A punch-up at Portimão’s Barlavento Hospital has been taken up by MPs who have asked the Ministry of Health for some clarification.
The fight broke out between two nurses and a Spanish doctor who was accused by the nurses of refusing to help save an elderly woman, who died.
The well-regarded Spanish doctor who has worked in the Algarve for a decade has been suspended and the case initially is under investigation by the Hospital administration and its regional management.
The nurses working in the hospital's emergency admissions department allege that doctor's refusal to help the victim, because he was ‘too busy,’ led to the heated argument. The fight rolled on and the police had to be called to calm things down.
The nurses say that they asked the doctor to help them revive a woman in her mid-80s who had been admitted for dyspenia, fever and vomiting blood and had gone into cardiac arrest, but they allege that they were told by the doctor that he was "too busy" as he was prescribing medication for another patient.
Another doctor was called to the emergency department and attempted to resuscitate the woman but she did not respond to treatment and died.
The Spanish Doctor's report into the events surrounding the death of the patient differs substantially and included a clear time-line in a report describing the nurses being the ones standing by and later resorting to abusive, racist behaviour and bad language culmintaing in an attack on the Doctor after the patient had died.
The case has been followed up by MPs Cecília Honório and João Semedo who asked for some clarification from the Ministry of Health.
"At the heart of this situation was the fact that the doctor in question allegedly refused to cooperate in the life support attempts by the nurses," reads the document sent to the Ministry of Health by the MPs.
The MPs had not had the benefit of reading the account from the Doctor (which this news service has) and which places the blame for the argument on the nurses with the Doctor following correct procedures and medical protocols throughout.
The communication office of the Algarve Hospitals Group which manages the Portimão and Faro hospitals said there already is an ongoing internal investigation into the case and it is receipt of the Doctor's report into the patient's care before and at her death and into the behaviour of the nurses on duty.
Until the conclusion of the investigation, the doctor in question has been removed from the emergency department, added the same source. It is not know if the nurses also have been removed from front line duty but an early resolution of the case is expected.
Comments
The 85 years´ old lady had been discharged a few days before with a fever of 38º C and stool-like vomits. The clinical figure persisted after the discharge. When re-admitted, at assessment she presented a critical low oxygenation with Oxygen. Anyhow, she was moved to the dark Observation room, a ten minutes later, the physician, who was attending another patient with same severity score than the lady, was called, this asking to activate any of the two other colleagues on duty standing on the room next to the patient´s, the nurse not providing an answer to the request. A maximum delay of 5 minutes took place before the doctor was on the room after securing his patient. None of his colleagues had been called, and nurses were resuscitating the lady. He assessed the lady´s condition and concluded there was no chance for the woman to live, indications being given to nurses not to continue the procedure.