Sick Doctors

The recent video scandal involving doctors and nurses of a government-run hospital in Cebu was a display of disrespect and immorality - two things that seem to be plaguing our country right now. The video showed doctors extracting a perfume canister from a man's rectum. People, presumably nurses and medical staff, in the background were heard cheering and giggling. To make it worse, the video was then posted on YouTube (later removed).

I just could imagine what probably happened. During the surgery, the doctor was so amused that he had to call his doctor-friends to witness the odd operation. People began to gather around the poor guy (patient), who was probably in pain physically and emotionally. The already embarrassed patient was suffering while those around him were laughing at the guy. And then this one nurse (or student nurse) just had to take out his cellphone and start recording what was transpiring. This guy probably couldn't get enough of what he had seen, so he shared it with some friends, perhaps sending the video file through bluetooth to some of them. And then the video exponentially spread to a number of people, with one of them uploading it on the popular video-sharing website.

I only hope the hospital where all of this took place would be administratively sanctioned for failing to exercise proper supervision over their personnel. It would also be right to take away the licenses of these erring doctors and nurses and charge them with medical malpractice, for violating their code of ethics. A civil suit for damages can also be filed by the victim.

There are some who insist that in the first place, this would not have happened if the man (victim) was not having those kind of homosexual activities. While that would also be considered immoral, i believe it is beside the point in this case. The point here is that patient confidentiality and the basic human right of privacy were gravely violated.

Doctors (and the medical/nursing professionals) are highly respected in Filipino culture. They have the responsibility to observe the highest ethical standards in their medical profession. This unfortunate incident has tainted the reputation of the medical profession, even more so compared to the nursing board exam leakage scandal.