Last minute: Mother and baby who were detained at Cascais Hospital are now at home

The mother and baby who were detained at Cascais Hospital Since Friday, due to suspicions of using cannabis during pregnancy, they have already been discharged and approved by the CPCJ — Commission for the Protection of Children and Young People of Western Sintra to go home. The news was advanced to Cannareporter by Isabella Burgos, the baby's mother, whose toxicological test was negative. 

Isabela Burgos gave birth to little Tereza last Thursday, the 10th of August, at the Cascais Hospital, but two days later she and her baby were denied discharge, due to alleged suspicions of cannabis use during the pregnancy. Contacted by the Cannareporter, still on Saturday, Hospital de Cascais did not want to comment on the specific case, as it was already in the hands of the CPCJ, but confirmed that the mother's toxicological test was negative, referring the discharge decision to the social worker take charge of the case.

What happened?
After some disagreements with the team that assisted Isabella, Tereza and their father, Marcos, in the postpartum period, the Hospital called the GNR and a social worker to the place. Initially, the social worker reportedly told Marcos that she had been called because of his “aggressive behavior”, but later “she said it was because Isabella told her in a consultation that she smoked cannabis”, according to Marcos' statements to Cannareporter.

Marcos clarified that this information had only been provided at the Parede Health Center, during Isabella's first pregnancy consultation and that the woman never smoked again during pregnancy.

The father complained of retaliation by the medical staff when he realized they had gone through 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”.

Mother and baby were forced to stay at the hospital over the weekend, as the CPCJ was closed. This morning, Marcos made a tight appointment at the door of the CPCJ in Western Sintra, where he was initially told that the two social workers in charge of the process had gone on vacation. After the father's insistence, the social worker on duty ended up telling him that they were going to communicate their approval to the Hospital so that they could be discharged.

Mother and baby were discharged at the end of today, having gone to their home in Massamá. Isabella vented to Cannareporter: “We did it! Let's go home!" and she only added that now she wanted to rest.

The Cannareporter tried to contact the CPCJ of Western Sintra throughout the day to get a reaction, but without success.