Doc faces DOH probe over ‘napkin-gagged’ patient
FLOORED Outside the delivery room at Pasay City General Hospital
RUEL PEREZ/RADYO INQUIRER
The Department of Health (DOH) will investigate the complaint against a doctor at Pasay City General Hospital who allegedly stuffed a sanitary napkin into the mouth of a 16-year-old girl as she was giving birth.
“We will look into it especially if there is a complaint. We will do the necessary actions and have it investigated,” Health Secretary Janette Garin told reporters Friday.
According to the teenager’s mother, Elsa Abello, a doctor she identified only as Dr. Liza shoved an unused sanitary pad into her daughter’s mouth when she started to shout due to labor pains Monday night.
Abello, a worker at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, made the allegations in a Radyo Inquirer interview Thursday.
Garin, an obstetrician and gynecologist by profession, said the teenager’s behavior was just normal for mothers in labor. “There are even some patients who sing while giving birth. Some cry or call the name of their husband or even curse them. But you don’t put anything in their mouth.”
“Shouting is part of it,” she added.
