A doctor at a public maternity hospital in Celaya, Guanajuato, has been dismissed after refusing to treat a pregnant woman at risk of giving birth prematurely.
Obsetrician Adrián Villegas Cisneros told the woman’s husband that he would not perform the surgery that his wife required. The exchange was filmed and later posted to social media.
Villegas blamed the patient and her husband for not arriving at the hospital earlier and advised them to go to a private hospital.
“. . . Here, there is nothing [I can do] and your baby could die . . . Your baby has to be born,” Villegas said, explaining that he had detected hourglass membranes – a prolapse of the amniotic sac – via ultrasound.
The doctor explained that “several things” could be done to treat the condition, adding that “here I’m the only one that does them.”
However, Villegas said that he wouldn’t attend to the woman because he only performs such treatments at private hospitals or in his own office.
“There’s no space for your baby [here], that’s the reality, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“The delay in [seeking medical] attention is not my fault, it’s hers,” Villegas said, pointing at the pregnant woman.
“I have to prioritize another patient who is at risk of dying, a patient who just arrived.”
The woman has now given birth and both she and her newborn son are in good health, the newspaper El Universal reported.
Villegas, who had worked at the maternity hospital for five years, was fired on March 30 after an investigation by Guanajuato health authorities.
Source: El Universal (sp)
