The other day we buried our brother-in-law, a retired seafarer who was only 63 when he died of cardiac arrest.
The suddenness of his death left many of us, his relatives, his friends and former co-workers in the many ocean-going vessels he had been on board, asking the question: What caused his death and how did he die?.” To us though, the question that should have been asked was: “How did he live his life?”
Clearly the multitude who came to attend his wake and joined the hearse going to the cemetery, was clearly the answer to the recommended question.
The brother-in-law of ours was one who is a responsible family man although at times he was “galante” when it comes to treating his friends especially those who have the same hobby as he had – love for slow rock music, the Eric Clapton kind and those sung by the iconic Beatles and the Bee Gees. At times his bonding with his fellow music and instrument loving friends were issues that unsettled his family.
But his flair for bonding with his wife and three children settles whatever developing problem in his family. Add to it his having married an understanding teacher wife, things remain ideal as far as their family members’ relationship was concerned.
Knowing the rigidity of the health requirement of seafarers, our brother-in-law was not known to have any physical infirmities until he retired some five years ago. Of course, he was known to have “inherited” the degenerative arthritis from his father. But this kind of physical disturbance is not known to have deadly effects on those who have it.
So, it became a major question why after five years of retirement from his strenuous work on board ship with only the degenerative ailment in him, he suddenly collapsed in the afternoon of September 25 and vomiting as well as urinating in his pants.
His friends who were with him at that time immediately ran to his nearby residence to inform the wife. Upon the arrival of the wife of our brother-in-law he was rushed to a hospital only less than half a kilometer away. The vehicle carrying him was met by a nurse even before it could reach the entry of the hospital’s emergency room. The nurse took his pulse and heart beats but did not do anything to attempt to have the patient revived. The nurse told the wife of our brother-in-law that a doctor was coming soon. Indeed the doctor came in a few minutes but instead of doing immediate cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) the doctor merely felt the pulse and heart beat and took a look at his eyes. The doctor declared that our brother-in-law was already gone.
That was it; as simple as that.
That is why it dawned on many of his relatives, especially his wife, the idea of asking about the protocols of hospitals and doctors in attending to such an emergency situation?
Are not doctors, under the Hippocratic Oath they swore in, obligated to do the necessary interventions to revive a patient and only after some failed tries that he/she can declare the patient officially dead?
We are only asking even as we are doing some research on the matter, to ease the uneasiness of the immediate family members of our brother-in-law.
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From the looks of it, what the opposition is now doing through its many trolls, is “Binayizing” Vice President and Department of Education Secretary Sara Duterte. It is the strategy the then Administration did when it was clear that in the 2016 election for President, that VP Binay was the strongest contender. The then Aquino III administration did every kind of dirty trick capitalizing on whatever errors in Binay’s decision and even in his statements, to hit the then VP much below the belt.
Their attacks centered on the alleged Binay corruption and the mismanagement of the local government of Makati City by the VP’s family members like Junjun Binay and the VP’s wife who was at one time also mayor of the city.
Now the once administration-turned opposition is adopting the same tactic. Its attack dogs are barking and biting on Sara at every opportunity they can and in every part of her even including her body language.
The opposition is now strongly harping on the so-called confidential fund transferred from the Office of the President to that of the Vice President claiming that she exhausted the money in only eleven days.
Sara is portrayed by the attack dogs as one insatiable hound that gobbles every pesos there is at her disposal. She is called by them as “money-eating eagle” from Davao,
Honestly however, we believe that the then administration and now opposition seems not to learn its lesson. It is still too early and the possibility is that the opposition could end up being burnt out before the next Presidential polls. So, the brains in the onslaught should better beware.
