Case comes at a time when concerns over the quality of maternity care in Portugal are growing
A premature baby born inside an ambulance on the way to Leiria Hospital died shortly after arrival on Thursday morning (July 10).
The baby was delivered by emergency teams just 10 minutes from the hospital, after the 26-weeks pregnant mother went into labour in Valado dos Frades, in the municipality of Nazaré.
Emergency services were alerted around 8.30am when the mother called 112 reporting bleeding and contractions, according to Expresso newspaper. Paramedics from the local fire brigade from Alcobaça responded immediately. Due to the high-risk nature of the case, an advanced medical vehicle (VMER) from Coimbra was dispatched at 8.56am aiming to meet the ambulance en route.
At 9.10am, the baby was born inside the ambulance with the help of an Immediate Life Support (Suporte Imediatoi de Vida). However, the newborn’s condition deteriorated rapidly. By 9.53am, doctors at Leiria Hospital confirmed the baby’s death.
Dr. Catarina Faria, director of Leiria Hospital, has stressed that emergency protocols were followed correctly. “Everything went the way it was supposed to,” the doctor said, saying that there was “excellent articulation” between hospital and emergency services.
Faria explained that the mother was already being monitored as a high-risk patient by the hospital, and that medical teams acted swiftly, from the first emergency call to the final hospital handoff.
“This was a fragile situation,” said the hospital director, adding that even in a specialised unit, the outcome could have been the same.
In response to public interest and media coverage, Leiria Hospital has asked for sensitivity toward the affected family. As the director said, complications involving extreme prematurity are not uncommon in obstetric care.
However, the timing of the case is what is attracting more attention. According to the National Federation of Doctors (FNAM), 36 babies have been born in ambulances so far this year – a figure the union says is anything but “normal.”
In just the past week, two other pregnant women from the Setúbal region lost their babies, raising questions about delays and patient routing across the national health system. One of pregnant women was directed towards Cascais Hospital, while the other visited five hospitals before losing her baby.
