Man to receive €100,000 compensation in Torrevieja health centre action

COMPENSATION of €100,000 has been awarded to a patient after a failed diagnosis.

The health insurance company UTE Torrevieja Health has agreed to pay compensation to the patient of Torrevieja’s La Loma health centre following “an error” in the early detection of stomach cancer. 

The Patient Ombudsman said that the settlement was closed and the agreement ends the legal proceedings initiated by the complaint of “negligent health care” brought about by the 51 year-old male resident of Torrevieja.

He presented himself to the health centre and was treated between November 2010 and December 2012 eight times for problems with impaired digestion and abdomen pains but complained the doctor never investigated the reasons behind his suffering.

It wasn’t until January 1, 2013, when he was admitted to the University Health Care Complex of Leon during a holiday, that he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour of the stomach. He had to have part of his stomach, spleen and diaphragm and oesophagus removed. He filed a lawsuit against La Loma health centre saying the delay of diagnosis and treatment of cancer was “clearly negligent.”