The legal action initiated in relation to the ongoing inquiry by the Public Prosecutor targets TVI, CNN, journalist Sandra Felgueiras, and the Brazilian reporter involved in the recordings of reports aired by the group, Nelson Garrone.
This information was shared by the lawyer of Daniela Martins, the mother of the twins, who highlighted potential “crimes of defamation and slander, illegal recordings and photographs, invasion of privacy, breach of professional/medical confidentiality, violation of personal data, and psychological maltreatment of minors.”
“Currently, the family is aware of the judicial measures and claims for damages they find appropriate, within the legal boundaries,” stated Wilson Bicalho.
The lawyer noted the compensation amount to be claimed, likely through a separate legal process, “is still being calculated” and is unrelated to the treatment cost.
As detailed, in determining the amount, the defense is considering the “extent of the children’s media exposure, exposure of sensitive data, the family’s address, economic benefits obtained by the media, the emotional and psychological impact,” and eventual findings in criminal proceedings.
The issue pertains to the 2020 hospital treatment of twin children, residents of Brazil, who gained Portuguese citizenship and received the drug Zolgensma at Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon.
At a cost of two million euros per person, this medication aims to control the spread of spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease.
The case was disclosed by TVI last November and remains under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The Inspectorate-General of Health Activities has already concluded that the children’s access to a neuropediatrics consultation was illegal.
An internal audit by Hospital Santa Maria also found that the scheduling of an initial hospital consultation by the Secretary of State for Health was the only exception to the rule adherence in this case.
On December 4 of the previous year, the President of the Republic confirmed that his son, Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, contacted him via email in 2019 about the situation of the two Luso-Brazilian twins with spinal muscular atrophy who later received treatment at Hospital de Santa Maria with one of the world’s most expensive medicines.
At that time, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa noted the exchange of correspondence within the Presidency, sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and defended that he gave this case “the most neutral order,” akin to many others, and forwarded the dossier to the government.
This case was the subject of a parliamentary inquiry (CPI), and its findings were submitted to the Public Prosecutor.
The final conclusions of the CPI, approved on March 18, indicated a “special intervention,” without illegality, from the President’s Civil House and noted that former Secretary of State for Health, Lacerda Sales, instructed his secretary to request the scheduling of the children’s first consultation at Hospital de Santa Maria.
