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Digest of Garcia Rueda Vs Pascasio
Digest of Garcia Rueda Vs Pascasio
training, care and skill in the treatment of his patients. He therefore has a duty to use at
least the same level of care that any other reasonably competent doctor would use to treat a
condition under the same circumstances. It is in this aspect of medical malpractice that expert
testimony is essential to establish not only the standard of care of the profession but also that the
physician's conduct in the treatment and care falls below such standard. Further, inasmuch as the
causes of the injuries involved in malpractice actions are determinable only in the light of scientific
knowledge, it has been recognized that expert testimony is usually necessary to support the
conclusion as to causation.
Immediately apparent from a review of the records of this case is the absence of any
expert testimony on the matter of the standard of care employed by other physicians of good
standing in the conduct of similar operations. The prosecution's expert witnesses in the persons of
Dr. Floresto Arizala and Dr. Nieto Salvador, Jr. of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) only
testified as to the possible cause of death but did not venture to illuminate the court on the matter
of the standard of care that petitioner should have exercised.
The better and more logical remedy under the circumstances would have been to appeal the
resolution of the City Prosecutors dismissing the criminal complaint to the Secretary of Justice
under the Department of Justice's Order No. 223, otherwise known as the "1993 Revised Rules on
Appeals From Resolutions In Preliminary Investigations/Reinvestigations," as amended by
Department Order No. 359, Section 1 of which provides:
Sec. 1. What May Be Appealed. Only resolutions of the Chief State
Prosecutor/Regional State Prosecutor/Provincial or City Prosecutor dismissing a
criminal complaint may be the subject of an appeal to the Secretary of Justice
except as otherwise provided in Section 4 hereof.
What action may the Secretary of Justice take on the appeal? Section 9 of Order No. 223
states: "The Secretary of Justice may reverse, affirm or modify the appealed resolution." On the
other hand, "He may motu proprio or on motion of the appellee, dismiss outright the appeal on
specified grounds."
In exercising his discretion under the circumstances, the Ombudsman acted within his
power and authority in dismissing the complaint against the Prosecutors and this Court will not
interfere with the same.
Petition is dismissed.