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Portugal: Mother and baby detained at Cascais Hospital on suspicion of cannabis use
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A mother and her newborn baby are being held at Cascais Hospital, because the medical team that attended to them in the postpartum period suspected the use of cannabis during pregnancy. The complaint was made yesterday to Cannareporter by Marcos Lana, the baby's father, who accused the medical and nursing team of "retaliation". The GNR – National Republican Guard and the Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People (CPCJ) were called to the scene and the case is already in the Public Ministry. “If I had known that my wife and daughter were going to be held hostage by the hospital, I would not have signed”.
Isabella Burgos, 25, told Cannareporter that not even in her “worst dreams and nightmares” could she imagine everything that is happening to her. “It's surreal. It looks like a scene from a soap opera or whatever”.
Photographer and resident of Massamá, she went into labor on the night of August 10th. At 10:40 am the baby, Tereza, was born at Dr. José de Almeida Hospital, in Cascais, by natural childbirth. The father, Marcos Lana, 34, described the birth as the happiest moment of his life: “We went to a room where two wonderful people attended to us, it was an incredible birth, Isabella didn't even need anesthesia and everything was super emotional. . It was the happiest moment of my life, everything went very well”, he congratulated. Isabella confirmed: “My birth was perfect. The midwives were fabulous, they took such good care of me,” she told Cannareporter.
The problems started a few hours later, when they went up to the 5th floor to settle in the room where they would be assisted during the postpartum period. According to the father, the doctors were not very happy with the fact that they had refused to administer the whooping cough vaccine to the baby. Marcos explained that they were informed about the benefits and disadvantages of the vaccine and that they preferred not to give it.
The mother, Isabella Burgos, with the newborn baby, Tereza, at Cascais Hospital.
Mother and baby will also have been visited by the pediatricians on duty. According to Isabella, a health professional told her that he had read in the process that she smoked cannabis and warned her that the breast milk of those using THC contained “a fat that went up to the baby’s brain and caused sudden death ”.
The discussion got worse when a nurse came to get the newborn to do a test. The father told the Cannareporter that he asked what the test was and the nurse was unable to answer. She asked that the test be done there, in front of her parents, or else that she be allowed to accompany her, something the nurse denied. Marcos says that, then, they tried to send him away, allegedly because visiting hours would end, to which he replied that he was not a visitor, but “the father and companion” and that he had the right to be there. He demanded that they be shown the law that prevented him from accompanying his wife and daughter during the postpartum period, but no one showed him anything.
From then on, the situation escalated and the Hospital called the GNR and a social worker to the scene. Marcos also said that, in the meantime, the woman who occupied the second bed in the same room, with another baby, had already been moved to another room. Initially, the social worker allegedly told Marcos that she had been called because of his “aggressive behavior”, but later “she said it was because Isabella told her during a consultation that she smoked cannabis”.
Marcos clarified that this information was only given at the Parede Health Center, during Isabella's first pregnancy appointment. “The only time we talked about it was in the first consultation, when we learned that Isabella was pregnant. Asked about substance use, she openly reported that she smoked cannabis from time to time. But that only happened until she found out that she was pregnant, from that moment on she never smoked again, ”he assured.
The father says that's when he realized they had gone into the system looking for anything they could use against them. “Throughout the pregnancy, no one bothered to find out if the mother smoked or not, nor did anyone ask to take toxicological tests before the delivery, they took it because they were looking for something to create all this inconvenience that they are causing us now”.
“If I had known that my wife and daughter were going to be held hostage by the hospital, I would not have signed”
When the GNR arrived at the hospital, “they immediately asked if I had anything illegal with me and the social worker threatened my wife that they were going to remove the baby”. At 20 pm the shift changed, a new pediatrician arrived, “more sensible and calmer”, and four more GNR agents arrived. “I asked for a document that did not authorize any procedure with my daughter without being informed, but the doctor tried to calm me down, I gave up the document and went home”.
When he returned, Marcos noticed that his daughter had a urine collector inside her diaper. Meanwhile, Isabella had already agreed to have toxicological tests done on them. The result was negative and confirmed to the Cannareporter by the Cascais Hospital Communication Office.
Dr. José de Almeida Hospital, in Cascais. Photo: DR
“They terrorized the mother and coerced us. Two social workers came to insist that we sign an authorization to investigate our life and send it to the Public Ministry. I signed because I trusted those people and I have nothing to hide, that they come to my house to realize that we are real parents, that we are good people and that everything is fine with us. They took our signatures and said they would come to our house last night to check that everything was ok, but they didn't come or call. They didn't tell me that if I signed and gave authorization to be investigated, my daughter wouldn't leave the hospital. If I had known that my wife and daughter were going to be held hostage by the hospital, I would not have signed!”, she lamented.
