The Ibiza Civil Guard investigates the participation of a doctor in a birth in a private home on the island that ended with the newborn admitted to the ICU of the Son Espases hospital in Palma after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest. The doctor could not practice because in May he was suspended from membership for violating the code of ethics of the Official College of Physicians of the Balearic Islands, since it denied the existence of the coronavirus pandemic and encouraged non-compliance with measures to curb contagion. The investigators have taken statements in the last hours from the people who were present at the birth and who attended the newborn, who suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest a few minutes after birth. So far there have been no arrests.
The events occurred last Monday at noon, when the 061 emergency service was notified that a woman had had complications in a delivery that had taken place in an agriturismo located in the Ibizan municipality of Santa Eulària. A medicalized ambulance traveled to the scene and found the newborn in cardiorespiratory arrest. The toilets managed to stabilize the baby, who was immediately transferred to the Can Misses hospital. Given the seriousness of his condition, the hospital doctors decided to refer him to the pediatric ICU of the Son Espases reference hospital in Palma, where he remains in critical condition.
The Civil Guard went to the establishment after being notified by the emergency services and took statements from the people present, among whom was a doctor who was suspended from membership by the Official College of Physicians of the Balearic Islands. The investigators try to clarify what was the nature of his participation in the events, since he is suspended from practicing medicine for a period of six years after a resolution issued last May by the Official College of Physicians of the Balearic Islands that was ratified subsequently by the Collegiate Medical Organization. In said resolution issued by the college board on May 10, 2021, the doctor was suspended for an infraction of articles of the ethical code “related to the quality of medical care, medical advertising or work in health institutions, having promoted the doctor filed actions contrary to scientific evidence, as well as inadequate professional praxis”.
In statements to Ibiza Diary, the doctor has acknowledged that the family called him to attend the delivery “through a friend” and explained that a few minutes after birth he had a “sudden” cardiorespiratory arrest and had to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers “immediately”. From the Health Area of the Pitiusas they have announced this Thursday that, at the request of the parents, no more information will be offered about the baby’s condition.
“Throughout the Spanish territory and the European Union, membership is mandatory to be able to practice medicine, both in public and in private, in private home care, in a consultation or in an ambulance. A person who is not registered or who is suspended from registration cannot practice medicine in any field”, says the vice president of the College of Physicians of the islands, Carles Recasens. The investigated doctor was sanctioned with a six-year suspension and the payment of a fine of 16,660 euros after violating numerous articles of the Code of Medical Ethics and Deontology.
Denialist demonstrations
The governing board of the College of Physicians issued the resolution after instructing a file against the doctor as a result of his demonstrations through social networks and the media in which he denied the pandemic and invited citizens to disobey the social distancing measures and to discard the use of masks. The suspended doctor also participated in June 2020 in a denial demonstration in Madrid in which he identified himself as an emergency doctor at the Formentera public hospital, where he practiced medicine, and even came dressed in a professional gown with the logo of the health center.
Recasens explains that the Balearic Health Service removed the doctor from his post at the Formentera hospital in July 2020 and the College of Physicians began to instruct the file for violations of the Code of Ethics and Medical Ethics. After the suspension and its subsequent ratification by the Collegiate Medical Organization, the affected party took the matter to court and filed a contentious-administrative appeal in a court on the island that was admitted for processing on December 9.
The College of Physicians does not rule out for the moment taking more measures if the “active and scheduled” participation of the doctor in the delivery is confirmed. “This person, in a serious situation, as a doctor and as a person, has a duty to help. The investigations indicate that he could have been hired for this, although it must be the Civil Guard that will clarify how the events occurred and, based on this, we will make the corresponding decisions “says the vice president of the College of Physicians of the islands, who does not know the training that this doctor may have in the field of gynecology and obstetrics.
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