First to file the complaint was Jesus O. Dela Cruz on Sept. 3, followed by Carmen T. Cabrera on Sept. 16, representing her daughter Verena T. Cabrera.
Named respondents were the commonwealth government, Public Health and CHC.
Dela Cruz, in his complaint, named as respondents Dr. Florian Braig, then-CHC’s ears, nose, and throat specialist, and several “Does.”
Carmen T. Cabrera named as respondents Braig, Dr. Michael Koning and several “Does.”
Dela Cruz stated that on April 1, 2009 the oxygen cannula placed in his mouth ignited while he was undergoing surgery at CHC to remove a large tumor in his right nostril.
Dela Cruz said his hard pallet was severely burned, damaging his dental bridge.
The complaint added that Dela Cruz’s injury caused a permanent harm to some of his facial tissue.
The injury caused Dela Cruz “a great deal of pain and suffering and he continues to suffer.”
“Mr. Dela Cruz was not advised prior to surgery that there was a risk of ignition or of burns to his mouth and face, and he did not give informed consent to that risk,” the complaint stated.
Dela Cruz presented his claim on April 29, 2009 to the Attorney General’s Office, “but the [AG] failed to make final disposition of the claim within 90 days after it was presented, and the claim is therefore deemed denied.”
For her part, Carmen T. Cabrera filed a complaint on Sept. 16 for the wrongful death of her daughter Verena, 18, on March 11, 2009.
Her complaint stated that Braig was the treating physician and “responsible for [her daughter’s] care at the time of her death,” while Koning was the anesthesiologist “who sedated Verena at the time of her death.”
The mother said her daughter went to CHC on March 10, 2009, to have her tonsils out, after suffering from frequent sore throats.
“It was recommended…that she [undergo] tonsillectomy — a simple and safe procedure to remove her tonsils that might lessen the frequency of her sore throats,” the complaint stated.
Verena Cabrera previously met Braig “who assured her that the procedure was very minor, that she would spend the night in the hospital to be observed, and eat ice cream,” the complaint added.
“Verana consented to this simple and safe procedure,” the complaint stated.
Koning sedated Verena Cabrera and Braig performed the tonsillectomy.
“On the operating table, Verena went into cardiac arrest,” the complaint stated.
The victim’s life was prolonged through artificial means until the early hours of March 11, when she died, the complaint added.
The matter was presented to the AGO on April 29, 2009, but it “failed to make any final disposition.”
“Verena died as a direct and proximate results of defendants’ breaches of their duty of care to Verena making her death a death by wrongful act,” the complaint stated.
