Officials deny hospital source of media ‘leak’

This refers to the article titled “Singer plans to sue hospital for releasing private information” (Inquirer, 2/24/13).

We categorically deny Joel Mendoza’s allegation that we leaked personal information on his confinement in our hospital to media. While we normally do not argue with our patients regarding their complaints about our services, we have to make this denial in the interest of fairness and truth.

With respect to Mendoza’s confinement, media came into the picture solely by his own doing. The moment he was ushered into our emergency room, he was already barking orders for our ER staff to immediately call his friends in media and the police. We could see why the police had to be called as he was a robbery victim, but media?

To protect the privacy of our patients, our hospital has an existing policy banning media interviews with our patients and staff unless approved by our management. For this purpose, a request/permission form has to be accomplished. In the case of Mendoza, he and/or his driver, Arnold Joseph Raflores, were interviewed left and right on the morning of Feb. 19, 2013—needless to say, with their full consent but without proper coordination with our management. In fact, when our security officers barred media men from entering our hospital, Mendoza berated our chief security officer. When he was reminded of the hospital policy, he remonstrated that the media in his room were his friends.

Mendoza’s claim that we were the source of the leakage “100 percent” is baseless. It is on record that as early as Feb. 19, 2013, at around 9:30 a.m., Raflores had given his statement to police investigators. Immediately, thereafter, while in the police precinct of Mandaluyong City, Raflores was interviewed by media. His sworn statement shows he used the personal address of Mendoza. Hence, Mendoza’s claim that media could not have gotten the information from the police, since the reports were published even before investigators obtained his personal information, does not hold water.

Lastly, Mendoza alleged that a spelling error in the name of his building address in his hospital admission form could be found in a tabloid reporter’s record; this, according to Mendoza, could not just be a mere coincidence. We have carefully checked the entries in our hospital admission sheet; we found no such misspelling.

We are at a loss as to the reason why Mendoza had to go to media to air his perceived grievances against our hospital. What we know is that during his confinement in our hospital, he already got the media attention he wanted and he basked in the limelight. It is worth mentioning that Mendoza has threatened that he will expose us to his media friends, again, allegedly for our poor services and amenities. This we will address as needed.

—LEAH MARIE E. LAPASTORA,

marketing head;

MA. VICTORIA VERGEL DE DIOS,

hospital administrator,

Victor R. Potenciano Medical Center