Os doctorswhich were not present at the reading of the sentence at his requestthey were accused dthe commission of a crime of negligent homicidein coarse form.
The four doctors of gynecology/obstetrics accused of negligent homicide of a newborn at the Local Health Unit (ULS) of Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho in 2019 were acquitted.
“If there is any doubt, there is no alternative for the court to acquit the defendants”, said the judge during the reading of the sentence at the Court of Vila Nova de Gaia, in the district of Porto.
The trial began on December 17, 2025 with the exclusion of publicity, that is, behind closed doors.
Os doctorswhich were not present at the reading of the sentence at his requestthey were accused dthe commission of a crime of negligent homicidein coarse form.
According to the complaint, on December 12, 2019, gynecology/obstetrics doctors were part of the on-call teams and, therefore, were on duty in the emergency room when they monitored a woman’s birth between 8:09 am and 9:11 am (time of the baby’s birth).
O baby died five hours after birth in the Maternal and Child Care Unit, he said.
A indictment stressed that the doctorsinstead of determine a performing a cesarean section in a timely manner, decided proceed with the initial idea of vaginal birthdespite this option turns out to be inappropriate given the data provided by the CTG (cardiotocography) and insist in carrying out maneuvers to reposition the parturient.
As a result of such practices, and despite the resuscitation maneuvers to which he was subjected, the newborn ended up dying at 1:45 pm that day due to a encephalopathy hypoxic-ischemic (brain injury caused by lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain), he added.
“The defendants acted in breach of the duty of care required of them and, due to the diagnostic errors made, did not identify, throughout labor, the critical period in which their obstetric medical intervention could have prevented the death of the newborn, acting contrary to the ‘leges artis’ [boas práticas clínicas]”, he pointed out.
The judge insisted that It has not been proven that the defendants acted freely e consciously.
Furthermore, the judge highlighted that it was not possible to prove the “real cause” of the newborn’s death and that the man’s parents did not authorize medical examinations to clarify the “effective cause” of death.
“It is not possible to establish a causal link between obstetric conduct and the death of the newborn”, he considered.
Saying that the doctors did not violate the `leges artis’, the judge stressed that the death would not be predictable, nor probable.
