The disturbing medical history of the "baby without a face": a baby with two vaginas and another with inverted legs

This is not just the dramatic case of "baby without a face"Artur Carvalho, an obstetrician who worked in Portugal despite five open disciplinary procedures, has a history that includes the birth of girls with two vaginas and inverted legs.

The horrors of this doctor's program now appear because of the tumult generated by the case of "baby without a face", Rodrigo was born on October 7th, without eyes, nose and part of the skull. He is hospitalized in Setúbal, about 50 kilometers from Lisbon.

The Portuguese public prosecutor's office opened an investigation following the complaint filed by Rodrigo's mother, who had started a legal battle before the passivity of the health authorities. That is, although he has a list of cases behind him, the first action to dismiss the specialist from his duties has just occurred because of his most significant case.

For the moment, the disciplinary council of the College of Physicians decided you suspend preventively for six months After evaluating five outstanding processes. A few hours ago, it was the doctor himself who had promised to stop doing scan until the evaluation of these processes.

One baby with inverted legs and one with two vaginas

The scandal prompted him to talk to other relatives affected by Carvalho. This is how Luana, 8, was born with the reversed legs -It could be the first recorded medical error of the obstetrician and Diana, who came into the world in 2016 with two straight and two vaginas.

"It was just like if they were two girls, there were two straight and two vaginas that worked," said Diana's mother, who became two ultrasounds with Carvalho.

Meanwhile, Luana's mother had five ultrasounds and the doctor assured her that her daughter was "perfect and healthy". however, in addition to the inverted legs, the baby had toes "stuck" and severe brain damage.

Three days after birth, they took the mother to see the baby in the incubator, which was slightly covered. Before discovering it, they asked the parents of the other children to leave the room.

"Are you ready?" Asked the girl's father. When he finally saw it, he assured that the shock was huge: "I did not want to believe that she was my daughter. "

Experts do not explain the errors in detecting such cases. "It's a malformation so obvious that any clinician trained in obstetrical ultrasound can not forget it, "he said. the president of the Portuguese Society of Obstetrics and Maternal and Fetal Medicine, Luís Mendes Graça.