A Portuguese obstetrician has been suspended for alleged negligence which has resulted to birth deformity in children delivered, most recently of a baby was born without a nose, eyes or part of his skull.
A number of cases involving the doctor are being investigated.
The parents of baby Rodrigo had not been aware of their son’s severe physical abnormalities until he was born earlier this month.
Medical council officials have voted to suspend Dr Artur Carvalho over allegations of negligence.
It has emerged that other complaints, dating back more than a decade, have been made involving other babies.
Reports of those cases, detailed by Portuguese media, have provoked widespread outrage.
Dr Carvalho has not commented publicly on any of the allegations and the BBC has been unable to reach him directly.
Miguel Guimarães, president of Portugal’s medical association (Ordem dos Médicos), last week gave a press conference where he said he had directly contacted Dr Carvalho, given the “social alarm” caused by the case.
The doctor, he said, had agreed to stop performing procedures while investigations continued.
The body’s disciplinary council then met earlier this week and unanimously agreed Dr Carvalho should be suspended for six months while investigations continued.
“There is strong evidence” of the doctor’s negligence, which “may lead to a disciplinary sanction,” Alexandre Valentim Lourenco, medical council chief for the southern region told a local broadcaster after the decision was announced.
Mr Lourenco said he hoped the suspension would go some way to help “reassure” pregnant women over the scandal.
