Inquiry one of a number into 11 allegations of medical negligence
Medical intern Diana Pereira was heard yesterday by public prosecutors conducting the judicial inquiry opened following her complaint about 11 alleged cases of medical negligence by surgeons at Faro Hospital.
Accompanied by her lawyer Teixeira da Mota, Dr Pereira was questioned for more than three hours.
The two surgeons she complained are already subject to six-month temporary suspensions, while a series of other inquiries are underway.
Leaving DIAP, Teixeira da Mota told reporters that “some of the patients have already been heard and probably other people will be heard, witnesses from the hospital”, thus it is looking likely that investigations carried out “ have confirmed the complaint and presented some aspects that are relevant to the investigation”.
This has been nothing short of a medical ‘earthquake’ for the hospital which initially said it knew nothing of the complaints levelled by the young doctor.
Later accounts showed that there were indeed issues with the surgical department, that people in the past had either tried to denounce, to no avail, or had simply been too intimidated to broach.
Support for Dr Pereira has seen the young woman hailed for showing ‘courage unprecedented in Portugal’.
