Mother who claims her newborn was decapitated in C-section says Brazil medics stitched girl’s neck
A mother who claims her baby was decapitated during an emergency c-section in Brazil has said doctors tried to sew up the girl’s torn neck.
Ranielly Santos, 34, and her husband, Victor da Silva, said their baby’s heart was beating before the doctor, whose name has not been released, removed their daughter from the womb during the May 1 procedure.
“I was treated like an animal,” Santos told Brazilian news outlet R7.
Doctors tried to stop Santos’ mother from removing a covering over Emanuelly’s tiny body before discovering that her neck had multiple stitches and marks.
“My mother saw the whole procedure. She opened the outfit, but they tried to stop my mother from opening the outfit, then we saw that her neck was sewn up, full of stains.’
Victor da Silva (left) and his wife, Ranielly Santos (right), seek justice at a Brazilian hospital after a doctor jumped on top of her and accidentally decapitated her newborn daughter during a cesarean section on May 1
Ranielly Santos says doctors at Hospital das Clinicas treated her like “an animal” during the delivery of her daughter, Emanuelly, which ended when the newborn’s head was “torn off” by one of the doctors
Santos, who was seven months pregnant, was admitted to the Hospital das Clinicas in Belo Horizonte on April 24 for high blood pressure and went into labor a week later.
Da Silva recalled seeing his daughter, Emanuelly, blink just before watching the doctor decapitate her.
“By the time they pulled her out, she was blinking, she was moving,” he said. “Her heart was beating before she left.”
Da Silva said the doctors pulled Emanuelly’s head and ordered Santos to push.
“But she had no strength left,” he said. “At the last moment they did, a group of people got on top of her, held me, held me. (They put) a general anesthetic on her, she fainted, the child left (died), she already fainted.”
According to the family, the doctor reportedly climbed onto Santos’ body before they “pulled the child’s head off.”
Santos, who has a nine-year-old daughter, revealed that Emanuelly was at risk of surviving the birth due to a malformation of the lungs caused by cysts discovered during a test.
Administrators of Hospital da Clinicas are investigating the May 1 Caesarean section delivery that ended with the head of a newborn being ripped off by one of the doctors
‘I’m devastated. Every day I cry. I can’t sleep,’ she said. Every day I think about my daughter. I wanted her anyway. I knew she had little chance of life, but I wanted her.’
The couple confirmed that the hospital apologized for the failed delivery and offered to cover funeral expenses.
They claimed the hospital had also offered to provide a medical examiner’s report, but they chose to go to the police.
Family lawyer Jennifer Valente said she is hopeful that the police investigation will reveal that the doctor made several mistakes during the delivery.
“She (Santos) said she was in a lot of pain,” Valente said. ‘The doctor said to her in desperation ‘can I cut you?’ She took the instrument and cut her on both sides, without anesthesia, without anything. She has more than 60 stitches.’
The hospital released a statement saying it was investigating the incident.
“The Hospital das Clínicas (HC) da UFMG, managed by the Empresa Brasileira de Serviços Hospitalares (EBSERH), deeply regrets and sympathizes with the family at this time of mourning,” the statement said. “HC and EBSERH are doing everything they can to gather facts and analyze the case and support the family.”