I have a friend in Madrid who was telling me a story about her mother who went into the hospital for a routine foot ailment - I don't know an ingrown toenail or something - she said that her mother got Hepatitis B in the hospital but it was no big deal this happened all the time. Naturally, being from the land of the lawyers, I was kind of shocked by this news and that no one was being sued.Now this. This is really too much. This guy's wife had swine flu and went to the emergency room at least three times before they finally told her that Oh yeah, you have swine flu. By then it was too late - she died. What else? She was pregnant too. The good news? The baby was born healthy - no swine flu, the bad news? The nurse gave the premature baby milk formula intravenously instead of into the stomach through the nose - Result? Baby dead too.
I can't even begin to understand how this guy feels - but that picture gives me a clue.
6 comments:
I had posted this story (as it was reported on the thinkspain.com website) to Digg.
I had forgotten about the English online version of El Pais)
I had no idea there was a photo.
This image is so strong.
There are no words.
My problems seem so easy all of a time.
all of a sudden.
my words are still catching up.
This story is tragic, disturbing and distressing. It is an outrage.
I read that the nurse involved, the one who killed the baby, that it happened on her FIRST DAY ON THE JOB! Now, how on earth can an extremely inexperienced nurse be assigned to the intensive care neonatal unit? That's gross negligence, on the part of the hospital, right there! In the U.S., that type of position goes to experienced nurses.
What is shocking to me is how quickly the hospital owned up to its colossal mistake, which leads me to believe that getting sued for medical malpractice isn't an issue in Spain. Is this because it is the Spanish government that is on the hook for the negligence and not the actual medical professionals involved?
My two brothers are doctors in the U.S. and the malpractice insurance they have to have is very expensive. In fact, it is frightening how easily a doctor can be sued for medical malpractice in the U.S. due to the "guilty until proven innocent" stance of personal injury attorneys in the U.S. and any doctor whose name is listed on the medical records of a plantiff can be sucked into a lawsuit as part of the initial sweep in building a case of medical malpractice.
I don't get the feeling that the same aggressive personal injury lobby exists in Spain. In fact, I believe I read that the city of Madrid is prepared to pay out something like 600,000 euros to the family. A similar case of such gross malpractice in the U.S. would probably easily garner at least a $20 million settlement, if not millions more.
Obviously, no amount of money can erase the pain and suffering of this husband/father but a multi-millon dollar payout seems more just then a couple euro grand. Also, those kinds of huge payouts generally provoke new safety measures/guidelines to be implemented, etc. to prevent similar tragedies from happening again in the future.
Under the Spanish method of quickly owning up to the mistake and then having the state make a lump sum payout, it's unclear what measures, if any, will be taken to prevent history from repeating itself.
By the way, the photo is of a relative, not of Mohamed, the actual young man who lost his wife and son.
I'm very sure that you are correct, Voices, in regards to lawsuits here. Spain just does not have the culture of lawyers and judgements like in the States. Most of the time I would say that I really like that about Spain, but this time I like what you are saying - that a big lawsuit would make them pay more attention and clean up their act.
Thanks for the clarification on the picture.
El Pais now reporting that a teenager died last year in the same Madrid hospital from the same kind of error.
Teen had just given birth. Everything was fine. Baby needed some eye drops to dilate its pupils so that the docs could check out the baby's eyes. Nurse injected the perfectly healthy mom with a syringe full of eye drop solution.
No one realized the mistake until the mom died, which was 7 hours later. Hospital never publicly acknowledged the incident at the time.
http://bit.ly/L3hBz
I guess to some Europeans the medical profession still appears more as an authority and not as a professional service.
Professional mistakes might not get questioned as much.
But if that had happened to my family - I would have sued the hospital for malpractice as these things should not get swept under the carpet.But I wouldn't even know if I could get a lawyer for that in Germany :P
And true, on the other hand, malpractice insurance is so expensive in the States.
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