CAUGHT ON CAM

AN ETHICAL ISSUE
With the advent of the new technology, different gadgets arise and different social
media platform that is very accessible to all, how can we escape from the scrutiny of the
society especially when you are caught doing something that is unethically accepted?

We all know different stories of scandals caught on cam, being televised, became talk of
the town for weeks, months even for a year as it progresses as time goes by. It even
became a trending topic, shared through YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. And because
of this technology no one can escape.

A Cebuano male florist in his 30s was teary-eyed when he saw the video of his surgery
for the first time The emergency operation was already traumatic. Having a spray can
removed from his rectum after a night of sex with a stranger was something he
regretted.

Danilo (not his real name) was horrified to see images of the surgery three months later
circulating on the popular video-sharing website YouTube. Danilo said he felt violated
and would file charges against medical personnel at the government-owned Vicente
Sotto Medical Memorial Center (VSMMC). He said his rights to privacy and
confidentiality were violated. He was also offended when he saw in the video how
medical interns and workers jeered and laughed when the metal can of Black Suede
body spray was pulled out of his rectum.

The can was inserted by a man he had casual sex with last New Year's Eve. Danilo said
he was asleep when it happened.

This is what they called confidentiality when they spread it around. They act as if they
are not educated. Is this right? They operated on you, you were in pain then they
feasted on you, Danilo lamented.

Danilo said he had heard about the Black Suede Internet scandal but he never realized
it was about him until Basak Pardo barangay (village) Captain Dave Tumulak showed
him the video.
Cebu Daily News checked the video on YouTube, but the website said it had been
pulled out.

Doctor Gerardo Aquino, VSMMC medical center chief, formed a committee last month
to look into the violation of confidentiality after he heard about the video and without
waiting for a complaint, said Dr. Emanuel Gines, the hospital's committee chairman on
media.

We believe that there was a break in the flow of procedure during the operation, said
Gines.

The investigation would determine who posted the video on the Internet and who should
be held liable for the breach of operation procedure and confidentiality, said Gines. He
said results would be known this week.

He said the probe also aims to review hospital policy, especially since it was the first
time that such an incident happened in the VSMMC.
Since there were nursing interns inside the operating room at that time, their schools
had been informed about the investigation.

I heard they were also conducting their own investigation, said Gines.

Normally, only eight medical workers are allowed inside the operating room. But based
on the video, there were more than eight inside the operating room.

The hospital does not take a video of all operations but only select cases for academic
purposes, Gines said.

He stressed that this is done only when there is consent from the patient and that the
record is treated with utmost confidentiality and with respect for the rights of the patient.

According to Danilo, his trauma started on December 31 last year when he met a man
in the streets who offered to have sex with him for P100. Danilo, who said he was
drunk, brought the man home and had sexual intercourse with him. But he recalled
bruising the man's ego by criticizing the size of his sex organ. Apparently challenged,
the man told Danilo to have sex with him again, but this time using the canned body
spray he found inside Danilo's room.

Danilo said no, but later he felt something painful and he then fell asleep.

The man was gone when he woke up. Danilo said he felt something painful inside his
body. It was even more painful when he tried to urinate.

He said he started to get scared when he remembered what the man last told him and
when he could no longer find his body spray.

Danilo, however, decided not to inform his family so as not to ruin the New Year's
celebration. He only came clean on January 2. His family then brought him to the
hospital for a check-up.

When doctors discovered there was a foreign object in his body, Danilo said he noticed
that the doctors and nurses kept asking him how it felt and why they had done it.

He was scheduled for operation the following day.

Danilo complained that there were too many people inside the operating room before he
dozed off due to the anesthesia.

I kept on complaining. I said it looked like Carbon market in there because there were
so many people, he said.

Danilo was discharged from the hospital January 5. He thought his trauma would end
there but on January 18, he went back to the hospital to get his medical records.

A doctor then informed him that they had videotaped the operation and kept the body
spray.

He asked me if I would ask for a copy and I said no, said Danilo. He said the doctor
promised him the video and other records would be treated with confidentiality.
About two months later, Danilo said he was surprised that barangay captain Tumulak
sought him out and showed him the video.

In the video, as the canister was being pulled out of his body, people inside the
operating room were heard laughing while someone shouted ‘baby out, baby out’.

