An anesthesiologist was taken into custody for allegedly raping a woman while she was under anesthesia during a cesarean section at the Heloneida Studart Women’s Hospital in Vilar dos Teles, São João de Meriti, a municipality in Baixada Fluminense, according to Globo.
Hospital staff set up a device to record Giovanni Quintella Bezerra, 31, when they became suspicious of the amount of sedatives administered to pregnant women. The hospital nurses and technicians rearranged the delivery room to film his actions during surgeries, Globo reports.
The hospital employees who caught him in the act reported Bezerra, who had previously conducted two other surgeries in rooms that were not recorded.
In the 10-minute video, Bezerra unzips his pants, pulls out his penis and puts it inside of the sedated woman’s mouth. He then takes a tissue and wipes the victim’s mouth to hide the evidence of his crime.
The woman said she could not remember everything that happened, but does recall him whispering in her ears asking if she was “okay,” according to Pulse.
Ana Cristina Pinho, an anesthesiologist speaking on the behalf of the Brazilian Society of Anesthesiology, said the doctor arrested for raping a patient during childbirth in Rio de Janeiro gave the woman a higher dose than prescribed, which placed the patient’s life and the unborn infant at risk, CNN Brasil reports.
“Deeper sedation without airway protection exposes the mother to the risk of bronchoaspiration of stomach contents. Therefore, sedation in obstetrics, when used, is synonymous with minimal application,” she said, according to CNN Brasil.
“All the sedative administered to the mother passes to the baby through the placenta, so there is a risk of the baby being born, as we call it, ‘depressed,’ with damage to the respiratory part,” she added.
Pinho also confirmed that patients in the delicate position of giving birth can remain awake.
“Technical guidance is always minimal sedation, much more for anxiety control than sedation itself,” she said.
Pinho also reinforced that Bezerra is no longer a standing member of the SBA.
“Today he [Giovanni Quintella Bezerra] is no longer an anesthesiologist. Since a meeting held last night, it was decided to suspend indefinitely. So he’s a former anesthesiologist,” she said.
Police are investigating the other patients that had surgery on that day to determine if they were also victims of rape by the doctor, Pulse reports.
