Family, patients mourn slain doctor

By Cara McCoy

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009 | 12:06 a.m.

A gaping hole exists in the Las Vegas Filipino community where Dr. Edna Almaden Makabenta used to be.

The rawness of the wounds her death left behind were evident Wednesday night as hundreds gathered in the parking lot of her Charleston Boulevard medical practice to light candles and say prayers for the beloved physician, who died Monday at the hands of a patient.

Makabenta, 49, was shot and killed in her office at 2215 W. Charleston Blvd. at about 9:26 a.m. Monday by 80-year-old Eliseo Santos. After shooting the doctor, Santos turned the .45-caliber gun on himself. He died from his injuries a short time later at University Medical Center.

The unexpected and violent nature of Makabenta’s death left her family, friends and patients reeling. Most upsetting for many of the Filipinos at Wednesday’s vigil was that the killing was by one of their own.

“No one understands it. How could someone from our own culture, our own ethnicity, do such a thing to their own kind? No one understands it,” said Dennis Mallory, a friend of Makabenta’s oldest son, Mike. “I think he was just depressed about his condition and wanted to blame it on somebody else.”

Santos, who was suffering from prostate cancer, filed a complaint with the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners earlier this month against Makabenta and eight other physicians. The board closed its investigation after Santos’ death.

Authorities are still investigating his motive.

“It’s a Filipino community around here and we’ve all come to pay our respects,” said Jeffrey Balaoro, a medical assistant at the practice of Dr. Benito D. Calderon just down the street. “It’s shocking that another Filipino actually did it. I’m shocked that this actually happened -- I’m still speechless.”

Balaoro heard the police sirens racing by Monday in response to the shooting. While he didn’t know Makabenta personally, he said he had applied for a job at her practice when he was fresh out of school. Patients of Calderon frequently were referred to her, he said.

Makabenta will be missed in the area’s close-knit community.

“You never see her get tired, you never see her get mad -- she’s always smiling, whether she works all day, nine to five, and regardless of how many appointments,” said Ramon Rosales III, who attended the vigil with his wife and 4-year-old son, Jerico. Makabenta was in their wedding, he said, and was a close family friend for 15 years.

“I don’t think any doctor will be able to replace the kind of doctor she is,” he said.

Fil Malinao, 20, Makabenta’s nephew and a nursing student at UNLV, said his aunt inspired him to pursue a career in the medical profession.

“The Filipinos, they’ve taken this very deeply and it hurts. No matter what you say, it’s going to hurt. We’re all here together to give their family support and to give each other support,” he said. “But it’s not just the Filipino community -- her patients are here, too. She had a very strong impact all over the community.”

Amidst the flickering candle flames, the dozens of flowers and the tears, those touched by Makabenta expressed their grief over losing her.

Arlen Prescott, who had been a patient for about 10 years, said Makabenta was more than his doctor. He said his family and Makabenta’s had become close in the time they knew each other.

Prescott, his wife and their children traveled from their home at the 215 Beltway and Jones Boulevard -- more than 12 miles -- for their appointments.

“She’s the best doctor I’ve ever known … I know her whole family, all of her kids. She was a beautiful person, inside and out,” he said. “I just can’t understand why someone would decide to do that to somebody else who was only trying to help. There was no justification, in my mind, for anything like this.”

Krishella Gaines, a 20-year-old UNLV student from North Las Vegas, said she had been a patient of Makabenta’s since childhood. Her mother and two sisters also were patients.

“She always made our doctors appointments fun. There was never a scary moment. We laughed; she talked about her children -- she was very friendly and a very easy person to talk to,” Gaines said. “Of all the people in the world, she didn’t deserve that. She had a very sweet spirit and was a very caring doctor.”

Makabenta moved with her family to the United States from the Philippines in 1987. She was a resident at UMC for many years before opening her private practice just blocks away. Her husband, Paul, an engineer, spends much of his time running a family business in the Philippines, family members said. He was in the Philippines when his wife was killed.

He returned to Las Vegas for Wednesday’s vigil and stood with his children, Josh, 20, Mike, 23, and Frannie, 21.

“He took it really hard -- we all took it really hard, but we’re trying to be strong,” Mike Makabenta said.

With plans to return to college in the fall, Mike Makabenta recently moved back into his parents’ Las Vegas home after spending several years in the Air Force. In the months before the fall semester started, he was planning to work in his mother’s clinic, he said.

“I was supposed to start work at noon on Monday. I walked my mother to the car at 9 a.m., thinking I would see her in just a few hours. At 10 a.m., I got the call and found out I had lost her,” he said.

With his sister attending college in Berkeley, Calif., his brother in the Navy and his dad back-and-forth to the Philippines, “It’s going to be really lonely in the house without her,” he said.

His mother had been planning to retire so she could spend more time with her family, he said.

“She never took a day off for herself, and she dedicated her life to her patients,” he said. “It’s really unfortunate that something like this had to happen. I’m thankful for the time that God blessed us with her, and that all these people came out to support us tonight.”

His brother, Josh, still shaken by the week’s events, said he found comfort in the outpouring of support.

“All these people came here for her. She was more than just a doctor to them,” he said. “She was always so selfless -- always thinking about somebody else, always going out of her way for us. The whole world lost a saint.”