Philippine Supreme Court Orders Hospital To Pay For Bungled 1984 Surgery

February 5, 2010 1:34 p.m. EST

Manila, Philippines (AHN) - The Supreme Court on Friday re-affirmed its previous ruling in favor of a woman who sued a major hospital over two decades ago after pieces of gauze were left by a doctor inside her body following surgery. The high court has ordered the Medical City, widely recognized as one of the nation's best hospitals, to pay Natividad Agana P15 million (U.S. $320,000).

The court en banc rejected the second motion for reconsideration from Professional Services Inc., the owner of Medical City, but said that its decision is unique and should not set a precedent.

The court's first division had ruled in 2007 that PSI and Miguel Ampil, a member of the hospital's surgical staff, were both liable for the injury sustained by Agana. That first ruling from had ordered the hospital owner and the doctor to pay P 3 million (U.S. $64,000).

Agana died in 1986, less than two years after she filed the lawsuit. The Supreme Court made no mention if her death was related to the botched surgery.

Agan was confined to the Medical City on April 4, 1984 because of difficulty of bowel movement and bloody anal discharge. She was diagnosed with cancer of the sigmoid, or intestines, by Ampil, who performed surgery on her a week after her admission to the hospital.

During the surgery, Ampil found that the cancer had spread to Agana's left ovary. Consent from Agana's husband was obtained for a hysterectomy, which was performed by another doctor. After the hysterectomy, Ampil again took charge of the surgery, completing the operation and closing the incision despite warnings from attending nurses that two surgical sponges were missing.

Agana complained of pain following surgery, but received assurances from Ampil that this was a natural consequence of surgery. In August of the same year, her daughter found a piece of gauze in protruding from her vagina. Ampil subsequently extracted the 1.5-inch wide sponge and assured his patient that the pains would soon be gone.

The pains, however, continued and Agana sought treatment at the Polymedic General Hospital, where a second piece of gauze was found in her vagina. The gauze had infected her vaginal vault, and she underwent another surgery in October the same year to remedy the infection. Agana filed her lawsuit in November 1984.

PSI had argued in its motion for reconsideration that there was no employer-employee relationship between it and Ampil, a consultant. Other hospitals had filed motions warning that the court's ruling would set a precedent that could raise healthcare costs.