The Federal Court of Amazonas determined that the family of a patient who died as a result of Covid-19 in January 2021, during the oxygen supply crisis in Manaus, be compensated R$1.4 million. According to the sentence, the amount, to be divided between the widower and the woman’s six children, must be paid jointly by the Union, the government of Amazonas and the capital’s city hall.
In the decision, published on the 18th, judge Jaiza Maria Pinto Fraxe, from the 1st Federal Civil Court of Amazonas, maintains that “it was up to the defendants to provide the correct and sufficient supply of medicinal oxygen in their public health units”, as well as “ supply the ICU beds needed to face the expected worsening of the pandemic”.
“The damage suffered by the authors is clear, profound and obvious, since the loss of a loved one due to the defendants’ failure to adequately supply their health units with medical oxygen and also with sufficient ICU beds is immeasurable, even more when it comes to being a wife and mother”, states the judge in the text.
The process states that the woman, then 61 years old, was admitted to the Emergency Care Unit at Hospital Platão Araújo on January 4, 2021, with strong flu-like symptoms, and ended up diagnosed with Covid-19 in critical condition. For a week, after the condition worsened and the need to use an oxygen mask, the patient’s saturation remained stable, always above 90%.
From January 12th, however, the patient’s saturation began to drop below 90% even with the use of an oxygen mask, continuing to fall until it reached 63% two days later, which led the family to request a resuscitation report. According to the records, the procedure was denied by the hospital administration due to the lack of available ICU beds.
Faced with this scenario, the family’s defense argued that it is “the obligation of the State (Union, states, DF and municipalities) to provide all actions and services essential to health care to preserve life, which did not occur in this case, with omissive conduct of the defendants, who assumed the risk of the patient’s eventual death due to the lack of medical oxygen”.
“Throughout her hospitalization”, highlights judge Pinto Fraxe, the patient “remained in the ward, despite the worsening of her condition and the request made by the doctor who was on duty for a resuscitation report to be carried out”. In another section, the judge continues: “The patient’s situation was so serious that she even obtained an urgent judicial decision in the State Court for her transfer to the ICU, whether in the same hospital or even in another in the public or private network, which did not occurred as a result of his death.”
“It is clear, therefore, that the patient did not receive the necessary care to avoid the death event, having agonized in a ward bed and desaturated up to 40%, which possibly caused her cardiorespiratory arrest due to the effort to obtain air”, he describes. still the sentence. For the judge, the defendants were unable to “present counter-evidence” that could counter such “obvious conclusions”.
Appeals can still be made against the decision of the Federal Court of Amazonas. When contacted, Manaus City Hall informed, through the Municipal Attorney General’s Office (PGM), that “it was not notified about the process and will comment when it becomes aware”. The Union stated that it has not yet been notified. “When this occurs, it will evaluate the appropriate measures”, he informed, in a note. The Amazonas government has not commented so far.