“Based on the information we were able to obtain from a police source, it is clear that the body found this morning with a bracelet from the São Francisco Xavier Hospital is that of a user who was admitted to the Emergency Department of this ULS on November 14th”. It is in this way that the Western Lisbon Local Health Unit (ULSLO), which is part of the hospital unit located in Restelo, confirmed late this Wednesday afternoon, the 10th, in a statement released to the newsrooms, that the body found by members of the Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) of the Lisbon PSP, this morning, is that of a user who “was screened, observed and carried out various means of diagnosis and therapy”.
In the note sent, ULSLO explains that at the time of the emergency episode the user “was oriented and autonomous – and therefore without the need for a tracking bracelet”, adding that “the fact that he did not respond to the new call for observation” made “the services attempt to contact the user and the reference contact by telephone, but without success. As a result, a notification was made to the PSP and the user was considered to have abandoned the ED”.
ULSLO, which regrets this death, “guarantees that it has made every effort, from a care and procedural point of view, to provide an appropriate response to this situation”.
The DN knows that the General Inspectorate of Health Activities has already asked the hospital for more information about the case to decide whether to open an investigation into the case.
On the part of the PSP, it is known that the alert about this situation was given at 11:15, when members of the DIC, who were carrying out maintenance work (changing light bulbs), came across the body next to Estrada do Forte do Duque, which borders the hospital in question. The PSP isolated the location, reporting the case to the PJ to investigate the identity of the victim and the circumstances of the death.
The body was taken to the National Institute of Legal Medicine. Authorities are now awaiting the results of the autopsy to clarify whether or not a crime is suspected.
Remember that this is a second case in which the body of a user who was in the emergency room was found in the vicinity of the hospital. One year ago, precisely on December 12, 2024, in the same hospital, Avelina Ferreira, 73 years old, who suffered from dementia, was admitted to the same emergency department. The husband was prevented from accompanying her and the wife ended up leaving hours after work, on her own, without anyone noticing. It was only hours later that the user’s disappearance was made known to the family, whose body was only found in a state of decomposition in the woods next to Colégio de São José, located next to the hospital, two months later, on February 26th.