The Galician High Court of Justice has just sentenced the Servizo Galego de Saúde (Sergas) for the death of a 56-year-old woman who was not diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors only discovered her ailment when they performed an autopsy on her.
The lawsuit filed alleged that the victim, who lived in Ponteareas, had gone to the different health services 26 times in just three months and that he was only diagnosed with lower back pain, which was treated with painkillers.
Sergas must compensate the family of the deceased with 20,000 euros for the events that happened in 2015, when the woman went to her GP in Ponteareas with severe lower back pain.
They diagnosed him with low back pain and prescribed analgesics, anti-inflammatories and follow-up. But the situation, according to La Voz de Galicia, did not improve. In an X-ray of the spine, no bone lesions were seen, although other types of unclear injuries were observed. But he never had a test of this type again.
After four visits to the hospital emergency room and many others at her health center, the affected woman died in September at her home. The autopsy found a tumor in the lung with metastases in various organs.
The judges point out that not enough tests were done. Even the expert from the Sergas insurer agreed on this. The magistrates say that the result of the first plate “should have led to completing the study with other more precise techniques, such as a CT scan, to rule out other pathologies.”
