INSIDER INFO: St. Luke’s not negligent but told to pay damages in patient’s 2010 death

“Given the precarious condition of the late Angela with the imminent risk of her large aneurysm rupturing, defendant Dr. Posas demonstrated negligence by choosing to wait for the arrival of  the stents instead of either transferring the late Angela to another tertiary hospital capable of performing the endograft repair or [arranging] for open-chest surgery.”

Thus said the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City which recently ruled on a landmark case involving claims of medical malpractice and negligence against St. Luke's Medical Center and one of its top cardiologists, Dr. Fabio Enrique Posas.

The case, filed by the heirs of the late Angela Calderon, alleged that delays in critical medical procedures and mismanagement of care led to her untimely death in 2010.

“By opting to wait for the grafts or stents and, more critically, leaving the late Angela for four days, defendant Dr. Posas gambled with her life,” the court said. “Tragically, before the ordered stents could arrive, the late Angela succumbed to her condition. This decision reflects a serious failure to act in the best interest of the patient, the late Angela, who was in a critical situation.”

At the same time, however, the court's decision provided a nuanced resolution. While it exonerated the defendants from negligence charges — finding that the complainants failed to establish a breach of the standard of care — it nonetheless directed the defendants to compensate the plaintiffs for damages arising from a breach of duty in facilitating timely surgical intervention.

The four complainants, who are children of the deceased and led by Francisco Calderon, asserted that their mother's death resulted from an unperformed endograft repair of a life-threatening descending thoracic aortic aneurysm.

They argued that delays in acquiring medical devices, coupled with Dr. Posas’ absence for several days, denied Angela the timely surgical care needed to prevent the aneurysm's rupture.

In their defense, St. Luke’s and Dr. Posas contended that Calderon was asymptomatic during her hospital stay, and that the delayed procedure was due to the unavailability of stents necessary for the less invasive endograft surgery. They also argued that transferring Angela to another facility or opting for open-chest surgery carried significant risks.

In its decision, the court found insufficient evidence to support claims of negligence or willful misconduct. The ruling emphasized that, while Calderon’s aneurysm was life-threatening, there was no definitive proof that Dr. Posas or St. Luke’s violated professional standards in handling her case.

However, the court ruled that the defendants failed in their duty to explore alternative measures when complications arose, such as transferring the patient to another facility or performing an open-chest surgery as a backup plan.

This omission, the court stated, contributed to her inability to access potentially life-saving surgical intervention.

The court ordered the defendants to pay damages to Angela’s heirs, citing the emotional distress caused by the failure to provide timely solutions. The awarded amount was P2 million in moral damages, P500,000 as exemplary damages, attorney's fees of P250,000, and the cost of suit o P563,970, which shall all earn 6-percent interest per annum  from the finality of the decision until fully paid.

The surviving relatives of the deceased patient have yet to receive the compensation that the court ordered the hospital to pay. InsiderPH spoke to St. Luke’s president Dr. Dennis Serrano who said the hospital’s lawyers are weighing an appeal.

About the author
Daxim L. Lucas
Daxim L. Lucas

Senior Reporter

Featured News
Explore the latest news from InsiderPH
Thursday, 20 February 2025
Insight to the one percent
© 2024 InsiderPH, All Rights Reserved.