Video from Brazil falsely shared as Gujarati doctor sexually assaulting patient

(Trigger warning: The report contains descriptions of sexual assault. Viewer discretion is advised.)

What is the claim?

A disturbing video of a doctor sexually assaulting a patient during surgery is going viral on social media with the claim that the perpetrator is a Gujarati man. According to several users sharing the video, a Gujarati doctor named Ramesh Bhai Patel allegedly placed his genitals in a patient’s mouth while conducting a C-section delivery.

The video has been going viral on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, generating thousands of views. (Due to the distressing nature of the visuals, we have refrained from adding archived links to such posts.)

 Screenshots of the viral posts. (Source: X/ Screenshot)

However, the viral video is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the accused was identified as an anesthetist named Giovanni Quintella Bezerra. The clip is not related to Gujarat, a state located on the west coast of India.

How did we find the truth?

A Google search led us to several news reports from July 2022 that reported the same incident shown in the video. 

A news report, sharing similar visuals as captured in the viral clip, by a magazine in Brazil called ‘Istoe’ stated an anesthetist named Giovanni Quintella Bezerra was arrested for allegedly raping a patient during a cesarean surgery at the Hospital da Mulher de Vilar dos Teles. 

According to the report, published on July 11, 2022, the Brazilian civil police stated that the employees at the hospital took a video of the incident. 

We came across reports from several news media outlets, including CNN Brazil, The Daily Mail, The Sun, and Mirror, relaying similar details of the incident.

An employee of the hospital secretly filmed anesthetist Bezerra when he was sexually assaulting the patient, these reports said. The accused was later sentenced to indefinite imprisonment in solitary confinement.

According to a report by Radioagencia, the police are investigating five other cases of rape where Bezerra is an accused. The news outlet stated that Bezerra has been banned from practicing medicine in Brazil since July 12, 2022. Our research showed he is currently in prison.

We also looked for news reports about a similar incident where the accused is a doctor of Gujarati origin named Ramesh Bhai Patel, but didn’t find any story from a credible source substantiating the viral claim.

The verdict

Our research proves that the viral video is of an incident that took place in Brazil. It has no connection to Gujarat or a doctor from Gujarat. Hence, we have marked this claim as false.

(Translated by Azra Ali)