Insurance company ordered to pay more than 137,000 euros following death of a patient in Marbella

The provincial court of Malaga has ordered a medical insurance company to compensate the family of a 75-year-old patient who lost her life due to a serious haemorrhage that was not controlled, resulting in kidney failure. The company, Segurcaixa Adeslas, will have to pay 137,426 euros in damages to the patient's husband and daughter, according to the ruling, to which SUR has had access.

The deceased, who was already suffering from various ailments, suffered a fall in France on 18 March 2019, and was diagnosed by CT scan with a non-displaced sacral fracture with haematoma. She attended the emergency department of a private hospital in Marbella on 26 April the same year due to the pain she was experiencing and the presence of lumbar bruising. She was discharged after an initial assessment with a diagnosis of lumbago.

In this case, in which the woman's family has been assisted by the lawyer Damián Vázquez of the patient's ombudsman, they denounced that despite the fact that on this occasion she already showed signs of severe anaemia, acute kidney failure, extensive bruising and progressive deterioration, "the medical care was manifestly deficient".

The woman was discharged without any measures being taken to contain the haemorrhage, nor were more detailed studies carried out. After a few hours, the patient had to be readmitted to the hospital “due to a worsening of her clinical condition, evidence of active bleeding and multiple organ failure,” according to the patient ombudsman.

The patient's condition worsened and, according to the ruling, "none of the recommended measures were adopted in response to a large expanding haematoma that was compressing the bladder and causing a functional impairment". "This led to severe anaemia and kidney failure, since the haemorrhage the patient was experiencing was causing prerenal kidney failure.” In this regard, it stresses that, after observing that the treatment was not proving effective, “a conservative approach continued to be taken, and no further measures were adopted".

She finally died on the morning of 29 April, which, according to the ruling, happened without "the correct and adequate techniques" being applied, which prevented the correct treatment from being put in place to prevent the woman's condition from worsening. This, the judges insist, "caused serious harm that led to the death of the patient, accrediting the evident causal link between the action/omission of the medical action and the harmful result".

The medical insurer will have to respond since, according to the contract, it not only acted as an intermediary, but also had to guarantee the effective provision of medical services to its insured, as has been reiterated in the case law of the supreme court. Thus, with this ruling, the compensation of 137,426 euros has been confirmed.

The company will also have to pay interest, which could amount to more than 273,500 euros as of today, according to the ombudsman.