The General Inspectorate of Health Activities (IGAS) has concluded that in the case of the death of twins at 27 weeks of pregnancy at the Amadora-Sintra Hospital on Christmas Day 2023, “it is not possible to state that other actions than those adopted could have dictated a different outcome” because, due to the “refusal of an autopsy”, “the cause of the death of the fetuses” is unknown. And it states that “given the circumstances – maternal and intrauterine – all the correct and appropriate procedures were adopted”. The mother, Cassilda, 32, accused the hospital of “negligence” but refused an autopsy because of the delay and the suffering it would cause.
IGAS, however, acknowledges “failures” in “referral for high-risk consultation” and “lack of timely communication of diagnostic withdrawal” since it was only after the death that the mother received a call from Santa Cruz Hospital for a fetal echocardiogram.