his upper lip.

“About 9 p.m., I saw Badocdoc breast-feeding her baby,”Neri said. “She did not even report to me that there was a plaster on her baby.”

Badocdoc said she was disappointed with the nurses’ insinuation that she gave her a baby pacifier and sealed her baby’s upper lip. “What mother in her right mind would put a plaster on her baby’s lip?” Badocdoc asked.

Lawyer Dante Jadman of the Commission on Human Rights in Central Visayas, committee spokesman, said that based on the time stamp in Badocdoc’s phone, the first photo was taken at 7:58 p.m. on May 9 and the last one, at 8:08 p.m.

Alan Felix Macaraya Jr., of the National Telecommunications Commission Central Visayas legal office, issued a certification on May 23 that the photos “have not been electronically changed, altered and modified.”

Pacula testified that her shift started at 3 p.m. on May 9 and ended at 11 p.m. She said she was at the wash area about 7:50 p.m. when Badocdoc asked her if she could breast-feed her child. She told Badocdoc to wait at the Mother and Child Room because the baby was still asleep.

Pacula said she then attended to another newborn. A few minutes later, she was surprised to see Badocdoc inside the nursery. The mother, she added, then asked her why there was a tape on her baby’s upper lip. Both of them went to the infant’s crib where Pacula saw the pacifier.

“When the mother asked me what the purpose was,”Pacula narrated, “I only presumed that her baby was crying a lot.”

Pacula said Badocdoc breast-fed her baby while the tape was still on the lip.

She said she left Badocdoc at the nursery about 8 p.m. to have dinner with Neri and midwife Methosheba Orlanes. After dinner, about 8:30 p.m., Pacula said, Badocdoc asked her to remove the tape from the infant’s lip.

Pacula said she remembered telling Badocdoc that she would come back to remove the tape because she had to finish charting and checking the babies’ laboratory tests. “I was very sorry to forget to remove the plaster,”Pacula said.

She was about to endorse the records when her shift ended at 11 p.m. when she checked on Badocdoc’s baby. At that time, the tape and the pacifier had been removed.

Dr. Lakshmi Legaspi of the Department of Health in Central Visayas asked Pacula if they were using pacifiers in the nursery. “No, Ma’am,”she replied.

Pacula explained that pacifiers were used for premature babies only upon the recommendation of a physician.

She added she didn’t report the incident to their supervisor because the baby was fine and was breast-fed.