The case, processed by the legal services of the association El Defensor del Paciente, reveals serious medical negligence. The woman was admitted to the hospital with severe abdominal pain and vomiting, and was diagnosed with acute biliary pancreatitis, with immediate admission ordered.
However, due to a lack of available beds in hospitalization wards or treatment rooms, the patient was placed in a waiting box. This wait, which should have been monitored, turned into a fatal isolation.
For 36 hours, from 00:12 on the day of her admission until 07:32 the following day, the patient received no attention whatsoever. The file reveals that no vital signs were taken, nor were any analyses or additional examinations performed during this period.
It is in no way acceptable for a patient to remain a day and a half in a box without any doctor or nurse even approaching.
The neglect was such that the medical staff did not realize the woman had died until it was too late for any resuscitation efforts. Acute pancreatitis, which requires constant monitoring due to the risk of organ failure, progressed without the necessary intensive treatment.
The association El Defensor del Paciente, represented by lawyers Ica Aznar Congost and Juan Carlos Montealegre Bello, has described the action as “unacceptable,” stating that the death was “unnecessary” and a result of “absolute passivity.” The financial agreement was reached within the framework of an administrative claim procedure against public healthcare.
