In Portugal, a baby is born “without a face”: the obstetrician suspended from his duties

We only talk about that in Portugal. In the south of the country, a baby came into the world in early October “without a face”. Or at least without a nose, without eyes and with only part of his skull. The mother’s pregnancy had however been normally monitored. Under pressure from public opinion, the obstetrician in charge of monitoring was suspended by the Portuguese Medical Association for six months. Faced with indications of “negligence”, an investigation was opened.

During her pregnancy, Marlène underwent the three mandatory ultrasounds in a private clinic in the town of Setubal, about forty kilometers south of Lisbon, without her obstetrician, Doctor Artur Caravalho, not detecting the slightest problem. When in the sixth month, her partner and she decide to perform a more advanced ultrasound, they are alerted about a possible anomaly of the fetus but the doctor reassures them.

“He explained that sometimes certain parts of the face are not visible” during ultrasounds “when the baby has his face pressed against the mother’s belly”, testifies his sister, Joana Simao, to the television channel TVI 24.

The doctor was already targeted by six other complaints

However, on October 7, little Rodrigo was born in the Sao Bernardo hospital without eyes, without a nose and with only part of his skull. Of course, the parents file a complaint against their obstetrician and the justice system opens an investigation. The drama makes headlines. The Disciplinary Council of the Order of Physicians then in turn launched an investigation and, faced with pressure from public opinion, unanimously decided to suspend Artur Caravalho from his duties for six months.

The latter was already the subject of six other complaints, the oldest dating back to 2013. Faced with the consequences of this tragedy which “has repercussions on the reputation of doctors” and “to reassure pregnant women”, this suspension was necessary to examine the complaints, some of which “are long because very complex”, explains Alexandre Valentim Lourenço, president of the council of the Order of doctors for the South region, to the RTP public television. “There are strong indications” of neglect from Doctor Artur Carvalho, which “may lead to disciplinary action”, he continues.

The child is still hospitalized in Setubal in intensive care in the pediatric department of the establishment where he was born. On Saturday, October 19, his mother shared a photo of the baby stroking his father’s hand on Instagram. Its survival, however, seems very difficult.

Very rare cases of such malformations

“He is missing part of his skull, which will lead to significant brain damage. In this type of case, there are often major breathing and swallowing problems”, explains Philippe Deruelle, secretary general of the National College of French gynecologists and obstetricians and practitioner at the University Hospitals of Strasbourg, to The Express. But the possibility of cosmetic surgery to reconstruct his face remains possible, nuance Michèle Scheffler, resident of the National Federation of Colleges of Medical Gynecology, also interviewed by the newspaper.

It is based in particular on the case of Yaha, a Moroccan baby born without eyes, without a nose and without an upper jaw, a few years ago. Thanks to a call for donations launched on Facebook, he had been operated on at the age of four by an Australian surgeon who had placed, among other things, a prosthetic nose and ocular prostheses. “But that’s the limit of current science, we don’t know how to transplant eyes for example, he won’t have vision, in any case,” explains the specialist.

Among other high-profile cases of “faceless” children, there are two little girls of Ukrainian origin, adopted by an American couple, who suffer from Treacher-Collins syndrome. This genetic disease causes malformations of the head and neck. Children have eyes and a nose but the face droops due to weak bones.

Such severe complications of the facial bone are of course extremely rare. “We do not know the origin of these malformations… sometimes they can be due to drugs taken by the mother of the child, but the drugs which cause problems are known to the doctors, there is a follow-up”, concludes Philippe Deruelle.