Doctors denounce that Brazilian hospitals gave unreliable care to coronavirus patients

Irene Castilho didn’t even have a day to cry after her husband died of COVID-19. She was sick too, coughing and struggling to breathe; he had just passed away when she began using the same oxygen mask. That same day, March 22, she was admitted to a hospital in Sao Paulo.

The 71-year-old had followed the doctors’ instructions to the letter, dutifully taking her doses of hydroxychloroquine. Also took ivermectina and a battery of anti-inflammatories and vitamins from the so-called “COVID kit” that your healthcare company, Prevent Senior, mailed him home.

Even so, his health was deteriorating.

At the hospital, Castilho received dialysis and was intubated. When doctors consulted their daughters about the administration of flutamida, a drug typically used for prostate cancer, they declined, concerned about possible side effects for their mother, a liver cancer survivor.

Later they saw a nurse administering flutamida to his mother; He told them that it had been prescribed for him despite their objection.

Castilho died in late April, 33 days after her husband and daughters scattered her ashes over his grave.

The Castilho case is one of a series of examples that have led to explosive accusations against Prevent Senior, which operates 10 hospitals in Sao Paulo, and they have scandalized Brazil since mid-September.

Complainant physicians, through their attorney, testified in the Senate last week that Prevent Senior recruited participants to supply untested medications without proper consent and forced physicians to prescribe untested medications promoted by the president Jair Bolsonaro as part of a “COVID kit”.

Some senators have said that it appears that Prevent Senior falsified death certificates to omit COVID-19 as the cause of death. Authorities are also investigating complaints that the company conducted the investigation without permission.

The case underscores the sharp division in Brazil over the proper treatment of COVID-19 patients, and many in the nation, including the president – who is not vaccinated – oppose global scientific recommendations. And there is concern that other vendors have also implemented unreliable policies.

Two weeks ago, Pedro Batista Júnior, the executive director of Prevent Senior, declared before senators that doctors have the right to treat COVID-19 patients as they see fit, and that patients had freely agreed to take the COVID kits.

In response to questions sent by The Associated Press, Prevent Senior denied any wrongdoing, stating that all patients and their families used its products after giving full consent.

Medical care in the Brazilian health system is often deficient. Many middle-class patients purchase private health insurance, but the costs can be high, especially for the elderly.

Prevent Senior seemed to be a solution. It was founded in 1997 and became popular with those who could not afford exclusive medical services. It costs about $ 300 a month, half of its competition. It has more than 500,000 clients, whose average age is 68 years.

Hydroxychloroquine has been promoted by President Bolsonaro and his associates. Although some studies at the beginning of the pandemic considered it promising, they were studies that did not leave the laboratory. Since then, more extensive tests have shown that such treatment is not only ineffective against COVID-19 but also potentially harmful.

Doctors also say they were recommended to use ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug whose effectiveness against COVID-19 has not been proven. The American Medical Association advises against its use outside of laboratories.

Pressures to prescribe hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are evident in internal messages from Prevent Senior obtained by the AP and previously delivered to the senatorial commission investigating the Brazilian government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Among those messages are some from Benedito Júnior, another executive, two clinic directors and an unidentified doctor.

Bruna Morato, an attorney representing 12 physicians employed by Prevent Senior, testified before the Senate commission on Sept. 12 that the physicians were told that if they did not prescribe those drugs, they would lose their jobs.

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