An oncology patient waited for most of Saturday morning – on the floor and in the cold – to be seen at Viseu Hospital. His family has already filed a complaint against the hospital. According to Correio da Manhã, 80-year-old Álvaro Figueiredo – who is undergoing chemotherapy and is diabetic – was left “without health care, in the cold and on the floor of the Viseu Hospital emergency room” for much of Saturday morning, because there were no stretchers available.
According to CM’s account, the patient “felt ill at home and started shaking uncontrollably”. His daughter, Sandra Figueiredo, then called 112, which, given his clinical condition, sent him to Viseu Hospital.
Álvaro Figueiredo was triaged with a yellow bracelet at around 3am, and almost five hours later he still hadn’t been seen. “Desperate”, he called his daughter for help.
When Sandra arrived at the hospital, she saw her father lying on the floor: “He looked like a beggar. Shrunken, cold and without any medical attention. There were only a few people in the emergency room, but no one was seen. They might as well close the emergency room,” he told Correio da Manhã.
In response to the morning newspaper, Viseu Hospital denied that the patient had spent the night on the floor, but regretted the delay in treatment, which is “caused by the high influx of patients”. The hospital also said that “the patient was discharged at around 11am and that during this time he was seen by health professionals and underwent tests”.