Portugal’s health inspectorate, the Inspeção-Geral das Atividades em Saúde (IGAS), is set to open an inquiry into the death of an elderly man who died in the early hours of Wednesday, 4 November, while waiting to be seen in the A&E department at Portimão Hospital.
The news was first reported by SIC news station, which has reported that the man’s family intends to “file a criminal complaint against the hospital”.
According to the broadcaster, the 87-year-old waited around 12 hours for his first medical assessment. He had been triaged with a yellow wristband, the category for urgent cases. Staff found him already unconscious in the waiting room, SIC reported.
The man had arrived complaining of abdominal pain and vomiting.
However, the head of the local health unit that runs Portimão Hospital has rejected these reports that the pensioner died in the A&E waiting room, saying he was found unconscious when his name was called and died in the resuscitation room.
Speaking to journalists, Tiago Botelho, chairman of the board of ULS Algarve, said the unit’s own data suggest the patient waited “about 10 hours” to be seen by a doctor after turning up at around 5pm on Tuesday. He was called at about 4am on Wednesday and, when he did not respond, nurses found him “unconscious in the waiting room”.
“The patient did not die in the waiting room. He died in the resuscitation room,” Botelho said, adding that staff carried out resuscitation attempts without success.
“He was a patient who presented with vomiting and abdominal pain, and that is why he was triaged yellow,” Botelho said, stressing that those symptoms “did not allow the fatal outcome to be anticipated”.
He said the man had other health problems, including a stroke some time ago and other chronic conditions, but insisted his complaints “were not consistent with a high degree of severity”.
Botelho also confirmed that the patient was not accompanied by relatives, but said he was in a room constantly used by health staff and other patients. “He was not out of sight of our professionals. Other patients were present, too,” he said.
The health unit will now look into the circumstances and establish any responsibilities. The case comes amidst pressure on hospital A&E services, particularly at peak times, and will be examined by both the health inspectorate and the hospital’s own management.
Asked about waiting times that day, Botelho acknowledged that demand had been higher than usual. Portimão normally sees about 120 to 130 attendances a day, he said, but on Tuesday there were around 200. He added that the hospital has been seeing “somewhat greater demand, unexpectedly”.
He cautioned against drawing a direct link with this case: “I don’t want to state it definitively, but it may have contributed to a longer wait in A&E.”
Source: SIC / LUSA
Photo credit: Miguel Manso
