The doctor revealed on SIC Notícias that he had performed a liver transplant on an illegal immigrant, for more than two decades. Despite being alerted by the team that the patient “did not exist”, Eduardo Barroso decided to go ahead with the surgery that saved the young man’s life.
Eduardo Barrososurgeon, shared what he says is “the biggest illegality” of his professional life. On SIC Notícias, this Saturday, during a debate on health, he told the story, which is more than 20 years old.
According to the doctor, everything happened when he was service director at a hospital in Lisbon. “A black patient appeared in a liver coma. If he didn’t have a transplant in the next few hours, he would die. Fortunately, we had a liver to transplant him”, he began.
Minutes before entering the operating room, someone from the team, whom Eduardo Barroso did not want to identify, warned him: “Mr. Professor, this patient does not exist. He is an illegal immigrant, not even the embassy is aware of his existence.”
The patient would not have the right to be transplanted, he revealed, adding the answer he gave:
“Do you know what I said to that person? ‘Look, this conversation didn’t happen for another 15 minutes’. And I had the surgery.”
The transplant was performed and the young man, “a 20-year-old boy”, survived. Eduardo Barroso had been asked about the frequency with which illegal immigrants are treated in the National Health Service.
At the end, he also said that he would like someone to ask the candidates for the Presidency of the Republic what they would have done in their position. The challenge remains.