When the can was fully extracted, the same person screamed: ‘body spray’ followed by
laughter and jeers.

The cap was opened, then returned. Then the can was held up like a trophy before it
was wrapped in surgical gauze.

Barangay captain Tumulak said he was willing to help Danilo press charges.

He said he recognized the operating room in the video because he had been in VSMMC
before. That was when he started tracing the identity of the patient and was surprised to
find the patient was a resident of his barangay.

Brgy. Captain Tumulak wrote to Dr. Aquino, asking to change some hospital procedures
to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

He said the posting of the video in the Internet violated several provisions of the
Patients Bill of Rights, including the right to be free from unwarranted publicity and to
good quality health care and professional standards.

While Danilo’s face was not seen on the video, Tumulak said his right to privacy was
violated because many of his colleagues knew it was him. Because of the video, Danilo
stopped mingling with his friends, he said. SOURCE:
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20080415-130504/Video-
scandal-grips-Cebu-hospital
The Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas has recommended the filing of criminal
and administrative charges against seven doctors, four nurses, two clinical instructors,
and a nursing aide who were implicated in the operating room scandal at the
government-run Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City.

The anti-graft investigators said they found ample grounds to file charges of violation of
Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and grave misconduct against
the VSMMC medical personnel who were caught on video laughing while conducting
surgery.The Ombudsman identified the accused as Doctors Phillip Leo Arias, Marlowe
Parreno, Angelo Linawagan, Alfred Joseph De Leon, Joanne Mae Merilles, Serapio
Salazar and Max Joseph Montecillo, registered nurses Isabelita Remulta, Carmenia
Sapio, Consuelo Tecling and Ida Sumayang, clinical instructors Ramon Pandaan and a
certain A. Opado from Southwestern University, and nursing aide Rosemarie Villareal.

In its recommendation, the Ombudsman-Visayas ruled that the medical staff committed
misconduct for unlawful behavior and gross negligence as public officers.

Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol, head of the anti-graft office in the Visayas, said
their fact-finding panel conducted a two-week investigation and assessment of the
complaint filed by the patient, whose identity has been withheld.

In his complaint, the patient said he suffered humiliation after the video of his operation
was posted on YouTube.

In his nine-page affidavit, the complainant though did not identify the doctors, nurses
and interns involved, but only gave reference to a certain Dr. Arias.

Clinical forms and a discharge sheet from the hospital were attached to the complaint
prepared by his lawyer Guiller Ceniza.

The patient accused the VSMMC personnel who attended his surgery of violating his
rights to privacy and confidentiality and reflecting a poor sense of professionalism.
He cited provisions of RA 4224 (Code of Ethics of the Medical Profession in the
Philippines), the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses, the Hippocratic Oath and the
Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials.

I strongly believe the doctors and nurses of the Vicente (Sotto) Memorial Medical
Center and the hospital itself violated my right to privacy and confidentiality. Without my
consent, they took videos of the operation showing my private parts and my unusual
and embarrassing condition. Instead of observing professional courtesy and giving
sympathy to a victim of sexual abuse, the doctors, the nurses and the hospital
entertained themselves at my expense, by making fun at my condition; they jeered,
laughed, shouted, uttered mischievous statements and cheered on many occasions
during the operation; evidently, they were trying to mock and ridicule me, he added.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has prohibited students in

medical-related courses from using cellular phones, cameras and video cameras while
attending clinical practices, in the aftermath of the Cebu rectal surgery scandal.

In a memorandum, CHED acting chairman Romulo Neri “admonished” all CHED

regional directors and heads of private and public colleges and universities offering
health-related courses to advise their students to “refrain from using” such devices while
undertaking practicum or clinical classes.

A copy of the memorandum, dated April 24, was sent to the Department of Health
(DOH).   

In another development, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III called the attention of
Multiply, a social networking website, on photographs of a pap smear procedure
uploaded on the site.

