The words are spasms.
This story is embedded in pain.
Women carefully choose how to describe that they believe they were drugged without their consent to hasten the birth of their children, that they endured contractions twisted for hours, that they begged for a cesarean section that did not come, that some gave birth to babies who were healthy. and they were born without life, also that the birth took them to intensive care, which they have been trying to heal for years.
The obstetrician-gynecologist Jesús Luján is being criminally denounced by four women, and another 30 are part of a group in which they accuse the specialist of bad practices and negligence.
His clinic, Pronatal, has been canceled by the Mexico City Prosecutor's Office due to “indications that reveal the possible commission of a crime.”
Luján rejects these accusations, says he feels incredulous about the “smear campaign” and maintains that there have been no mistakes in his almost three-decade career as one of the most sought-after gynecologists in Mexico.
EL PAÍS covers the testimonies of eight women, Luján, midwives, doctors and lawyers about the case that has shaken the powerful gynecological industry, in a country where obstetric violence is the mechanism and the system.
Ixchel Cisneros believes it was the first.
It was July 2006. The reporter was young, she was going to have her first child, Carlo, and she wanted it to be natural.
The World Health Organization recommends that births by cesarean section do not exceed 15%, in Mexico they are 52%.
The country is the third in the OECD with the highest number of these interventions, most of them planned and unnecessary.
The journalist wanted to get away from statistics.
In a psychoprophylaxis course, they recommended Luján because he did prepare what they call “humanized birth.”
After a day with a constant contraction, Ixchel arrived nine centimeters dilated at the Santa Teresa hospital in Mexico City.
The journalist entered a pastel pink room, which had a large bathtub.
She was never monitored, nor was her baby.
No one knew that Carlo had been in fetal distress for more than a day.
Cisneros says that Luján's parents had had an accident in Sonora that same day and the doctor was in a hurry.
“My water burst, labor accelerated.
When they took Carlo out, I remember that he was like a wreck, lifeless, completely purple and he didn't react,” he says.
The neonatologist quickly took the baby away.
The reporter got out of the bathtub.
“At that moment Luján left, with my son by his side, without knowing if he was alive or dead.”
Carlo spent five days in intensive care and survived.
They were left with a large debt with the hospital, which they paid off with the help of his family.
The journalist left Luján's office three years later when he diagnosed her with polycystic ovary without evidence, which he did not have.
He didn't come back again.
He also did not dare to have his second child through natural birth.
Marina (not her real name), on the left, and Karime Athie, on the right, two of the women who are part of the collective Con Ovarios.Ana Hop
Mexico is the sixth OECD country where the most women die in childbirth, 59 out of every 100,000, six times more than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average.
Many as a result of bad practices.
Obstetric violence is not legislated as a crime in the country, but there is the Official Mexican Standard NOM-007-SSA2-2016, which was created for health personnel to guarantee dignified treatment during pregnancy and childbirth.
Since it was approved in 2016 until 2021, more than 2.5 million women were insulted, threatened, humiliated, received medical treatment without their authorization, did not receive timely care, had their medication abused, or suffered dehumanized treatment. .
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), 31.4% of Mexican women have suffered obstetric violence.
Two days in January
On two consecutive days in January 2009, two women gave birth supervised by Jesús Luján.
Both babies died.
Andrea Borbolla, yoga teacher, was recommended to the gynecologist during her first pregnancy.
Her experience took a turn for the worse at week 16. “I felt very little fetal movement, my belly was very hard,” she says, “he didn't seem very worried because he said I was a very healthy woman.”
Andrea's daughter, Micaela, was born on January 19 with Edwards syndrome, a fatal disease.
She had undeveloped lungs and had to have open heart surgery.
“That's where the nightmare began,” in a maternity ward, also at the Santa Teresa hospital, which Andrea remembers filled with balloons and chocolates for others: “Meanwhile, you are in a crematorium.”
Her daughter died on February 3, 2009.
Andrea Borbolla thinks that her baby's illness could have been predicted if she had undergone a test called quadruple marker, which is done in the first trimester.
“He was traveling at the time, so I didn't take that test.
