‘Slapped’ student died of brain swelling, but expert says abuse may be ruled out as cause of death

MANILA, Philippines — A Grade 5 student who was slapped by his teacher died from the swelling of his brain, according to his death certificate, but a forensic expert says an autopsy is still needed to confirm if the teacher’s slap caused the brain condition.

Released Wednesday by the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, the death certificate of 14-year-old Francis Jay Gumikib shows he died of global brain edema, according to a News5 Frontline Pilipinas report.

The death certificate also stated that “suspected presumptive pulmonary tuberculosis” and “child physical abuse” were significant contributing conditions to Gumikib’s demise.

But further review is still needed to determine if the teacher’s slap led to the student’s death as his symptoms are also “consistent with infection from inflammation of the brain,” forensic expert Raquel Fortun said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

Fortun pointed out that the death certificate did not contain an important detail — the actual cause of the brain hemorrhage under "underlying cause of death.”

The "manner of death" section was also left blank, which usually implies a natural or disease-related cause, Fortun explained.

Even the CT scan conducted during the student’s hospitalization that showed images of a brain hemmorhage should also be reviewed, Fortun said. 

"How can you tell that was hemorrhage? We should conduct an autopsy because in an autopsy, you get a three-dimensional examination. It's not just imaging," Fortun said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Given that the student experienced ear pain, Fortun said that meningoencephalitis — a rare and life-threatening condition where one has meningitis and encephalitis at the same time — remains a possibility. 

“What struck me is, initially, there was ear pain. It's speculative, but it's common for ear infections to spread to the brain,” the forensic expert said.

With the death certificate also pointing to “presumptive pulmonary tuberculosis,” Fortun said that this could also mean that the child may have had tuberculous meningoencephalitis. 

“How did they consider TB? What did the X-ray show?” Fortun said. 

“There are many questions,” Fortun added.

Gumikib’s