How Nurses Caught an Anesthesiologist Abusing Sedated Patients

When Thamires Souza Reis da Silva Ribeiro, 23, left the delivery room after giving birth to her twins, her family noticed white spots on her face. Her mother thought it was medication. She described her daughter's face as sticky and shiny. Thamires herself was so heavily sedated that she did not wake up until the following day — and never got to see her premature son, who died the night he was born.

What the family did not know yet was that the man responsible for her sedation had been under surveillance by his own colleagues for weeks.

The Detail That Started Everything

Giovanni Quintella Bezerra, 32, had only qualified as an anesthesiologist in April — three months before his arrest. Nurses working alongside him at Heloneida Studart Women's Hospital in Rio de Janeiro began to grow suspicious about a month into his time there. The sedation he administered to C-section patients was far heavier than standard. The women were barely conscious. And Bezerra had a habit of asking partners to leave the delivery room before procedures began.

The nurses also noticed the way he moved behind the surgical sheet that separated him from the rest of the team. They could not see exactly what he was doing. But they had enough concern to start watching more closely.

The Day the Nurses Recorded Him

On the day of his arrest, Bezerra had already performed anesthesia for two C-sections. By the time a third patient was brought in, the nurses on his team had made a decision. They recorded him on their phones.

What the footage showed led to an immediate call to police. Bezerra was arrested the same day and charged with rape of a vulnerable person — a charge carrying a sentence of eight to fifteen years in Brazil.

The lead investigator on the case, Bárbara Lomba, head of the federal police office overseeing the inquiry, stated publicly that Bezerra's pattern of behavior is consistent with a serial attacker.

What the Investigation Revealed

After his arrest, three more women came forward on separate days, bringing the total number of accusers to at least six. Police began reviewing approximately 40 surgeries in which Bezerra had participated.

The Regional Council of Medicine of the State of Rio de Janeiro launched an internal inquiry and moved to expel him from the profession, calling his conduct a crime that must be punished under existing law.

It also emerged that Bezerra was already facing a medical malpractice lawsuit from before he qualified as an anesthesiologist. In that case, he and another doctor were accused of misdiagnosing a case of swine flu as a urinary tract infection, causing a female patient to fall into a 23-day coma. She lost a toe, suffered severe damage to her Achilles tendon, and lost a significant amount of her hair.

Where the Case Stands

A judge ordered Bezerra held in indefinite solitary confinement while the investigation continues. He was transferred to Bangu, Brazil's largest prison complex, located west of Rio de Janeiro and known for housing the country's most dangerous inmates. When he arrived, other prisoners booed and banged against their cell bars.

As for Thamires, the white spots her mother noticed on her face after the delivery are now believed by investigators to be evidence of what happened to her while she was unconscious in that room. She had been sedated so heavily that she missed the birth of her own children — and woke up the next day to find that one of them was already gone.