Rio hospital staff dismissed after patient punched

The Rio de Janeiro Municipal Health Department has temporarily removed two employees from the Lourenço Jorge Municipal Hospital, located in Barra da Tijuca, in the west of the city, amid investigations being carried out by the Civil Police to determine whether young Richard Ferreira da Cruz died as a result of alleged aggression carried out by a doctor at the unit.

Richard’s family reports that the young man died after a fight with a doctor at the unit. The boy’s mother, Alessandra Ferreira da Silva, told CNN that his son was admitted to Lourenço Jorge Hospital to treat a wound to his neck.

According to Alessandra, she received a call from the unit informing her that her son was very agitated, since Richard had psychiatric problems. The woman then went to the hospital and spoke to her son.

The boy asked his mother to take him out of that place, as the employees were mistreating him.

“Mom, get me out of here, because they are mistreating me. No one is giving me any ideas, no one is giving me confidence. Get me out of here now,” Alessandra described to CNN .

The woman said that at this moment her son removed the serum he was taking from his vein and immediately stood up, but could not stand up, since Richard had lost a large amount of blood caused by the wound in his neck.

Alessandra says she managed to put her son back on the stretcher and stabilize him, but the boy kept complaining and talking loudly to one of the nurses, causing her to ask the professional and the doctor who was also in the room to calm down.

The woman reveals that the doctor did not listen to her and approached the young man aggressively. “I’m the one in charge here, are you listening?”, according to the mother, this was the phrase uttered by the doctor, who was shouting at Richard.

The mother explains that given the situation, the young man felt threatened and stood up towards the doctor and touched the professional, according to her “giving him a push”.

“He (the doctor) started to challenge Richard to fight, kicking him and calling him to punch him. At no point did he restrain Richard, at no point did anyone restrain Richard,” says Alessandra.

The woman then recounted that her son fell into her lap unconscious and covered in blood. “Richard fell into my lap unconscious with blood pouring out and I screamed, screamed and screamed for the doctors to come and save him. It took them a while to catch him, then they restrained the doctor. I could already see that my son had already passed away.”

In a statement, the SMS reported that the two professionals involved in the episode were removed to “be available to provide clarifications to the Police and receive occupational support.”

The health secretary of the capital of Rio de Janeiro, Daniel Soranz, said that the complaint is very serious and “needs to be investigated with all rigor and with total impartiality by the department and the Civil Police”.

According to Soranz, the report from hospital professionals indicates that “the patient arrived with a neck wound, probably stabbed, but they cannot be sure, very intense bleeding, the patient was very agitated according to the team, very aggressive. At one point the nurse asked the doctor for help to administer medication and the patient attacked the health professional who tried to restrain the patient to prevent him from continuing to injure himself or others.”

The case was registered at the 16th Police Precinct (Barra da Tijuca) and forwarded to the Capital Homicide Division (DHC). Investigations into the incident are ongoing.

The burial of Richard Ferreira da Cruz took place on the morning of this Friday (13) at the Penitência cemetery, located in the Caju neighborhood, in the port area of ​​Rio de Janeiro.

*Under supervision of Bruno Laforé