Physician defends UST OB-Gyn resident who refused admission of mother in labor

MANILA, Philippines. A graduate of the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) Faculty of Medicine and Surgery came to the defense of Dr. Ana Liezel Sahagun, a resident physician who came under fire for refusing admission of a mother in labor.

Dr. Sahagun of the UST hospital made headlines this week after Andrew Pelayo blamed her for the untimely death of his baby through a viral Facebook post. According to Pelayo, Dr. Sahagun refused the admission of his pregnant wife—who was already undergoing labor—due to financial considerations.

In his viral Facebook post, Dr. James Abraham Dacanay Malala raised five points to defend Dr. Sahagun, whom he believes was judged unfairly and wrongly accused.

Dr. Malala emphasized that UST hospital is not a charity/government hospital and that the admission to the hospital’s clinical division is per cash basis. Although the doctor’s fee and room service are free, patients are expected to pay for the cost of the procedures and medications.

An OB-Gyn resident of the said hospital,  Dr. Sahagun was simply following hospital protocols, according to Dr. Malala. Defending her from allegations that she is money-motivated, Dr. Malala stressed that Dr. Sahagun will not benefit from the patient’s money since she is not paid a professional fee.

The doctor also pointed out that Pelayo and his wife were advised early on that they needed to transfer to another hospital which can accommodate their needs based on their available funds. This was done after verifying that Pelayo’s wife and the baby were stable.

According to Dr. Malala, Pelayo and his wife should have saved enough money for childbirth since they had seven to nine months to prepare for it. Moreover, Dr. Malala questioned as to why the parents did not invest in Philhealth.

“Pregnancy in general or an ongoing labor for that matter is relatively a non-emergency case if we talk about the financial aspect of it,” he wrote.

Lastly, Dr. Malala said that it is unfair for netizens to “casually and wrongly humiliate and destroy a doctor’s reputation because of ignorance and outburst of emotions.” Dr. Malala thinks that such problems could be attributed to the country’s faulty healthcare system and people should have given UST hospital or Dr. Sahagun the chance to explain their side first.

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