They are investigating 30 births to Brazilian women who arrived from Belgium
The University Hospital of Burgos reported it a month ago after discovering that they provide two addresses in the north of the province and, in several cases, arrive accompanied by the same man.
A month ago, the University Hospital of Burgos (HUBU) reported to the National Police that, since the beginning of May, Brazilian women of Belgian and other northern European origin have been admitted to its Gynecology Department to give birth in the capital after their pregnancies were monitored in their countries of residence. The number of births following this pattern since then is around 30, according to official sources consulted by this newspaper.
The existence of a pattern is, in fact, the reason why the Burgos hospital—obligated to treat anyone who requests care regardless of their nationality or place of origin—reported the incident to the police. Initially, no one in the Gynecology and Obstetrics department considered it significant that a Brazilian woman had come to the HUBU Emergency Room in a very advanced stage of pregnancy. When asked for the usual documentation to open a medical record, she provided an address in Las Merindades and explained that she had come from Belgium, where her pregnancy was being monitored. She had arrived in Burgos almost to give birth, which is exactly what happened.
The same events began to repeat themselves more frequently, to the point that on Wednesday night there were three women with the same profile in labor at the HUBU (University Hospital of Burgos) at the same time. The frequency of women giving birth with Brazilian nationality is not striking in itself; what alerted the staff was that most of them provided two specific addresses in Las Merindades, one in Medina and the other in Villarcayo, when opening their medical records.
In addition, in an undetermined number of cases, they arrived at the hospital accompanied by the same man. The usual pattern was repeated: a Brazilian woman, 38, 39, or 40 weeks pregnant, whose pregnancy had been monitored in Belgium, came to Burgos for a final consultation before giving birth, or even directly to the delivery room, staying at one of the same two houses in Las Merindades mentioned by the other women from her country.
Midwives, gynecologists, pediatricians, and other staff members began commenting on the surprising number of coincidences, and when the events had been repeated several times, they decided to report them to the HUBU management, who filed a complaint. "We are obligated to provide care. And not just for deliveries; we attend to all the patients who come to us. And in these cases, they usually come for the last appointment, and then the rest of their care is scheduled," official sources at HUBU emphasized, specifying that two and a half months after the first case, they still don't know why this trickle of women in labor with similar characteristics is occurring.
In the hospital's latest count of cases, from June and July, they found that the pattern had been repeated between 15 and 18 times, in addition to those who gave birth in May. In total, it is estimated that around 30 women gave birth this way, about whom nothing more is known.