Afterwards he didn't tell me to do it because, basically, he told me that I was very healthy and surely everything was perfect."
Asked by this newspaper, Dr. Luján claims that it was the same patient who refused to take that test: “The explanation he gave me was: 'I am dedicated to health, I am very healthy, I am young and I know that my baby is very well. ”.
The gynecologist points out that Andrea is the only one of all her patients who has refused to have the quadruple marker.
Lola's world stopped when she heard the crunch 14 years ago.
Her baby, who was “exceptional” a week before being born, according to a 3D ultrasound to which this newspaper has had access, had a twist of the cord.
Lola chose to be in a hospital, Santa Teresa, in case she needed a cesarean section.
Her doctor, Gloria Rivas, told her that Luján would treat them there in case of emergency.
On January 20, 2009, she remembers pushing for hours.
“I was getting more and more tired, the baby was not making progress.
It was obvious that there was the turning point.
I said 'where is the doctor? I need to have a caesarean section'.
'The doctor is coming right now, he is attending another birth.'
We spent hours in which the doctor did not arrive,” says the woman, who is now 52 years old.
They saw on the monitor that her baby was suffering.
She had to get it out.
“No one helped me there,” she says tiredly.
Doctor Jesús Luján, in an office in Santa Fe.Ana Hop
Luján appeared and the child was already stuck in the duct, so it was not possible to do a cesarean section.
“They put me in a chair that is like a toilet bowl.
And there Dr. Luján pushed my belly, which I now know is called a Kristeller maneuver and I know that it is prohibited.
In those pushes, I felt a creaking inside my being.
I assumed it was my baby's neck or head.
That creaking was not mine.”
They laid her down again, gave her an episiotomy, a cut in her vagina to widen the birth canal, and took the baby out.
The child never cried.
They took him away and Lola was left alone.
Her eyes were bloodshot, the skin on her face was purple from the effort of pushing, a vaginal tear: “I felt like I was bleeding.”
Six days later, her baby died of hypoxia and neurological damage.
Asked by EL PAÍS, Luján points out that Lola was not his patient and that he received an emergency call from Gloria Rivas when he was giving a course: they needed a cesarean section and he assures that he immediately arrived at the hospital.
He denies that he performed the Kristeller maneuver.
Rivas says that she first told Luján that she still had time to give her course, but when labor accelerated and the baby's heart rate began to drop, she became worried and called the doctor to arrive. to do a cesarean section.
When he arrived, in 20 minutes, it was no longer possible, so Luján did the Kristeller maneuver so that the child was born.
“I don't know when the situation got worse, I don't know if I am responsible for the baby's death, I apologized to the family.
"They could have sued me, because I don't do cesarean sections and the doctor was not there at the time of the complication."
Neither Andrea Borbolla nor Lola decided to take legal action against the gynecologist or anyone on their teams: “I just wanted to go home and cry.”
Navy vs.
Luján et al.
Marina—not her real name—is the only patient who sued and won against the doctor.
This producer of plays went to have her baby at the Santa Teresa hospital on February 5, 2009 and left ABC after 23 days in intensive care, with a stroke in the brain and spine, in a wheelchair, unable to walk and urinating through a catheter.
The judges of the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City recognized the responsibility of her treating doctor, Jesús Luján, in the medical negligence that led Marina to almost lose her life.
On February 3, a study revealed that Marina had very high blood pressure, protein in her urine, swelling in her legs and a very rapid weight gain.
She was worried, but Luján told her that they were normal symptoms in that final phase of pregnancy.
“I found out later that these were clear signs of preeclampsia.”
Two days later she was awakened by excruciating pain near her ribs: “So sharp, so constant, that she could no longer stand.”
Her mother found her lying on the floor of the shower.
She had to be admitted.
At the Santa Teresa everything was precipitated: the pain did not stop, the nurse warned that the patient had very high blood pressure, Luján did not arrive, Marina asked for an epidural for the delivery but there was no anesthesiologist, when he arrived and injected her without doing anything measurement, the baby was already being born and the anesthesia caused a stroke.
“Luján came alone to catch the baby, to collect his fees,” she remembers.
In the recovery room, Marina wouldn't stop bleeding: “The nurse squeezed my stomach and only blood came out.”
