GR 150898; (April, 2011) (Digest)
G.R. No. 150898 . April 13, 2011.
OCEAN BUILDERS CONSTRUCTION CORP., and/or DENNIS HAO, Petitioners, vs. SPOUSES ANTONIO and ANICIA CUBACUB, Respondents.
FACTS
Bladimir Cubacub, a maintenance man employed by petitioner Ocean Builders Construction Corp., contracted chicken pox on April 9, 1995. Petitioner Dennis Hao, the company’s general manager, advised him to rest for three days at the company barracks. On April 12, 1995, Bladimir performed chores but later asked a co-worker to accompany him to his house in Tarlac. Hao, informed of this, gave Bladimir ₱1,000 and ordered the co-worker to bring him to the nearest hospital instead. Bladimir was taken to Caybiga Community Hospital, a primary-care hospital about one kilometer away, where he was confined. The following day, Bladimir’s parents were fetched. They arrived on the evening of April 13, transferred Bladimir to Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH), where he died on April 14, 1995. The QCGH death certificate listed the cause as cardio-respiratory arrest due to pneumonia. A separate certificate by the family’s doctor listed cardiac arrest, multiple organ failure, septicemia, and chicken pox. Bladimir’s parents filed a damages complaint against petitioners, alleging Hao’s negligence led to Bladimir’s death. The Regional Trial Court dismissed the complaint, finding no negligence. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding Hao violated Article 161 of the Labor Code by failing to bring Bladimir to a better-equipped hospital, and awarded damages.
ISSUE
Whether petitioner Dennis Hao was negligent and liable for damages for failing to provide “adequate and immediate medical attendance” to the sick employee, Bladimir Cubacub, under Article 161 of the Labor Code, which breach was the proximate cause of Bladimir’s death.
RULING
NO. The Supreme Court granted the petition and reversed the Court of Appeals decision, reinstating the trial court’s dismissal of the complaint.
The Court held the action was one for damages based on torts, requiring duty, breach, and injury with proximate causation. Citing Article 161 of the Labor Code, the duty of an employer is to provide “all the necessary assistance to ensure the adequate and immediate medical…attendance…in case of emergency.” The Court found Hao’s actions—advising a three-day rest and subsequently ordering Bladimir be brought to the nearest hospital (Caybiga Community Hospital) upon his worsened condition—constituted the “adequate and immediate medical attendance” mandated under Article 161. The Court noted chicken pox is generally self-limiting and Hao, without a medical background, could not be expected to know Bladimir needed a hospital with better facilities. Furthermore, the Court ruled that even assuming negligence, it was not the proximate cause of Bladimir’s death. Proximate cause requires an unbroken sequence producing the injury. The records did not establish that bringing Bladimir to a different hospital would have prevented his death, which was due to severe complications (pneumonia, septicemia) from chicken pox. The employer’s duty under Article 161 was satisfied under the circumstances.