The youngest patient
A child of two years and eight months, a distended belly and a surgical decision he never forgot.
“He was my youngest patient ever.”Read this story
In memoriam · 1935 – 2010
PedroMorettiGuedes
Physician, surgeon and professor. For more than forty years he saw whoever knocked on the door of his practice in Campo Limpo, São Paulo, without asking who could pay.
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“You don't know her life, so don't criticise her.”
Pedro Moretti Guedes, to someone who criticised a patient who couldn't pay
A whole life
Born in Piracicaba, rooted in Campo Limpo.
Sixth child of a railway worker, he graduated in Sorocaba in 1963, trained at the Hospital das Clínicas, operated, taught surgery, wrote for neighbourhood newspapers and coached swimmers. This memorial gathers what the family kept: photographs, documents, texts and the stories he used to tell.
- Born
- 10 September 1935 Piracicaba, São Paulo
- Graduated
- 1963 Medicine, Sorocaba
- Campo Limpo
- since 1967 over 40 years in practice
- Died
- 17 February 2010 Bragança Paulista, aged 74
Medicine without a price
Those who could not pay were treated just the same.
A private consultation was not cheap. Even so, when someone without means came to the clinic, Pedro treated them with the same care and charged nothing. He made no banner of it: he made it routine. Money was never the reason. People were.
Treat those who cannot pay
The woman who could not always pay went on being seen. The criticism got a sentence, not a bill.
Treat everyone alike
"He did not mind whether they were upper or lower class; what mattered to him was the patient's recovery", his patients wrote.
Listen before prescribing
A hug at the door, classical music, coffee and the patience to hear each one. "Sometimes we didn't even need medicine."
Share the credit
Faced with a difficult meningitis diagnosis, he credited the attentive mother who insisted something was wrong.
Explore
Where to begin
01
Who Pedro was
The biography, from the 1935 birth certificate to the office where he most liked to be.
02Stories of a doctor
Ten episodes he used to tell: the youngest patient, the mother who sensed meningitis, the pharmacy.
03Medicine
Hospital das Clínicas, SAMDU, surgery, teaching and a defence of humane care.
04Articles
Twenty-four texts on public health and prevention published between 1992 and 2008.
05Archive
Thirty-two photographs and eleven documents restored for preservation.
06Tributes
What patients, friends and students wrote about him.
Stories of a doctor
Short stories. A whole life.
In the reminiscences he left, Pedro rarely spoke of technique. He spoke of people: an attentive mother, a 96-year-old Russian gentleman, a driver he could not save.
0110
The 79-year-old patient
At the other end of life, a 79-year-old man arrives with appendicitis. Years later he seeks him out in São Paulo.
“I received an elderly patient, 79, with appendicitis.”Read this story
An early morning at the Santa Casa
An empty emergency room, an ambulance, a young woman in severe abdominal pain and the speed an emergency demands.
“In an empty ER, at two in the morning...”Read this story
The first time I cried
A driver with a gunshot wound whom he recognises from a hospital visit days earlier, when the man was with his wife and newborn son.
“It was the first time I cried at a patient's death.”Read this story
The 96-year-old Russian gentleman
A small office above a bakery, a 96-year-old gentleman with a fractured femur and the referral that made the neighbourhood trust the new doctor.
“From then on, it "rained" patients.”Read this story
The man who wanted to lose weight
A patient asks for help losing weight. The physical examination reveals changes in the lungs. The diagnosis is tuberculosis.
“Some time later he came to my office and cried.”Read this story
"You don't know her life"
A woman who brought her child to the office and could not always pay. Faced with criticism, Pedro answered with the sentence that sums up his way.
“You don't know her life, so don't criticise her.”Read this story
The mother who sensed the danger
A three-year-old worsens quickly. The examination shows no clear signs, but the mother insists. Pedro listens, sends them to the Emílio Ribas, and the diagnosis is meningitis.
“It was you, a good and careful mother, who alerted me to how serious the illness was.”Read this story
The call from the pharmacy
Called urgently to a pharmacy, he finds a woman collapsed after an allergic reaction. Immediate care, emergency measures and a hug of relief.
“The pharmacist hugged and kissed me.”Read this story
"The true minister is Pedro"
A phrase attributed to a priest friend sums up the impression Pedro's dedication left on those who saw him work.
“I know I am the priest, but the true minister is Pedro.”Read this story
Campo Limpo · since 1967
A family doctor when the neighbourhood was still dirt roads.
Pedro arrived in Campo Limpo in 1967. In 1998 the Diário Popular reported that he had already served the neighbourhood for thirty years as a clinician, surgeon for adults and children, and family doctor. The Clínica Médica Campo Limpo stood at Rua Dr. Avelino Lemos Jr., 67.
Campo Limpo and PedroTimeline
A documented life.
Every milestone below has a source: a certificate, a newspaper report, a clipping or a family record.
- 10 September
Born in Piracicaba, São Paulo
Sixth child of Maria Luiza Moretti Guedes and José Anthero Guedes, a railway worker. The certificate is drawn up on 26 September in the Bom Retiro district of the capital, stamped by the State Railway Workers' Fund.
Graduates in Medicine in Sorocaba
Completes his medical degree, according to a historical report kept by the family.
Arrives in Campo Limpo
Settles in the south of São Paulo and begins a relationship with the neighbourhood that would span more than four decades.
Surgery, practice and teaching
Surgeon for adults and children at the Clínica Médica Campo Limpo. Professor of Surgical Technique and Abdominal Surgery at Universidade São Francisco, Bragança Paulista.
- 18 October
Reminiscences of a Doctor
The family gathers stories, articles, documents and photographs in a dated compilation.
- 17 February
Dies in Bragança Paulista
Aged 74 years and five months. The seventh-day mass is celebrated in Campo Limpo on 25 February, with a tribute read by relatives, friends and patients.
Tribute
His specialty: kindness.
At the seventh-day mass, on 25 February 2010, relatives, friends and patients read a handwritten tribute. It begins like this:
Read the tributes- Office
- everywhere
- Surgeon
- Dr. Pedro Moretti Guedes
- Degree
- child of God
- His experience
- saving lives
- His specialty
- kindness
- His instrument
- love
- His favour
- dedication
- His prescription
- a smile
Who created this memorial
From son to father.
Felipe Guedes did not grow up with his father. He knows Pedro through the stories, and loves him for them. What he keeps most is the doctor who treated for free those who could not pay: a way of looking at people, not at money, that Felipe carries with him.
Meet Felipe Guedes