Programs & Events
Victims Accuse, Physicians Deny in Death of Patient
By Mr. Hang Sokmony, Social Magazine
4th place in CCJ/US Embassy 2008 Investigative Reporting Competition (Prize: $300)
At the crematorium in Preah Put pagoda, Mr. Huy Pov and his children cried bitterly over the death of their wife and mother. His thought that the death of his wife was caused by physicians and has filed complaints against.
Mr. Huy Pov is a 30-year old man living in house 32, street 614, Sangkat Boeng Kak I, Khan Tuol Kork, Phnom Penh City. His wife, 32, died in childbirth at National Maternal and Child Health Care Center (NMCHCC) on December 06, 2007.
Mr. Pov said, "On entering the center, my wife was in great pain. I asked the midwives to do fast to help her. They shouted, 'Shut up! We know what to do.' Latter, my wife was crying loudly in pain and entreated them to operate on her to take the dead fetus out. They responded, 'Give us money for the operation before we do it.' I said, 'just do it and I will go home and take money.' They did not listen to me."
Pov reminded sobbingly, "That day, we paid 70 000 Riels for the ultrasound examination and learnt that the fetus was dead. After the examination, they told us to sit and wait after giving us just 2 tablets. Sophorn, my wife, was shocked on learning that the fetus was dead and began to have great pain. We entreated the physicians to do fast to do the operation to take the fetus out, but they did not listen to us. Those staff grew tired of our begging and said, 'Shut up! Her (Sophorn's) condition is good. No death. Don't listen to her. Just go and take money.' Then they walked away from my crying wife."
Pov went on to say, "At 11 am, my wife was in very serious condition and could not cry and I cried in panic. Then 2-3 physicians came with a stethoscope. On seeing my wife, they were in panic and rushed her into emergency room where she died a moment latter."
In the complaint, Pov wrote, "I was shocked in disbelief that those medical staff let poor people like my wife die because of money." He filed complaint with the Minister of Health and Minister for Women's Affairs. The copies of the complaints were sent to the Ministries of Interior and Justice, ADHOC (NGO) and LICHADO (NGO). He accused those medical staff of deliberately killing his wife.
Up to now, December 24, no action has been taken over this case. Sangkum magazine tried to contact people in charge in the Ministries. On December 21, Mr. Som Savet, assistant to the Minister of Health, said, "The Minister dare not do anything. Just investigate the case yourself. When called, the Minister and chief of cabinet always said 'busy'."
Victims Complain, Physicians Deny
With the remains of his wife in hand, Pov said that the staff used bad language with the patients and did not pay attention to patients. They kept demanding money. They did not tend to his wife until after 10-15 minutes when her conditions go serious and beyond help. "After my wife died, the staff were quick in sending her out and asked that she be cremated soon. When my wife was dyeing, the staff who had had ultrasound examination of her said the fetus had died 5-6 days earlier. But Dr.. Hy Seilarith, who had had ultrasound examination of her in Doun Penh Health Center two days earlier, wrote on note no. 076 that my wife and the fetus were in good condition, the fetus was 8 months and 19 days and that the delivery date was about December 22, 2007 or within 7 days of this day."
Dr. Seilarith attributed the death to the negligence of the medical staff, who said that ultrasound examination can tell the fetus is alive or dead but cannot tell if the fetus is weak or not. They said that their examination showed that the fetus was already dead.
Dr. Kum Kanal, director of MCHCC, said the condition of the patient was in the last stage when she arrived.
On December 11, 2007, he called a meeting with all his staff and raised the problem but nothing came out of it.
Te Kuychiv, who worked in emergency section of the MCHCC, said, on December 6, 2007, "That day 7-8 patients were brought to the emergency section. The patient, named Sophorn, was in serious condition and we had to give injection and intravenous infusion first for her. We did care for her."
Mrs. Ra Sinet, midwife, said, "When brought in, the patient's body temperature reached 40 degrees, the uterus was open by 2 cm, fetus was head down and there was no break fluid. We gave intravenous infusion to her and brought her to delivery room, thinking that she could give birth. At 11 am, her condition became serious and we sent her to emergency room. Both patient and her husband insisted that we do the operation to take the fetus out, but we could not do that."
"The condition of the patient did not permit us to do the operation, even if staff and space were available. If she died while we are doing operation on her, there would be other problem. Physicians are cannot do magic things; if they could help, they would help. They have to make sure that patients get better before they can do operation," said Mr. Kum Kanal.
Pov did not buy the above arguments. The note no. 054, signed by staff Kuychiv and Kroch Sari read, "Patient, name Sophorn, was brought in December 6, 2007 and died at noon on the same day of Choc Septique. Her family took her body to Preah Put pagoda crematorium.
Complaints about Ethics of Medical Staff
Some physicians do not follow their professional ethics and treat poor people and rich people differently. This has caused anger among some people. PM Hun Sen has called on physicians to adhere to their professional ethics. In April, Secretary of State of Health, Mr. Mam Bunheng, told all health facilities to provide service to patients before demanding payment from them. Uch Kim Ee, advocacy staff member from ADHOC, human rights NGO, said that some medical staff are careless in their work and this has caused dangers and even deaths of patients. He said that he had received lots of complaints about this.
A doctor who works in NMCHCC and asked not to be name said, "Medical staff in this center are under pressure from the higher-up to demand full payment from patients . He said that one of his sisters was working in the center.
Mr. Ou Sovandara, staff member from MEDICAM (consortium of NGOs working on health), said that better off people will seek medical service abroad or private service. Some poor people seek medical services at illegal or unreliable private facilities since at public health facilities, patients have to wait long hours, staff work slowly and carelessly and treat patients badly, and, moreover, patients have to pay both official and unofficial payments.
According to MEDICAM report on maternal health 2007 based on demographic and health report 2005, only 21.6% of people seek public health service and 69% seek private health service. This is the second highest figure among countries in the region.
After opening in September 2004, staff in NMCHCC behaved well, but later patients have complained about overcharging and negligence of staff.
Mr. Krouch Sary, head of mother and child care section, told a radio reporter, "We cannot help her after she let the fetus die for one week."
The medical staff denied that they had not used bad language or had been careless in treating the patient. Dr. Kum Kanal said that he had warned his staff members not to demand extra payment from patients. He also said that the center had fund for supporting really poor patients.
Pov said that what the medical staff said was all excuses to cover up what they had done to his wife. He was hopeless that justice would be found for his wife. He said that if those workers had done the operation on his wife within the 4 hours, she would not have died.