The Aquino Health Agenda: Achieving Universal Health Care for All Filipinos
Posted on | December 19, 2010 | No Comments
The Aquino Health Agenda: Achieving Universal Health Care for All Filipinos
Department of Health (Philippines) Administrative Order No. 2010-0036, 16 December 2010.
Reasonable Doubt is like “Tinga”
Posted on | December 16, 2010 | No Comments
I agree with my Brod JR Dela Cruz in observing that Lejano v. People (G.R. No. 176389, December 14, 2010) that decided the Vizconde massacre case effectively compared reasonable doubt to detritus in between teeth, better known and appreciated in the vernacular as “tinga”. Said the Court:
In our criminal justice system, what is important is, not whether the court entertains doubts about the innocence of the accused since an open mind is willing to explore all possibilities, but whether it entertains a reasonable, lingering doubt as to his guilt. For, it would be a serious mistake to send an innocent man to jail where such kind of doubt hangs on to one’s inner being, like a piece of meat lodged immovable between teeth.
(emphasis supplied)
Kudos to the ponente Mr. Justice Abad for being succinct and graphic in relating the concept of reasonable doubt.
How the Law Looks at the History of Health Care
Posted on | December 8, 2010 | No Comments
This excerpt from Professional Services v. Agana (G.R. No. 126297) is telling of how Philippine Law (as symbolized by our Supreme Court which decided the case) views the history of health care:
Until the mid-nineteenth century, hospitals were generally charitable institutions, providing medical services to the lowest classes of society, without regard for a patient’s ability to pay. Those who could afford medical treatment were usually treated at home by their doctors. However, the days of house calls and philanthropic health care are over. The modern health care industry continues to distance itself from its charitable past and has experienced a significant conversion from a not-for-profit health care to for-profit hospital businesses.
(emphasis supplied)
I find myself initially disagreeing, but in some ways also in reluctant surrender to this external perspective (relative to the medical profession) on how health care has been turning from charity into pecuniary. The numbers as regards health care expenditures speak for themselves, and have given credence to the above 2007 decision penned by Justice Sandoval-Gutierrez.
Tags: health policy > health reform > law
