The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) accused four gynecology/obstetrics doctors at the Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho of grossly negligent homicide of a newborn, on September 12, 2019, it was announced this Wednesday. market.
In a note published on its website, the Porto Regional Attorney General’s Office (PGRP) said that “the defendants, all from the specialty of genecology/obstetrics at the Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, made up the shift medical teams, when they were working in the emergency service, monitoring the labor of a woman in labor”, between 08:09 and 09:11 (time of birth), on September 12, 2019.
“Rather than determining the performing a cesarean section in good timedecided to continue with the initial idea of vaginal delivery when such an option proved inadequate in view of the data that had been provided by the CTG and to insist on carrying out maneuvers to reposition the parturient, significantly increasing the possibility of an unfavorable outcome for the fetus,” said the PGRP.
According to the MP, “as a result of such practices, and despite the resuscitation maneuvers to which he was subjected, the newborn ended up dying” at 1:45 pm that day “due to hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy”.
“What could have been avoided or at least the potential risk of this happening would be significantly reduced, if the two teams of doctors who accompanied the labor had behaved differently”, concluded the investigation.
The MP considered “that the defendants acted with a lack of the duty of care that was required of them and due to the diagnostic errors committed, they did not identify during labor the critical period in which their obstetric medical intervention could have prevented the death of the newborn. -born, acting contrary to the “leges artis” [boas práticas clínicas] “.
The defendants are accused of committing a crime of negligent homicidein rough form.
The indictment, handed down on December 21, 2022, is from the Public Ministry in the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Porto (Gaia, 2nd section).
On September 24, 2019, in a reply sent to the agency Portuguesethe Attorney General’s Office (PGR) indicated that it had launched an inquiry into the death of a newborn at the Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, which took place on 12 September.
The hospital unit, located in Gaia, in the Porto district, also said, on that occasion, that it had opened a internal process for investigating events.
On September 12, 2019, the baby in question died five hours after birth in the Maternal and Child Care Unit of this health unit.
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