Surgeons represent half Amadora-Sintra’s surgical team
Nine doctors from the general surgery service at Hospital Doutor Fernando Fonseca (better known as Amadora-Sintra) have resigned, the hospital’s board of directors has today confirmed.
At issue is the reinstatement of two doctors – Vítor Nunes and António Pedro Gomes – who two years ago denounced bad clinical practices in the general surgery service.
The headlines that followed at the time were hair-raising.
But an investigation by experts from the Portuguese Medical Association concluded that there had been no clinical malpractice per se, just “bad decisions” and a “bad surgical option”, in one incident.
In the end, the two ‘whistleblowing doctors’ were suspended for a period of three months going on subsequently to serve a service commission at Vila Franca de Xira Hospital.
Now that the Local Health Unit of Amadora/Sintra, E.P.E. has confirmed the return of the two health professionals, nine of the 18 surgeons on the team have resigned in protest.
According to a source familiar with the process, if these resignations become effective (at the moment they have simply been ‘announced’) “the service will lose its training status and interns will be transferred to other hospitals”.
According to the source, there are 13 interns in this surgical specialty.
The source has also told Diário de Notícias that there are “hiring processes underway” – whether these are in response to the letters of resignation, however, is unclear.
For the time being, faced with this possible ‘walk out’ by so many specialists, the board of directors has said “it is monitoring this situation closely with the General Surgery Department, in order to ensure the best solution, to safeguard the interests of the institution and users” (users being patients).
A source close to the two doctors due to return has said they are both waiting for “events to unfold”.
DN has also contacted the Ministry of Health to find out if it is aware of the situation/ what measures are underway to respond, but the paper “did not receive a response in time” for publishing deadlines.
For readers who may have forgotten, or even missed, this story in 2022, the allegations made by the two surgeons were chilling. They referred to the treatment given to upwards of 20 patients, some of whom died, others who were allegedly left “mutilated”.
A very similar story happened a little time afterwards in the Algarve. An intern blew the whistle on one particular surgeon, who was later suspended. But the treatment of that young intern was not stellar: she suffered enormously as a result of her sense of commitment to the Hippocratic Oath. ND
Source material: LUSA
