The four-month-old baby taken from Hospital de Gaia by her mother on Wednesday, December 3, remains missing after the mother learned the child was to be placed with a foster family due to inadequate conditions.
In a statement to journalists, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Local Health Unit (ULS) Gaia/Espinho, Luís Matos, said the hospital is “evaluating what happened,” particularly how the bracelet, which “was intact,” was removed.
“We naturally don’t have any conclusions at this stage. We are investigating, and we expect to have those conclusions very soon,” he said, assuring that the hospital “has security systems” that “were operational,” a fact that has been verified “even with the bracelet itself.”
“By removing the bracelet, the mother disabled our security system, breached our security system, and we are taking measures to ensure this does not happen again,” he emphasized.
The bracelet removed from the baby “was found in the pediatric ward, in the bathroom of the room where she was. Intact.” “If it had been damaged or cut, the alarm would have gone off immediately. Therefore, it was taken off somehow, I don’t know how, I can’t imagine how, but with some effort and it was left in a bathroom, according to reports, which is why it did not emit the expected alarm signal,” explained the official.
Regarding the operation of the bracelets in question, Luís Matos recalled that these bracelets are “fitted on newborns and babies,” with a “radio” system that detects “whenever there is movement.” “If they pass through doors or certain locations, an alarm goes off,” he clarified, reiterating that the hospital will “evaluate everything,” including “the bracelet system, how it was removed, and all possible tests.”
“The point here is to learn from this case so that it does not happen again. This cannot happen again. We will not allow it to happen again, and we will draw all the lessons from this, whatever they may be,” he assured, noting this is the first time something similar has happened at Hospital de Gaia.
Meanwhile, CCTV footage that may provide clues about the event is in the possession of law enforcement. Luís Matos noted that these can only be reviewed with a court order, which likely has already been issued.
Regarding the family involved, little information was provided. The baby “had not been discharged” since being admitted to the hospital at the end of November. “Legal proceedings were underway, she was here the whole time and was supposed to be handed over to a foster family yesterday, which is when all of this unfolded,” he noted.
The healthcare staff who were present when the baby disappeared did not find the mother’s presence unusual, as she “was always with the child, and the court never prevented the family – which was always either the mother or grandmother – from being with the girl.”
“There was no means to prevent the family’s presence because the issue was not of illicit activity, it was merely about being with the child. We were never warned this could happen. We knew there was an ongoing legal process, but we didn’t grasp the risk involved, let alone expect this outcome,” assured Luís Matos, denying any failure on the part of the hospital staff.
“We cannot say there was a failure. All this happens during a nurse shift change. The ward is very large, with many children. The child was accompanied by the mother. At no point could our staff have identified an issue to resolve. All of this happened very quickly. There is no way to assign direct responsibility to our staff,” he defended.
The baby’s disappearance was noticed when “social services personnel arrived to hand the child over to the foster entity.”
The hospital is now conducting an inquiry to determine what happened, expecting results in about a week. Authorities are also investigating the matter.
No information is yet available regarding the whereabouts of the mother and child.
