A pregnant woman from Barreiro lost her baby after being directed to the Hospital of Cascais but did not follow the initial recommendations of the SNS 24 Line, which had advised her to go to the Hospital of Santa Maria due to financial constraints, as reported. The records indicate she was directed to the Obstetric Emergency at the Hospital of Santa Maria but confessed to the call operator that she couldn’t afford the trip from Barreiro to Lisbon. Without any given alternative, she ended the call.
Subsequently, she called 112 for help, leading to the activation of the fire brigade and the Barreiro Emergency and Resuscitation Medical Vehicle (VMER), which transported her to Cascais, where the fetus was found without life.
In a response to the agency Lusa, the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS) indicated that after auditing the SNS 24 line system, two calls from the user’s phone number were recorded. The first was to the “Pregnant SNS Line” option at 01:20, which was disconnected after 41 seconds of waiting.
The second call selected the “Respiratory Problems” option, made at 01:23 and disconnected at 01:28. The SPMS further stated that the SNS 24 line attended the user at 01:30 on Thursday via a call transferred by the INEM’s Patient Referral Center (CODU).
“The SNS 24 line conducted screening according to the current algorithm approved by the National Health Commission for Women, Children, and Adolescents, resulting in the referral to the obstetric emergency service,” the source remarked.
According to the SPMS, the obstetric emergency service covering the user’s location—Barreiro council—at the time of the phone contact was the Santa Maria Local Health Unit. “The user was, therefore, referred to Hospital Santa Maria,” they confirmed. The pregnant woman then contacted INEM again at 01:47, which dispatched the necessary means, leading to her transfer to Cascais.
The entity managing the SNS 24 line assured today that no call handling constraints occurred on Wednesday and Thursday, when a pregnant woman from Barreiro was transported to Cascais, losing the baby on the journey.
Lusa | 15:08 – 04/07/2025
The Ministry of Health denied on Friday any refusal of assistance to the pregnant woman, ensuring that she was accompanied by an INEM doctor during the journey from Barreiro to the Hospital of Cascais.
“At all times, access to healthcare was guaranteed, concluding that the response provided to the user, both by the pregnant line of the SNS and by INEM, was consistent with the referral protocols and access in effect,” stated the Ministry in a communiqué.
Subsequently, Health Minister Ana Paula Martins also confirmed “there was no deficiency” in the service provided. “There was no deficiency in the service, nor in classification, referral, or arrival at the location, which was, indeed, the hospital that had the differentiated perinatal care conditions at that time, meaning neonatology,” she affirmed.
Ana Paula Martins assured that the pregnant woman “did not go through multiple hospitals,” being directed to the hospital available at the time.
“The calls the lady made were answered within the recommended time, the CODU orientation was executed, and she was accompanied not only by a hospital ambulance but also by a VMER, a specialized ambulance with a doctor,” she added.
She highlighted that “none of the hospitals on the Setúbal Peninsula could handle” the case, hence the user’s referral to another hospital.
She added that the woman “had no referral” to any hospital on the Setúbal Peninsula.
“Regardless, she had to go to a more differentiated hospital. And these differentiated hospitals in question were specifically the Alfredo da Costa Maternity, or Santa Maria, or the Hospital of Cascais. Therefore, the woman was precisely referred to where she had to be,” she concluded.
Health Minister Ana Paula Martins guaranteed today that “there was no deficiency” in the service provided to a pregnant woman from Barreiro who lost her baby after being directed to the Hospital of Cascais.
Lusa | 19:21 – 04/07/2025
On Thursday, RTP reported the case of a 31-week pregnant woman who had unsuccessfully called the Health 24 line and ended up calling 112, activating the Barreiro fire brigade. The woman, in a risk situation, lost the baby after being directed to a hospital more than an hour away from her residence.
A 38-year-old woman was taken to the Hospital of Cascais, over an hour away from her home, more than two hours after her initial call for help. The baby did not survive.
Andrea Pinto | 08:41 – 04/07/2025
This was the second case in a few days of a pregnant woman losing her baby after seeking emergency response.
The other situation involves a woman who was attended by five SNS hospital units in 13 days, reporting pain complaints, with the delivery conducted at the Santa Maria Local Health Unit in Lisbon on June 22, where “shortly after, the newborn died.”
