The TSJA upholds the appeal of a Málaga family and condemns the SAS to compensate with €75,906.22 for a delay of over seven months in diagnosing multiple myeloma in a patient who died in 2019.
The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) has ordered the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) to compensate the family of a man who died in 2019 after a delay of more than seven months in diagnosing multiple myeloma with €75,906.22. The Administrative Litigation Chamber, based in Málaga, upheld the appeal filed by the heirs against the ruling of the Administrative Court number 3 of the capital, dated 20 December 2023, which had denied the compensation.
According to Diario Sur, the patient visited the Emergency Department of the Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria and his GP numerous times between July 2016 and January 2017 for back pain that was treated as mechanical dorsalgia without identifying the cause. Due to the lack of diagnosis, the man turned to private healthcare, where a CT scan detected a tumour mass and a biopsy confirmed the multiple myeloma.
The ruling acknowledges that there was a loss of opportunity akin to the moral damage suffered by the patient and his family. The judgment states that the delay in diagnosing and addressing the disease caused a loss of chances for cure, greater survival, and better quality of life. The court applies the legal doctrine of loss of opportunity, according to which it is not necessary to prove with certainty that an early diagnosis would have prevented death, but it suffices to demonstrate that the delay in care significantly reduced the chances of a better prognosis.
The resolution details that the man experienced increasingly prolonged and intense pain and that the transformation from mechanical to inflammatory pain was not adequately assessed. The late CT scan, performed on 25 April 2017, described a paravertebral mass affecting the left posterior seventh rib arch, the same area where the patient felt pain. The subsequent biopsy confirmed the multiple myeloma.
“The delay in diagnosis of over seven months and addressing the disease has caused him a loss of opportunities, if not for cure, for greater survival and better quality of life,” states the TSJA ruling.
The family has been represented by lawyer Damián Vázquez, affiliated with the legal services of the Patient Defender Association and an expert in health law. Vázquez has highlighted that the court embraces the doctrine of loss of opportunity and described the ruling as “an emotional victory for the family, who receive the news with deep emotion and gratitude for the recognition of their suffering”.
The SAS had dismissed the claim for health liability presented due to the death, which occurred on 26 January 2019, on 27 March 2019. The family then filed an administrative litigation appeal that was rejected at first instance. Now, the Andalusian High Court has ruled in their favour and set the compensation at €40,526 for the mother and €17,699.90 for each of the children.
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