It has come to our attention that videos/images of medical procedures are being posted
on your website without the consent of the patient. We bring to your attention a specific
posting of one of your users which publicized the pap smear done by several nursing
students which appear to be unknown to the patients,Duque said in his letter addressed
to the president of Multiply.Com. SOURCE: http://www.philstar.com/nation/60685/rectal-
surgery-scandal-admin-criminal-raps-poised-vs-cebu-hospital-personnel

After what happened, three doctors and a nurse face administrative charges but other
medical staff and students got off with relatively light penalties over a controversial
surgery scandal. The hospital released its findings and recommendations even as its
head Dr. Gerardo Aquino Jr was summoned to Manila for the health department's
parallel investigation into the case. Among the findings of the hospital were: Three
doctors and one nurse in the medical team involved in the operation will face
administrative case for possible violation of conduct and ethical standards; One doctor
and three nurse supervisors were sternly warned and advised to be more cautious in
performance of duty as supervisors; A clinical instructor alluded to by the staff who
misbehaved was banned from the hospital; The student allegedly responsible for
uploading the video to video-sharing site YouTube should be endorsed to his or her
school for disciplinary action; and SOPs of the operating room should be reviewed,
revised and updated. SOURCE:
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/90145/news/regions/doctors-nurse-in-cebu-
surgery-scandal-face-raps

There are many cases like this that arise in our country, one best example of this is
Doctor Hayden Kho who has been involved to different sex scandals with different
celebrities, who he intentionally recorded their activities. After that issue, controversial
personality Hayden Kho has also lost his medical license for good.

The Court of Appeals has junked Kho’s petition to reverse the decision made last 2011
by the Professional Regulation Commission to strip the former physician of the Belo
Medical Group of his privilege to practice medicine.

The appellate court’s Eight Division affirmed the PRC’s revocation of Kho’s license, the
result of an administrative case filed by actress Katrina Halili.

Affirming a 2010 decision by the Board of Medicine, the PRC had found Kho guilty of
immorality and dishonorable and unethical conduct in connection with a 2009 sex
video scandal involving him and Halili.
Halili protested that Kho, who was Dr. Belo’s longtime boyfriend and Halili’s partner in
a 2009 Belo advertising campaign, had videotaped their intimate act without her
knowledge and consent.

The Court of Appeals dismissed Kho’s contention that the recording and circulation of
the video “was concededly not done in relation to the practice of his medical
profession”.

The court said a medical practice “is not a natural right but a privilege bestowed by the
State on those who show that they possess, and continue to possess, the
qualifications required by the conferment of such privilege.” SOURCE:
http://www.interaksyon.com/entertainment/hayden-kho-loses-appeal-to-regain-
medical-license/

This year, The PRC saw the changes in Kho that made them decide to bring back his
medical license. Kho was surprised after he heard the news that his license as a
doctor was officially reinstated. SOURCE: http://philnews.ph/2014/07/21/79668/

CONCLUSION:

What is ethical? And what is not? With these cases of scandal be it with a celebrity,
professional or a civilian it goes to show how such ethical issues arrive. We have
existing laws, that we as a citizen of this country must abide. Thus, if we commit any
form of mistakes or wrongdoings there will be an equal punishment that must be given.
On both issues, Danilo and Dr. Hayden Kho’s victims, it is very evident that there was
an unjust treatment because, (1) Danilo was recorded without his permission, same
with what Kho did with his victims which resulted to public humiliation. (2) As a doctor,
by profession, they failed to practice and to follow what was written in their guidelines
that’s why it resulted in revocation of their licenses and suspension for some. And (3)
they also violated their right as a human. Yes we live in a country where freedom is a
right, but we must also consider that this freedom is very subjective especially if it
demeans other people and you put their lives in jeopardy or both of you.

We have standards or law that our company imposes that will help us to have a
peaceful and harmonious workplace. For some, the existence of those standards in
 their companies maybe suppresses them instead of helping them to focus or to have a
productive attitude towards their work. But at the end of the day it’s our conscience
who can decide on what is morally right from what is morally wrong.

REFERENCE:

http://philnews.ph/2014/07/21/79668/

http://www.interaksyon.com/entertainment/hayden-kho-loses-appeal-to-regain-medical-
license/

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/90145/news/regions/doctors-nurse-in-cebu-
surgery-scandal-face-raps

http://www.philstar.com/nation/60685/rectal-surgery-scandal-admin-criminal-raps-
poised-vs-cebu-hospital-personnel

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/news/view/20080415-130504/Video-scandal-
grips-Cebu-hospital