She spent the night and was diagnosed with Hellp syndrome.
The hospital did not have an intensive care room, nor did it have platelets to help her: “Luján distanced himself from her saying that she was already in the hands of the intensive care unit.”
Under their responsibility, Marina's family managed to transfer her to the ABC medical center, where she was on the verge of cardiac arrest.
She had pneumonia and epileptic seizures, her system was collapsing.
She saved his life.
When she was discharged from the hospital—which was followed by 15 months of rehabilitation—Marina decided to sue through civil proceedings.
She won eight years later, after a long judicial journey, against Luján, the Santa Teresa hospital, the anesthesiologist and the intensivist for “negligent care.”
She took one million pesos, less than $60,000.
“I never did it for the money, I did it to set a precedent.”
When asked by this newspaper, Luján points out that Marina's birth “did not have any complications” and that it was not until many hours later that her medical situation worsened: “She went into recovery with good, stable vital signs.”
But Marina had a hemorrhage in her uterus right after giving birth.
Luján argues that “the Court considers that the non-obstetric care, not mine, but the care of the intensive care team was delayed.”
The ruling of the Superior Court of Justice affirms that the woman was not given the necessary studies to avoid the consequences of the administration of the epidural.
It also directly points the finger at Luján and the other two co-defendants “for failing to act with due diligence” and “not having acted in accordance with the
lex artis
Médica and in compliance with the applicable Official Rules.”
Mesulid 100 milligrams
Mariana Campos was in the final phase of her pregnancy when hemorrhoid inflammation was detected.
Her doctor, Luján, prescribed an ointment, a suppository and some pills over the phone.
The pain increased and on December 30, Campos called him again.
She was answered by her assistant, Arlet Rojas, who told her that the doctor prescribed a 100-milligram tablet of Mesulid every eight hours and that she should go for a check-up.
Already at the clinic, Campos points out that she again found herself alone with her assistant, who after an examination, grabbed Luján's checkbook, signed for him and gave him the prescription for the medications that had already been prescribed over the phone.
On January 2, her daughter, Inés, stopped moving.
Mariana Campos, on the left, and Sara Crespo, on the right.Ana Hop
He quickly called Luján, who recommended rest.
At 7:00 p.m., Mariana entered the Santa Teresa hospital, where for two hours she only received glucose serum.
The gynecologist performed a cesarean section at 9:10 p.m.
One hour and 10 minutes later, Inés had died.
In the diagnosis, the pediatrician noted the cause of death as: cardiogenic
shock
, cardiac arrhythmia, and neonatal depression.
“The girl was about to die, she needed an emergency cesarean section and not an IV, she lost two hours,” says Mariana.
“At home I experienced the worst, she gave me post-traumatic stress, I couldn't go out, she had nervous attacks.
Two weeks after her death I felt like she could start breathing and I started trying to see what had happened.
That's when I realized about the medication.”
Mesulid is a contraindicated drug for pregnant women because it has the risk of closing the opening between two of the blood vessels that connect to the heart.
Mariana took it for three days, three times a day.
Almost two years later she sued Luján and his assistant.
A civil judge agreed with him, as did the Superior Court of Justice of the Federal District after the doctors' appeal.
The doctors took refuge again and the case reached the Supreme Court of Justice, where the first court ruled - with two out of five votes against - that the authenticity of Mariana's main evidence, the prescription for the medication, could not be proven. since the signature that was there did not belong to Luján, who also demonstrated that he was outside of Mexico City.
Campos presented his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2021 and is still waiting.
In 2023 he expanded information.
He keeps waiting.
“It is a pain always in you, always, no matter how many years go by.”
Tea and Wednesdays
In 2019, Jesús Luján was already one of the most sought-after gynecologists in Mexico.
His clinic, Pronatal, had expanded and was now in Santa Fe, one of the most exclusive and expensive areas of Mexico City, he had founded a hospital, opened a fertility laboratory and had a waiting list for all those looking for a birth. humanized.
Luján was the star.
Liora Anderman arrived for a check-up on a Wednesday at seven in the morning.
She was given some drops, a tea with organic sugar and they did a vaginal ultrasound.