Marcos added that the woman “did the toxicological test so they could see that there was nothing and let us leave in peace. But nobody showed us the result, or showed anything, because it must have been negative. My wife called me this morning crying because they told her she can go home, the doctor discharged her, but they won't let my daughter out. Everything is fine with her, but they won't let her out, ”he said, his voice cracking. At the end of today, Sunday, both were still hospitalized at Cascais Hospital.
“It took me to a point of mental and physical exhaustion. I just want to go home!”
Isabella is breastfeeding her daughter exclusively with breast milk, but she has had to face the various people at the Hospital who have tried to stop her from doing so. “The pediatricians wanted to prevent me from breastfeeding for three hours, but as I had just finished breastfeeding and the toxicological test took an hour, I told them that it would not be necessary to stop breastfeeding, because the test would be negative. But there were several episodes in which several nurses wanted to give a bottle with artificial milk, I was the one who always refused”.
Isabella says that the worst moment she experienced at Cascais Hospital was when the pediatrician told her that she could not discharge her daughter. “It was terrible, it really took me to the bottom. she was tired, stressed, I wanted to sign a disclaimer, but they wouldn't let me. I turned my back and went back to the room, crying. The doctor promised to come back to discharge us, but she never showed up again and then the social workers tricked me. They knew that if I signed that paper I would be stuck here with my daughter and they didn't explain that to me. It was too low!”, she accuses.
Isabella says they didn't even inform her of the negative drug test result. “I was very well cared for during childbirth, but then I was abandoned. Now, nobody here knows anything, nobody wants to tell us or give us anything. I spend time alone in the room with the baby and all I want to do is go home. If I get postpartum depression, they are the ones who drove me to an extreme point of mental and physical exhaustion. It was torture, I felt violated when I found out I couldn't go home. This surpassed all human rights. I hope they get better as humans, because humans have nothing ”, she lamented.
Hospital de Cascais says the case is in the hands of the CPCJ and confirms negative result
Contacted by Cannareporter, the Cascais Hospital Communication Office confirmed the occurrence, clarifying that it cannot comment on this issue, which is now the responsibility of the CPCJ.
The Hospital also explained that it can only discharge the baby when the social workers, the Public Ministry and the CPCJ confirm that everything is fine and that the conditions for the baby to return home are met. "This procedure is a pro-forma of the Hospital whenever the safety of a baby is at stake", said the Cabinet, having confirmed that Isabella's test result "was negative".
However, and since it is the weekend, it will only be tomorrow, Monday, that there should be news from the social worker who was in charge of the case. Cannareporter will monitor this situation, which is not unprecedented in Portugal. At least in the Algarve and Caldas da Rainha, similar cases have already happened.
What the science says about cannabis in pregnancy
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is involved in several aspects inherent to human reproduction, being an important element in the development of mechanisms associated with the progression of a healthy pregnancy, as we had already explained in this long article published on Cannareporter.
Scientific research proves the importance of ECS in regulating fertilization through sperm activation, oocyte maturation, embryo hatching, ovum maturation, transport through the oviduct, embryonic implantation, placental development, maintenance of pregnancy and labor. However, scientific evidence on the effects of cannabis in pregnancy is scarce, largely because ethics do not allow clinical trials to be carried out on pregnant women.
In 2020, a systematic review carried out by researchers from Columbia University, the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Swinburne University, concluded that “the totality of evidence suggests that prenatal exposure to cannabis does not lead to cognitive impairments”, having found no statistically significant differences in babies exposed to cannabis during pregnancy.
Cannabis contains phytocannabinoids that modulate the Endocannabinoid System and more research is needed to focus on the impact that phytocannabinoids, through their action on cannabinoid receptors, have on fertility, pregnancy outcome and fetal health.
The existing literature on the potential benefits or harms of cannabis in pregnancy is sparse and controversial. That's why, as there are not enough data to ensure that there are no contraindications, the use of cannabinoids during pregnancy is not recommended.
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[Disclaimer: Please note that this text was originally written in Portuguese and is translated into English and other languages using an automatic translator. Some words may differ from the original and typos or errors may occur in other languages.]____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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With a degree in Journalism from the University of Coimbra, Laura Ramos has a postgraduate degree in Photography and has been a Journalist since 1998. Winner of the Business of Cannabis Awards in the category "Journalist of the Year 2024", Laura was a correspondent for Jornal de Notícias in Rome, Italy, and Press Officer in the Office of the Minister of Education of the 21st Portuguese Government. She has an international certification in Permaculture (PDC) and created the street-art photography archive “Say What? Lisbon” @saywhatlisbon. Co-founder and Editor of CannaReporter® and coordinator of PTMC - Portugal Medical Cannabis, Laura directed the documentary “Pacientes” and was part of the steering group of the first Postgraduate Course in GxP's for Medicinal Cannabis in Portugal, in partnership with the Military Laboratory and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon.
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