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Date Published: 27/04/2022

ARCHIVED - Family of toddler who died after series of medical errors at Torrevieja Hospital to be awarded 250,000 euros

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The Provincial Court of Madrid has upheld a ruling that Torrevieja Hospital was responsible for the death of a two-year-old child

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Family of toddler who died after series of medical errors at Torrevieja Hospital to be awarded 250,000 euros

The Provincial Court of Madrid has ordered MAPFRE insurance company to pay 250,000 euros to the family of a two-and-a-half-year-old boy who died following "repeated medical errors" at Lo Marabú health centre in Rojales and Torrevieja Hospital.

The child was diagnosed with infectious gastroenteritis on October 18 2018. Six days later he was treated for a cold with fever and on November 5 he was found to be suffering from otitis externa, an acute infection of the skin of the ear canal, and a fever. Three weeks later, he was diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis, after being treated for fever and vomiting and a gait condition that was not reported.

That same day, he had to be rushed to Torrevieja Hospital's emergency department, and after a cranial CAT scan and a lumbar puncture, with a clinical diagnosis of brain tissue inflammation, he died on November 27 while intubated. The paediatric autopsy ruled encephalitis - inflammation of the active tissues of the brain caused by an infection or an autoimmune response - the cause of death.

Also read: Calls for the resignation of new management at Torrevieja Hospital

A court in Majadahonda found that there had been several medical errors which led to the child's death and ruled that the hospital's insurer MAPFRE compensate the family in December 2020. The insurer appealed, but the court in Madrid favoured the original findings.

According to the judge, "the medical care given to the child at Torrevieja Hospital was not in accordance with good practice".

He concluded that "the delay in assessing the symptoms, which had been evident since November 26, and the delay in treating the cerebral oedema were the cause of the child's death, which could have been avoided with good medical action".

The ruling can now only be overturned through a successful appeal at the Supreme Court.

Now read: Costa Blanca emergency services urge caution after surge in rescues and five deaths over Easter

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