Outrage in Bolivia over TV broadcast of coronavirus patient dying after 700 citizens die of virus as pandemic in South America grows from Brazilian epicentre
- No Lies programme showed a Covid-19 patient’s death in a hospital in Santa Cruz
- Wanted to jolt into action authorities who had neglected the health services
- Showed patient’s death over 30 minutes as doctors tried to resuscitate him
- Country’s ombudswoman Nadia Cruz Slammed it as ‘sensationalism’
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A Bolivian TV channel sparked controversy after broadcasting live the final minutes of a coronavirus patient’s life while doctors tried desperately to save him.
The No Lies programme said it took the decision to show a Covid-19 patient’s death in a hospital in Santa Cruz to jolt into action authorities who had neglected the health services.
The show airs nightly on the Santa Cruz-based PAT channel, in a region with some 60 percent of Bolivia’s 21,000 cases and around half its 679 deaths.
In neighbouring Brazil, South America’s Covid-19 epicentre, more than 970,000 people have been infected and 47,700 have died from the disease.
A Bolivian TV channel sparked controversy after broadcasting live the final minutes of a coronavirus patient’s life while doctors tried desperately to save him (pictured)
![The No Lies programme said it took the decision to show a Covid-19 patient's death in a hospital (pictured) in Santa Cruz to jolt into action authorities who had neglected the health services](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/06/19/09/29810508-8439179-The_No_Lies_programme_said_it_took_the_decision_to_show_a_Covid_-m-5_1592555141494.jpg)
The No Lies programme said it took the decision to show a Covid-19 patient’s death in a hospital (pictured) in Santa Cruz to jolt into action authorities who had neglected the health services
The broadcast in Bolivia showed the patient’s death over a 30-minute period as doctors tried to resuscitate him.
The country’s ombudswoman Nadia Cruz slammed the broadcast for ‘sensationalism,’ saying it ‘repeatedly and morbidly ‘ exhibited ‘images showing cardiopulmonary treatment being carried out on a person, which unfortunately ended in death.’
The broadcast ‘evidently conflicts with the national legal order,’ Cruz said, adding that it ‘can generate a kind of collective fear.’
Her office is an independent body appointed to investigate complaints against the government or public organizations.
![The broadcast (pictured) in Bolivia showed the patient's death over a 30-minute period as doctors tried to resuscitate him](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/06/19/09/29810506-8439179-The_broadcast_pictured_in_Bolivia_showed_the_patient_s_death_ove-m-7_1592555162973.jpg)
The broadcast (pictured) in Bolivia showed the patient’s death over a 30-minute period as doctors tried to resuscitate him
The broadcast was widely criticized on social networks, including by prominent journalists.
‘What a lack of respect for the family, for the deceased. We lost a lot of things with this virus, including empathy,’ said journalist Maria Trigo, from the newspaper El Deber de Santa Cruz, in a Twitter message.
Fabiola Chambi, a journalist with the Cochabamba daily Los Tiempos said broadcasting the death showed ‘a lack of respect and humanity.’
The government has yet to comment on the controversy.
![The broadcast (pictured) was widely criticized on social networks, including by prominent journalists](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/06/19/09/29810514-8439179-The_broadcast_pictured_was_widely_criticized_on_social_networks_-m-9_1592555192707.jpg)
The broadcast (pictured) was widely criticized on social networks, including by prominent journalists