The Ecuadorian plastic surgeon Bolívar Guerrero Silva, 63, was arrested yesterday by the Civil Police of Rio on the charge of keeping a patient in private prison inside a private hospital in Duque de Caxias, in Baixada Fluminense. The victim says she was being held against her will at the site for the past two months, which is denied by the doctor and Hospital Santa Branca.
According to the patient’s family, she underwent an abdominoplasty (a plastic surgery on the abdomen) in March with the surgeon. A few days after the surgery, in pain, the woman went back to the doctor. Since then, she would have been subjected to several other procedures.
After the complaint, the police asked the clinic for the patient’s medical records and was not answered. Last Friday, police officers were at the hospital and faced difficulties in gaining access to the patient. When they managed to see her, they saw the poor health conditions of the 35-year-old woman.
“She reported difficulties, that she was not able to leave the hospital. Because of this, we represent in the Judiciary Duty for her transfer, temporary arrest of the author and suspension of the CRM (registration of the medical professional that gives legality to the performance)”, said, in an interview with Rede Globo, delegate Fernanda Fernandes. The police officer stated that the patient’s belly would be necrotic.
Last Saturday, Justice decreed the arrest of the doctor and the temporary suspension of his professional registration. It also issued warrants for the coercive conduct of four hospital employees, in addition to search and seizure warrants for documents, such as medical records and a list of medications used in the treatment.
REACTION
In a statement, Hospital Santa Branca denied the accusations of false imprisonment. “We repudiate any criminal practices that have been wrongly attributed to us! Such an accusation is absurd!” The note also clarifies that the doctor would not be a partner of the hospital, as the police informed, and that he personally paid for the patient’s expenses.
Louisiana dos Santos Juliasse de Barros, who defends the doctor, told the Estadão I wouldn’t give interviews. Bolívar Guerrrero Silva has already been arrested five other times, according to preliminary information that the police have not clarified.
On the doctor’s Facebook page, women warn of the risk of undergoing plastic surgery with him. In another social network, employees tried to get support for the doctor, with reports of successful procedures.
The professional testified on Monday afternoon. To the police, he denied that he was keeping the woman in false imprisonment. According to him, medical discharge was not recommended in her case and could only be done in absentia, that is, when the patient signs a liability waiver, which the patient would not have done. By late afternoon, she hadn’t been transferred.
COMPLAINTS
Yesterday afternoon, at least four women came to Dean to file a medical complaint.
The Regional Council of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro (Cremerj) released a short note yesterday afternoon about the case: “Having heard about the case from the press, Cremerj opened an investigation to investigate the facts. Every procedure follows in secrecy in accordance with the rites of the Code of Ethical-Professional Process”.
Other Police Investigations
Plastic surgeon Bolívar Guerrero Silva was suspended from practicing medicine in December last year. The punishment was granted by the Regional Council of Medicine of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Cremerj), for having understood that the professional violated a series of articles of the Code of Medical Ethics.
The notification was published on December 21, 2021 and suspended Silva from practicing the profession until the 19th of the following month. According to Cremerj, he violated five articles of the code of ethics approved by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM).
Another justification given by Cremerj for the suspension was the violation of article 69, which prohibits “practicing Medicine and Pharmacy simultaneously” or “taking advantage by referring procedures, by marketing medicines, orthoses, prostheses or implants of any nature”.
Despite the infractions, the profile of Bolívar Guerrero Silva appeared with “regular” status on the website of the Federal Council of Medicine this Monday. According to the register, he would have started to practice the profession in Brazil in 1996.
In 2010, Bolívar and eight other doctors were arrested in the operation Beleza Pura, by the Civil Police of Rio, after a complaint made by the State Public Ministry for “falsifying, corrupting, tampering with or altering a product intended for medicinal purposes”. In the process, the group also responded for “criminal association” and “crimes against consumer relations”.
At the time, the group was responsible for marketing pirated medicines without registration with the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa). Among the seized products, large amounts of botulinum toxin (Botox), hydrostatic magnesium gluconate (Carboxy), polymethylmethacrylate and hyaluronic acid were found.
DEFENSE
In a video, an employee declared herself to be responsible for managing the professional’s online channels and begged all the “bolivetes” to publish positive reports about him.
“It’s a lot of evil, badness. These women are used to earning money behind his back”, says an excerpt. “I ask everyone to help and don’t let one more detonate our dear Boliva,” she wrote. The report was unable to contact the defense.
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