ERS launches investigation into case of bleeding in pregnant woman with fetus in bag at Caldas da Rainha hospital

The Health Regulatory Authority (ERS) has launched an investigation into the care provided at Caldas da Rainha Hospital to a woman suffering from bleeding and having suffered a miscarriage, it was announced on Tuesday.

“The Healthcare Regulatory Authority (ERS), as part of its responsibilities, has initiated an assessment process in this matter,” the ERS said in a statement.

The statement said the ERS would “cooperate in the investigation of this matter” with the Inspectorate General for Medical Activities (IGAS).

Also in its statement, IGAS confirmed that it had begun “a process of investigation into the facts related to the care provided to a pregnant woman on the morning of August 5, 2024, at the Caldas da Rainha Hospital Unit, integrated into the local health department.” [ULS] “West”.

When questioned by the Lusa agency, the management of ULS Oeste “did not confirm the opening of an internal investigation.”

In statements, ERS and IGAS recall that in June 2022, IGAS investigated the circumstances surrounding the care provided to a pregnant woman in labor in the Caldas da Rainha Emergency Department.

Five recommendations were submitted, four to the then Centro Hospitalar do Oeste and one to the Regional Health Authority of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, with the process ending in May 2023 after “proof (of) acceptance of the four recommendations” by the hospital administration.

A woman bleeding from a miscarriage was refused treatment at Caldas da Rainha Hospital on Monday, where the emergency room was closed and she was only treated after insistence from CODU and firefighters, the corporation’s commander said.

Speaking to Lusa, Caldas da Rainha Fire Chief Nelson Cruz explained that at 7:21 a.m., an ambulance was called from the Patient Emergency Care Center (CODU) to help a 32-year-old woman who was in front of the emergency room of the Caldas da Rainha Hospital in the Leiria district, inside a car. “The woman had suffered a miscarriage, she had the fetus in her bag, and she was bleeding heavily in a private car,” said the person in charge.

Upon arrival, the firefighters relayed the woman’s condition to CODU and told her husband to go and ask for help at the hospital, although the man had already done so when they arrived. Nelson Cruz also reported that “CODU gave them the option of going to the Bissaia Barreto Maternity Hospital in Coimbra, but a colleague warned them that the woman was bleeding so badly that it would be difficult 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.

In a statement, ULS Oeste confirmed that the emergency gynaecology and obstetrics department in Caldas da Rainha was “not operational”, but denied that the hospital department refused to treat the user.

“We have records that the patient was admitted to the hospital only at 8:04 a.m. on Tuesday and was immediately admitted. She was never 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.”