Daughter of patient who fell in UPA in DF: “I remember his last breath”

The memory of Dona Cidalva Prates Guedes’ last breath (featured photo), 53 years old, patient who died after suffering a fall in the Emergency Care Unit (UPA) of Ceilândia, in 2023, still distresses the family. For sons, daughters, grandchildren and granddaughters, the conviction, in the first instance, of the Federal District and the Institute of Strategic Health Management (Iges-DF), for negligence and delay in providing assistance was a relief.

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“It’s very difficult to remember your mother’s last breath. Her mother was holding the stretcher, feeling pain, and they were saying it was just a cut on her scalp”, recalled self-employed Ana Carolina Guedes Araújo, 24 years old, Cidalva’s daughter. “Today is not a happy day, but at least justice is being done,” she commented.

The family awaits the conclusion of the process so they can move forward, especially Ana Carolina. The young woman accompanied her mother to the UPA. The relatives are aware that the legal process is not over yet, as there is the possibility of an appeal from Iges-DF and the State, but they are confident. “God’s justice may delay, but it does not fail. And it is God who commands everything on Earth”, she concluded.

Victim blame

The family classified the stance of Iges-DF and the State as “disgusting”. “They said they would appeal because it would be solely my mother’s fault. It was proven that my mother was not to blame for her death.”

Carolina said that Iges-DF and GDF never got in touch to show solidarity or offer support. “We hope that justice is done, that the guilty are held accountable, so that another family does not suffer what we are suffering”, she concluded.

Conviction

In the ruling, published on Sunday (24/3), the judge who analyzed the case declared that, after considering the context that led to Cidalva’s death, “the negligence in the medical care provided” to the patient was sufficiently demonstrated.

With the decision, the Federal District and Iges-DF were ordered to pay R$50,000 to the three relatives of the victim who filed a lawsuit in court, as moral damages, and to compensate them with R$6,587.59 for damages. materials, in addition to returning to the family the value of the victim’s individual tomb in the cemetery.

Tragedy

On February 24, Cidalva was not feeling well and left her home, in Ceilândia, to go to one of the Basic Health Units (UBS) in Samambaia. There, she was diagnosed with dengue. However, she was not hospitalized and was advised to continue treatment at home.

The condition did not improve, she began to complain of abdominal pain, in addition to having nosebleeds. On March 3, Cidalva’s family took her to the Ceilândia UPA, where she was admitted and her relatives were advised to return home. When they arrived home, they learned that the victim had fainted.

The patient was allowed to return home, after undergoing tests and being prescribed painkillers. In the early hours of the morning, Cidalva felt the pain in her abdomen worsen, she was taken to the UPA again and admitted once again, however, in the green wing and also without the right to a companion.

After being hospitalized until March 9, with a diagnosis of dengue hemorrhagic liver fever, according to the family, Cidalva’s daughter went to the UPA and was informed that she had “jumped out of the window”, at a height of 2 meters. The reason given by the health unit team would be an “outbreak” or “delirium”.

The initial information was that the patient had suffered a “small cut on the head” and would need to undergo a CT scan. She was taken to the Base Hospital around 2am on March 10, when the family learned that the condition was very serious and that she would be intubated. After four days in hospital, the patient died.

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In a note, Iges-DF informed that it respects the Court’s decision, but “completely” disagrees with the sentence, as the police investigation, “so far, has not indicated any responsibility on the part of the institute’s collaborators”, nor a criminal complaint, which demonstrated “the absence of a causal link between the patient’s conduct when taking the risk of evasion, the medical procedures adopted in the specific case and her death”.

“The evidence from the civil and criminal proceedings demonstrates that the conduct and care practiced by Iges-DF employees were correct and in strict compliance with the service protocols. Therefore, the institute will file an appeal, believing that the second instance will re-examine the documentary evidence and exclude liability”, added the note.

Lawyer for Cidalva’s family, Guilherme Augusto praised the sentence and considered that the judge analyzed the context that led to the victim’s death. However, the amounts set for compensation were low, according to the defense.

“We understand that the sentence was fair within the judge’s view. [No entanto,] the entire body of evidence, everything that happened, and due to the numerous medical negligence in this case, we consider [a indenização] low, as we do not think that this amount is capable of penalizing the defendant, both Iges-DF and the Federal District, and is not capable of compensating for the damages suffered by the family”, said the lawyer to the report, who also intends to appeal of the decision.

Powered by Metropolises, the GDF did not send a position on the topic. The space remains open for possible demonstrations.