Grieving mother: Hospital refused to admit my dying daughter

MANILA — A grieving mother in Butuan shared on Facebook that Butuan Doctors Hospital refused to admit her ailing 10-year-old daughter due to financial and technical constraints, which could have led to her daughter’s demise.

Tutz Salarda – Chan, mother of 10-year-old Jannary Chan, posted on Facebook about her daughter’s ordeal and the inhumane treatment they received from the said medical institution.

Earlier this year, the Chan family found out that their daughter Yanna (Jannary’s nickname) has diabetes and has been suffering from kidney problems. This was another problem altogether, because at six months young, Yanna was already diagnosed with congenital heart disease.

On July 13, 2014, Yanna was rushed to San Francisco Doctors Hospital (SFDH) in Agusan Del Sur where Tutz said she was “properly monitored and cared” for.

However, the need for more advanced medical facilities and treatment prompted their family to move Yanna to a bigger hospital on July 15th. After making the necessary arrangements between the hospitals through the doctors and securing the paperwork, they loaded Yanna into an ambulance and made their way to Butuan Doctors Hospital (BDH) in Butuan City.

Assisted by two nurses from SFDH, they made the hour-long drive to Butuan City and reached BDH’s admission desk by 8:00 PM.

All their efforts were futile they soon learned, when the hospital staff refused to admit young Yanna–despite fighting for her life on a stretcher. According to Tutz, the BDH staff was demanding a deposit of PhP 30,000 (CAD $746) on the spot.

Tutz only had about PhP 10,000 (CAD $249) on her person at that time.

“Nakiusap po kami ng husto na tanggapin ang bata kasi sobrang emergency po at hindi na banking hours to transfer cash kasi gabi na. ‘Ilang oras na lang naman at umaga na miss, at mabubuo na namin ang kulang,’ ang sinabi ko po,” Tutz wrote.

(We earnestly pleaded for them to admit my kid because it was an emergency and it was beyond banking hours, we cannot transfer cash at night. ‘In a few hours it will be morning again, miss, and we will have the rest of the money,’ I told the staff.)

To this the BDH staff sternly replied, “Malayo sa 30,000 yang hawak mong cash! Wala ditong charity, private hospital kami. Ano ba trabaho mo? Saan ba mangagaling ang pambayad nyo dito?”

(What you have is a far cry from P30,000! This is a private hospital, we don’t have a charity [ward]. What do you do for a living? Where are you going to get the money to pay the hospital?)

“May pambayad kami kaya lang gabi ngayon, miss, hindi kami makapag transact ng money transfer, at saka naka-intubate na yung anak ko, kailangan niya sa ICU, kanina pa siya nasa ambulance lang, hindi naman pwedeng nasa daan lang kami magdamag, ang layo pa ng ibinyahe namin, emergency lang talaga,” Tutz answered.

(We have the money, it’s just that it’s already nighttime so we can’t transact the money transfer. And my daughter is intubated, she needs to be in an ICU. She’s been in the ambulance for hours. We can’t stay in the hallway all night. We drove really far just to get here. This is an emergency.)

“Hindi yan emergency! Ang emergency yung mga nasagasaan sa daan… Eh kayo galing na kayo sa isang hospital, dapat bago kayo bumiyahe itinawag nyo muna sa amin yan! Alam nyong [may] cash deposit bago tanggapin ang pasyente nyo! At saka sa ICU kayo, dapat 30,000.00 talaga ang deposit, yan ang policy namin! At every 3 days hihingan namin kayo ng 30,000.00 kasi 10,000 per day ang ICU, hindi pa kasama mga gamot! Dapat tumawag muna kayo bago nyo sinugod yan dito para [alam] nyo babayaran nyo!” the staff told Tutz.

(That’s not an emergency! An emergency is someone who was run over by a car. But you, you came from another hospital. You should’ve called us before taking her here. You know there’s a cash deposit before we admit a patient. And if you’re going to stay in the ICU, there’s a P30,000 deposit–that’s our policy! And every 3 days, we will ask for additional P30,000 because the ICU costs P10,000 per day, not including the medication. You should’ve called us before coming here so you know how much you’ll be paying!)

Tutz insisted that her daughter’s doctor from SFDH coordinated the hospital transfer to the admitting doctor at BDH. However, the BDH staff said that the Chan family should’ve called the Admission Office instead.

They had no choice but to go back on the road while coordinating with the doctors from SFDH. They decided to bring young Yanna to a hospital in Davao City.

However, on their way to Davao City, Yanna suffered from cardiac arrest. She was pronounced dead at around 3:00 AM on July 16, 2014.

“I can’t describe and express how we felt at that time… It was really so painful and still is,” Tutz wrote. “Sobrang sakit po mawalan ng isang miyembro ng pamilya lalo’t higit kung anak nyo ang mawawala sa paraan at pangyayaring ganito.”

(It’s so painful to lose a family member, especially if you lose your own child this way.)
“I can not bring any more my daughter’s life back, but at least I can do something to what had happened to her… [Even to just] lessen the pain that we are going through,” she continued.

At the end of her Facebook post, Tutz called to the public to keep on sharing her post and included the details of Butuan Doctors Hospital–owned by Dr. Claudio Estacio and Therese Estacio.

Is this the sad state of the Philippine healthcare system? Should the Department of Health intervene when it comes to hospital rejecting patients? Share your thoughts with us.