Dr. Lumanta performed an appendectomy and circumcision on 8-year-old Hanz Calapiz. A week later, Hanz was readmitted with abnormal pains and was diagnosed with a damaged urethra from the circumcision. Hanz underwent multiple surgeries to repair his urethra. Dr. Lumanta was acquitted of criminal charges but found liable for moral damages. While acquittal absolves criminal liability, it does not necessarily remove civil liability. The court found that Hanz's damages from the circumcision warranted moral damages.
Dr. Lumanta performed an appendectomy and circumcision on 8-year-old Hanz Calapiz. A week later, Hanz was readmitted with abnormal pains and was diagnosed with a damaged urethra from the circumcision. Hanz underwent multiple surgeries to repair his urethra. Dr. Lumanta was acquitted of criminal charges but found liable for moral damages. While acquittal absolves criminal liability, it does not necessarily remove civil liability. The court found that Hanz's damages from the circumcision warranted moral damages.
Dr. Lumanta performed an appendectomy and circumcision on 8-year-old Hanz Calapiz. A week later, Hanz was readmitted with abnormal pains and was diagnosed with a damaged urethra from the circumcision. Hanz underwent multiple surgeries to repair his urethra. Dr. Lumanta was acquitted of criminal charges but found liable for moral damages. While acquittal absolves criminal liability, it does not necessarily remove civil liability. The court found that Hanz's damages from the circumcision warranted moral damages.
Dr. Lumanta performed an appendectomy and circumcision on 8-year-old Hanz Calapiz. A week later, Hanz was readmitted with abnormal pains and was diagnosed with a damaged urethra from the circumcision. Hanz underwent multiple surgeries to repair his urethra. Dr. Lumanta was acquitted of criminal charges but found liable for moral damages. While acquittal absolves criminal liability, it does not necessarily remove civil liability. The court found that Hanz's damages from the circumcision warranted moral damages.
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Eleven (11)
[G.R. No. 163753. January 15, 2014.]
DR. ENCARNACION C. LUMANTAS, M.D., petitioner, vs. HANZ CALAPIZ, REPRESENTED BY HIS PARENTS, HILARIO CALAPIZ, JR. and HERLITA CALAPIZ, respondent.
Facts: Spouses Calapiz brought their 8-year-old son, Hanz, to a hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Hanz was attended to by the Dr. Lumanta, who suggested to the parents that Hanz also undergo circumcision at no added cost to spare him the pain. After the operations, Hanz was discharged from the hospital. But a week later, he was admitted again because of some abnormal pains in his penis and testicles. Dr. Henry Go, a urologist, diagnosed the boy to have a damaged urethra. Thus, Hanz underwent cystostomy, and thereafter was operated on three times to repair his damaged urethra. When his damaged urethra could not be fully repaired and reconstructed, Hanz's parents brought a criminal charge against the Dr. Lumanta for reckless imprudence resulting to serious physical injuries. The RTC acquitted the petitioner of the crime charged for insufficiency of the evidence. Nonetheless, the RTC ruled that the Dr. Lumanta was liable for moral damages because there was a preponderance of evidence showing that Hanz had received the injurious trauma from his circumcision by the petitioner.
Issue Whether or not the acquittal of the accused in the criminal case absolves his civil liability?
Ruling It is axiomatic that every person criminally liable for a felony is also civilly liable. Nevertheless, the acquittal of an accused of the crime charged does not necessarily extinguish his civil liability. The Rules of Court requires that in case of an acquittal, the judgment shall state "whether the evidence of the prosecution absolutely failed to prove the guilt of the accused or merely failed to prove his guilt beyond reasonable doubt. In either case, the judgment shall determine if the act or omission from which the civil liability might arise did not exist." Conformably with the foregoing, therefore, the acquittal of an accused does not prevent a judgment from still being rendered against him on the civil aspect of the criminal case unless the court finds and declares that the fact from which the civil liability might arise did not exist.
In Hanz's case, the undesirable outcome of the circumcision performed by the Dr. Lumanta forced the young child to endure several other procedures on his penis in order to repair his damaged urethra. Surely, his physical and moral sufferings properly warranted the amount of P50,000.00 awarded as moral damages.
