Judge reprimands prosecutor for saying patient would die from Covid with or without ICU

A judge responded to a prosecutor who claimed that a Covid-19 patient would "probably" die with or without a mobile ICU, which was not provided by the Anápolis, Goiás, ambulance service to a nearby city. The man's family sued the municipality for moral damages.

The trial, held at the end of July, evaluated an appeal by the Anápolis city government against the first instance decision, which accepted the victim's family's claim.

The 43-year-old man was hospitalized in March 2021 in Cocalzinho de Goiás with Covid symptoms. As the case worsened, the municipality requested the patient's transfer to a hospital in Anápolis, but the request was denied. “on the grounds that the ambulance did not have enough fuel autonomy to travel the necessary distance” , says the case report.

Prosecutor Luciana Muniz , who represented the Anápolis city government, stated in the session that the patient was in a serious condition and that “in any case, he would probably die, with or without transport, with or without the ICU.”

In a video of the session published by the Migalhas website, she also states that Anápolis rejected sending the mobile ICU because the hospital was outside its service area.

Judge Stefane Machado , of the Tenth Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of Goiás, contested the prosecutor's statement.

"I found it incredible that the Anápolis city attorney said he was going to die anyway. I don't know where she got that information from. The fact is that [...] there was a failure to provide services, omission, and negligence on the part of the city," Machado argued.

For the TJ-GO, the records demonstrated that "the lack of adequate transportation and treatment directly contributed to the worsening of the patient's health condition and death." The Court rejected the Anápolis city hall's appeal and upheld the R$200,000 compensation award to the victim's family.