Firefighters accuse hospital of making it difficult to care for pregnant women by closing emergency obstetric unit in Caldas da Rainha

A woman bleeding after a miscarriage was refused care at the Caldas da Rainha hospital on Monday, where the emergency department was closed and she was only treated after the insistence of the Patient Emergency Centre (CODU) and firefighters, the corporation’s chief executive said.

Speaking to Lusa, Caldas da Rainha Fire Chief Nelson Cruz explained that at 7:21 a.m., a corporate ambulance was called from the Patient Emergency Care Center (CODU) to help a 32-year-old woman who was in the front of the emergency room of the Caldas da Rainha Hospital in the district of Leiria, inside a car.

“The woman had a miscarriage, the fetus was in her bag, and she was bleeding heavily in a private car,” the person in charge said.

Upon arrival, firefighters relayed information about the woman’s condition to CODU and told the husband to go and seek help at the hospital, although the man had already done so by the time they arrived.

Nelson Cruz also reported that “CODU gave them the opportunity to go to the Bissaia Barreto maternity hospital in Coimbra, but a colleague warned that the woman was bleeding so heavily that it would not be easy for them to get there. […] safely, without any special support, because it is 130 kilometers, more than an hour’s journey.”

“If we come across a person who has just had an abortion and is bleeding profusely, naturally we cannot stop the internal bleeding in the ambulance and this victim, losing blood in this way in a short period of time, puts his life in danger. Reason,” he emphasized.

At the insistence of CODU firefighters and hospital management, more than half an hour later the woman was examined by a doctor.

The case was reported this afternoon by TVI, which reported that “the woman arrived at the emergency room with the fetus already dead and bleeding, but was forced to call 112 to ask for help.”

“Only after the firefighters arrived and half an hour of contact did the hospital agree to provide assistance,” TVI reported.

In a statement, the Western Local Health Unit (ULS) confirmed that the emergency gynaecology and obstetrics department in Caldas da Rainha was “not operational” but denied that the hospital department had refused to treat the user.

“We have records that the patient was admitted to the hospital just at 8:04 a.m. today and was immediately admitted. At no time was she refused admission and we have no records of multiple admission requests,” he said.

Confronted with this clarification, the head of the Caldas da Rainha fire department accused ULS Oeste of “missing the truth,” saying that “if the emergency room was closed, then there is no record of patients being hospitalized.”

The National Institute of Emergency Medicine (INEM) told Lusa that CODU received the call at 07:17 and activated the ambulance at 07:21, having received data from the rescue vehicle crew at 07:33.

Given the restrictions related to the provision of emergency gynecological and obstetric care in Caldas da Rainha, “CODU contacted the same hospital so that the patient could be hospitalized, examined and determined if there were conditions for transport to Coimbra,” and the woman was followed by an obstetrician, INEM said.

Also according to INEM, CODU informed the fire department of the decision at 07:50, receiving a new contact from the fire department at 08:27 stating that the user had been cleared.