Death of Pinay nanny after surgery puzzles community

By Alex P. Vidal

HASBROUCK HEIGHT, New Jersey -- The "sudden" death of Filipino nanny Salvadora "Dorie" Losabia Roxas after a surgery at the University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey on June 28, has puzzled the Filipino communities in New Jersey and New York.
Friends brought Roxas, 62, to the hospital on June 26 for treatment of uterine prolapse.

After a robotic surgery on June 27, she complained of severe pain in the stomach, said Nora Arcilla, a friend who took care of Roxas in the hospital.
Uterine prolapse occurs when the womb (uterus) drops down and presses into the vaginal area, it was learned.
Another surgery was reportedly performed on June 28 allegedly "to remove an embedded needle left behind inside Roxas' stomach."
Hospital authorities could not be reached to confirm this report.

SOURCE

The embedded needle could be the source of Roxas' pain, surmised Arcilla and Roxas' other friends, Alma Santander and Ernesto Uy, who visited her after the first surgery.
"After the first surgery, Dorie was complaining of severe pain while holding her stomach. We were so affected and couldn't do anything to help her so we asked to leave the hospital," Santander recalled.

Arcilla said Roxas' stomach had been bloated and she couldn't urinate. Doctors reportedly gave her pain reliever.
Arcilla said doctors assured her "everything would be fine" after the second surgery where the alleged embedded needle had been reportedly located and removed.
But at around three o'clock in the afternoon on June 29, Roxas was dead, said Arcilla of Virac, Catanduanes.
Roxas had been unconscious since 11 o'clock in the morning on that day, she added.
Arcilla learned that Roxas' intestines had been ruptured. Doctors could not confirm the report pending autopsy results.

SHOCK

"She was still okay when we left," sobbed Uy of Tacloban City. "I was shocked to learn of her sudden death."
Results of autopsy conducted by the hospital on June 30 will be known after 45 days, said Trinidad Oliquino, Roxas' niece.
Oliquino said Roxas' former employer was planning to file a lawsuit. She did not elaborate.
On July 6, Roxas' relatives, friends and former employers held a wake at the Hennessey Heights Funeral Homes and Cremation Service here, where her body was displayed in an open casket.
Roxas, a widow who arrived in the United States in 2007, was a member of Iglesia Ni Kristo, a religious church in the Philippines.
Roxas' body was preserved and would be sent to her family in Guinobatan, Albay via Tandang Sora, Quezon City on July 9 via Philippine Airlines.
Friends and former employers chipped in for the $10,000 freight expenses. They also set aside funds for Roxas' children, Lorelie Aguilar, Bernie Roxas, Marlon Roxas, and two grandchildren, who are all in Bicol.