“I didn't have a single symptom of anything.
But they told me: 'Go for a walk in Santa Fe, have breakfast calmly and if around 12 you feel strong contractions, come back.'
And I said: this is a prophet or how he knows.
At noon Liora was back at the clinic with intense contractions and two centimeters dilated.
12 hours later she was six centimeters, two vaginal examinations, and Luján had not appeared.
She says that she complained and that then the gynecologist appeared to ask what had happened during that time.
They informed her that the baby was suffering, his heart rate was dropping and they decided to perform a cesarean section.
“They tied my hands.
It was a feeling of total vulnerability.
I can not forget it".
Liora had postpartum depression: “I felt like something else happened that day.”
The Pronatal team diagnosed him with thrombophilia and transient splenomegaly (enlarged spleen).
She decided to consult with another doctor, who rejected that opinion.
Liora no longer returned to the clinic, but she ended up with a pelvic floor physical therapist who worked for more than a year with Luján.
“He told me that it was possible for him to induce labor in me.
She had seen how her team grinds misoprostol to put it into a gel, also that there is ribotrile—an anxiolytic—in the drops and prostaglandin in the tea, which is known in the community as the king of inductions.
There the whole story changed for me.”
EL PAÍS has spoken with a doula (midwife) who participated in about 15 births in Luján, from 2013 to 2020. The woman decided to hide her identity for fear of work consequences.
“All my births with him began to be the same: he gave them all tea, he made an appointment with them all on Wednesdays, the babies were always poorly accommodated, the situation became an emergency, and he came in to save things.
We doulas begin to realize this constant pattern.
I haven't worked with him for more than three years after a birth full of lies and entanglements, because I didn't want to be complicit in this again.
I can’t confront him, but I can choose not to work with him.”
The closing
Karen was exhausted.
She was 35 years old, she had been trying to get pregnant for four years and had had three losses.
This is how she arrived in Luján: “Emotionally exhausted.”
When she became pregnant, naturally, in February 2020, the gynecologist's team detected thrombophilia.
“They sent me to anticoagulant medication throughout the pregnancy.
You do not know how much it hurts.
I don't have pretty photos of my pregnancy because my belly was a bruise,” she says over the phone.
In week 39, she says, she had several consultations with Luján.
On Monday they put a gel on her wrists, on Wednesday they told her “it was the day”: “I hadn't had a single contraction, but they said she was very ready.
They gave me a few drops under my tongue to put every 15 minutes.
It was eight o'clock in the morning.
Then everything went very wrong.”
Suddenly the contractions came.
“I felt like it was breaking me in two, I can't even name the pain, she screamed, it was a pain that felt like it was breaking my back.
I started vomiting really hard.
I asked to be anesthetized, but I couldn't get on the stretcher, I couldn't control my body from the pain."
At five in the afternoon Luján arrived.
“He did a scan on me and he told me that I was only five centimeters dilated.”
Karen ended up having an emergency C-section.
She and her baby were saved.
The next week, her doula told her that her labor had probably been induced.
“I saw Luján and I broke down.
My doubts were more structured, I wanted to know what had happened.
Her explanation was that my placenta infarcted.
In reality: they abused me, my trust and my health.”
Luján has a judicial restriction that prevents him from speaking about the four cases that the Mexico City Prosecutor's Office is investigating.
The agency carried out a search at Pronatal in December 2023 and the clinic has remained closed since then, while the investigation stage continues.
But the doctor assured this newspaper that he has never induced labor without the patient's consent, that he has not given medications that accelerate labor either in tea, drops, gel, or in any way.
He also pointed out, in a long interview, that he is not saturated with work - as some of the women in this report felt - and that throughout his career he has participated in about 10 births a month and that he and his team continue to maintain personalized attention to patients.
The gynecologist celebrated in 2020 that he had participated in 5,000 births, a number that cannot be reached with only 10 births a month during 16 years of work.
Luján sold the hospital he had founded, Bité Médica, to the British insurer Bupa, for 350 million pesos last year.
That economic maneuver, he believes, is behind the testimony of some of his patients.
For them there was only pain and now, perhaps, justice.
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