Brazilian authorities are investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of an 11-year-old child actress after her parents claimed medical officials acted negligently.
Millena Brandão, of Brazil, was declared brain dead on Friday after suffering 13 heart attacks.
The girl’s parents filed a police report the day after her death, claiming that an urgent care center, two hospitals and the facilities’ staffers were negligent in treating their daughter.
The death of Brandão, who appeared in the Netflix series Sintonia, is being probed by police and has been ‘registered as a suspicious death,’ the São Paulo Department of Public Safety said in a statement provided to Brazilian media.
‘Expert reports were requested and are in progress for analysis by the police authorities.’
‘For now, we are respecting the family’s mourning,’ Brandão’s family lawyer, Antonio Toninho, told the Brazilian news outlet G1.
‘Before making any decision, we are reviewing all the facts and gathering all the documents,’ he added.
Brandão’s parents said they don’t know what led to their daughter’s unexpected death.
Authorities in the Brazilian city of São Paulo are investigating the death 11-year-old child actress Millena Brandão
Doctors performed a CT scan and told to the family of child actress Millena Brandão that she had a brain tumor. A biopsy is pending
‘The doctors still haven’t said what really happened to my daughter and what killed her,’ Brandão’s mother, Thays, told the outlet.
‘We don’t know what killed her.’
A copy of the girl’s death certificate obtained by G1 showed that Brandão’s ‘death [is yet] to be clarified’ and that her body ‘awaits complementary exams.’
The outlet also reviewed a cadaver referral form in which a Grajaú General Hospital doctor indicated that Brandão had a ‘sudden death, with no apparent determining cause.’
The document noted that Brandão ‘died during a 4-day hospital stay’ and was in a ‘coma’ and ‘circulatory shock’ when she was admitted.
It also showed that she had an ‘expansive process’ tied to her central nervous system, according to a scan that was done April 29.
The form showed that it found a ‘neoplastic differential diagnosis,’ which can be the development of an abnormal tissue that is either benign or malignant.
Brandão initially fell ill April 24 and was treated at the state-run Pedreira General Hospital by a doctor, who treated her for a headache and informed her mother that the girl had ‘dengue fever’ without performing any tests.
Millena Brandão made her children’s soap opera debut on Brazilian television network SBT in October 2023
On April 26, she was unable to attend a modeling event because of pain in her leg and went back to Pedreira General Hospital, where tests were inconclusive and doctors recommended home rest.
Brandão was on her way to church with her family on April 27 when she complained of headaches, drowsiness and a lack of appetite and returned home.
She fainted in her bathroom after having dinner at home on April 28 and was taken to Maria Antonieta Urgent Care Facility.
While tests showed that that she did not have COVID-19, H1N1 or dengue fever, doctors found that she had ‘a urinary tract infection’ and placed her on medication.
Brandão was transferred to Granjaú General Hospital the morning of April 29 and had to be intubated after she suffered her first cardiac arrest.
Doctors performed a CT scan and suggested to the family that she had a brain tumor.
Pedreira General Hospital said in a statement that it has opened an internal investigation.
‘She was evaluated by the pediatrician on duty and medicated according to the symptoms reported,’ the medical facility said.
Her parent’s, Luiz and Thays Brandão, have said that doctors were unable to tell them what led to the death of their 11-year-old daughter Millena
Brandão first fell ill April 24 and suffered 13 heart attacks
Grajaú General Hospital said in its own statement that Brandão arrived at the facility and was suspected to be brain-dead.
‘The patient arrived at the unit on 04/29/2025 in critical condition, with signs of severe neurological impairment. Although regulation was initially authorized, the medical team assessed that transport represented a high risk to the child’s life at that time,’ the hospital said.
Brandão made her children’s soap opera debut on the Brazilian television network SBT in October 2023.
She appeared as an extra on ‘A infância de Romeu e Julieta’ (Romeo and Juliet’s Childhood) and ‘A Caverna Encantada (The Enchanted Cave).
