The Brazilian police of Minas Gerais have opened an investigation to shed light on the death of a newborn during childbirth at the hospital in the Santa Efigênia neighborhood in Belo Horizonte. The death of the little one dates back to last May 1st.
According to Brazilian media reports, the mother, 34-year-old Ranielly Coelho Santos, was hospitalized at the end of April for hypertension. After being discharged, she returned to the clinic on April 28 claiming that her symptoms had not improved at all. Further checks revealed that the fetus was suffering from a lung malformation, a circumstance that convinced the doctors to induce a premature birth with the hope that subsequent therapies could save the life of the unborn child.
After having anesthetized the woman, a team of doctors – apparently also made up of some residents – would have carried out the operation, which the father would also have witnessed from a window. Everything seemed to be going well when, due to circumstances that have not been fully clarified, a doctor allegedly decapitated the newborn just out of the mother’s womb. According to the family’s lawyer, a doctor even apologized for what happened, stating that it was an “accident”.
An investigation has been opened into the incredible incident. An autopsy and investigations conducted by the Brazilian police will determine what happened.