The Public Attorney’s Office is considering filing a criminal complaint for alleged medical malpractice and negligence against a public hospital in Quezon province following the death of a six-year-old boy who was bitten by the family’s one-month-old pet puppy in May.
The move came after the boy’s parents sought legal help from PAO, claiming their son — a Grade 1 pupil who dreamed of becoming a policeman — died due to lapses in medical treatment at the Quezon Provincial Hospital Network-Gumaca.
PAO conducted the first mediation hearing between the boy’s parents and the hospital’s legal representatives, including the nurse who had classified the bite as a Category 2 exposure and administered the anti-rabies vaccine. The meeting was held at the PAO central office in Quezon City.
Despite signs of possible criminal liability involving the hospital and attending medical personnel, PAO Chief Persida Acosta set another mediation on 13 August at 2 PM. She directed the provincial lawyer to bring other hospital officials and the physician who recommended the rabies injection.
The boy was bitten on the left hand on 7 May 2025. The puppy died three days later. On 12 May, the boy’s mother, Genalyn Postre, informed the attending nurse of the puppy’s death.
On 12 June, the child was brought to the hospital with fever and nausea. He died the next day, 13 June, at around 10 p.m. The death certificate listed the cause of death as “acute laryngospasm due to rabies encephalopathy from rabies infection.”
Deputy Chief Public Attorney Erwin Erfe, who heads PAO’s Forensics Laboratory Division, led the agency’s initial investigation based on hospital records and the nurse’s testimony.
PAO officials said the child’s death could have been prevented if he had been promptly given both the anti-rabies vaccine and immune globulin, which provides immediate antibodies against rabies.
“There seems to be a negligence on the part of the hospital particularly its attending medical personnel – the doctor and the nurse,” PAO officials said.
They emphasized that the immune globulin — an antibody medication that boosts the immune system — should have been administered immediately, but was reportedly not given until the boy’s death.
Doctors from PAO also believe the child may have suffered tetanus complications, citing the immediate cause of death: acute laryngospasm (lockjaw) due to rabies encephalopathy. They noted that anti-tetanus toxoid was also not administered to the patient.