ANDRADE, M. G. M.; ANDRADE, Marília Gonçalves de Macêdo.
Abstract:
Among different forms of violence against women it is the obstetric violence which
although very comum it is rarely discussed. In this terms, the present work seeks to
detail this type of violence by conceptualizing the term, detailing its various forms and
analyzing the inappropriate conduct of doctors and other health professionals towards
pregnant women, parturients and puerperal women. However, the focus of the
research is on the routine practice of episiotomy which consists of increasing the
baby's passage channel by an incision in the perineum. This paper seeks not only to
study this procedure but it focus on the following question: must the doctor be liable for
personal injury if he performs the episiotomy without being necessary or not observing
the patient's condition leading to serious consequences? Then, this question will be
unraveled in order to find the context it was used in and whether or not it is a crime.
The search for answers for this issue has resulted in a qualitative research that has
been made under a deductive perspective with focus on the problem’s core which
consists of analyzing the personal injury crime drawing a parallel with the episiotomy
consequences. Therefore, jurisprudence related to the object of study has been
analyzed in addition to the bibliographic literature and articles. The relevance of the
research is to discuss ways to protect women from having their physical integrity and
health offended at the time of birth and help them to know how to detect the occurrence
of obstetric violence. It can therefore be concluded that when the content of the
decisions handed by the courts is related to the theoretical framework developed in
this study it was possible to observe that although there are subsidies for criminal
responsibility of those who routinely perform the perineal incision causing damage to
the health of the parturient, the Brazilian legal system has gaps regarding this type of
sanction.
