Spanish prosecution requests three years jail for two dentists and anaesthetist from Valencia for manslaughter

The family of Amadeo Anca, who died at the age of 54 after a simple dental implant procedure in 2023, are still fighting for justice.

The prosecution is requesting three years in prison and a four-year ban on professional practice for each of the three defendants: two dentists and an anaesthetist. It considers them guilty of manslaughter due to gross professional negligence.

"He was going to get implants and they let him bleed to death for six hours," Amadeo's widow, Liliana, said.

The autopsy report confirms that the cause of death was hypovolemic shock due to a ruptured artery following a complication in the dental implant procedure. It concludes that neither the medical staff at the Vericat clinic nor the anaesthetist diagnosed the bleeding in his oral cavity and that the delay in transferring the patient to the hospital led to his death.

The private prosecutor has requested, in addition to the three years in prison and four years of disqualification, another year and a half in prison for a crime of omission of the duty to provide assistance.

The events occurred on 16 May 2023. Amadeo Anca went to the Vericat centre in Valencia for a dental implant procedure.

He and his wife, who lived in Benidorm, arrived at the dental clinic in Valencia at 8am. Amadeo went into the operating room. The surgery lasted almost four hours. When Liliana tried to check on how everything had gone, she was denied entry.

Something hadn't gone well, even though they tried to convince her that everything was normal. "They told me that because of the anaesthesia I had to wait about an hour," Liliana said.

She decided to take a walk around the centre with her seven-year-old daughter to kill some time. Upon returning, she noticed that the situation had taken a turn for the worse. The staff asked if she had a spare piece of clothing to change her husband, suggesting that "he had gotten a little blood on him".

When she returned from the car with a clean T-shirt, Liliana saw Amadeo in a state of extreme physical weakness, to the point that "four people were carrying him to the bathroom". "I told my sister that we weren't going to leave because something wasn't right," Liliana said.

Amadeo Anca's physical condition deteriorated rapidly in front of his family and the clinic's staff. The anaesthetist had already left, negligent to the patient's postoperative progress.

According to medical reports, Amadeo was experiencing a constant loss of blood, exhibiting active bleeding from both his mouth and nostrils. Given the severity of what she was witnessing, Liliana pressed the clinic staff about the cause of the bleeding.

They downplayed the symptoms, assuring her that it was a common reaction and that the adverse effects would dissipate quickly. "Everything went very well," they told Liliana.

Amadeo, however, told his wife that "he felt very ill, dizzy, very weak and dazed". Liliana told the staff, but they kept telling her not to worry.

Time passed without any emergency medical measures. At 2pm, Amadeo began to verbalise serious difficulty breathing normally. He even said goodbye to his wife. "He knew he was going to die," Liliana said.

She demanded the intervention of the emergency services. "He can't breathe properly. Call an ambulance. I'd rather see a doctor than have him waiting here," she told the staff.

The clinic staff allegedly refused her request for medical assistance. The solution they offered Liliana was to go to a supermarket and buy Amadeo an ice cream to reduce the swelling. Amadeo couldn't even eat and he continued bleeding.

At 5pm, after confirming that the patient had been bleeding from his mouth and nose for five consecutive hours, the staff suggested an alternative transfer. They proposed that Liliana take her husband to the hospital herself using her sister's car.

"Take him if you want peace of mind," they told her. Advised by her sister, who warned her that if she took him herself they would no longer be responsible, Liliana refused.

At 6pm, the anaesthetist's son arrived at the centre and examined the patient. He decided to put him on oxygen. "When a person is fine, you don't give them oxygen. It didn't make sense," Liliana said.

Barely an hour after his admission to the hospital, Amadeo died at 9pm. Forensic examiners determined that an artery had been accidentally perforated during the placement of dental implants, causing him to bleed slowly and progressively internally due to the inaction of the professionals.

Liliana is convinced that, because her husband worked in the nightlife industry, the defendants expected the toxicology reports to reveal something they could use to "tarnish his name" and deflect criminal responsibility. The medical results, however, completely dismantled any attempt at a defence based on pre-existing conditions or risky substance use. The forensic report confirmed that Amadeo was a perfectly healthy man who exercised regularly and led an entirely normal work and personal life.

Amadeo's death left his wife utterly destitute, forced to single-handedly raise and support their two children, as well as cover all mortgage payments and household expenses.

The public prosecution is requesting that the insurance companies compensate the widow with 107,123 euros. The private prosecution is requesting one million euros.

What hurts Liliana the most is not having received even the slightest gesture of remorse from the dental clinic. "To this day, I'm still waiting for them to say 'We're sorry' or 'Do you need anything for your children?' No one has ever cared about anything."

They have even systematically refused to reimburse her the money the family had paid for the surgery, claiming that there is still no final criminal conviction that compels them to do so. The clinic remains open and the defendants still perform procedures like the one that cost Amadeo his life.