Man dies after multiple misdiagnoses in Malaga

ANDRES MARTINEZ CHICA was 74 years old when he tragically died on March 23 after almost two months in intensive care.

His daughters are now lodging a complaint against Malaga hospital ‘Clinico Universitario’ for negligence and incompetence when dealing with their father, after he received two false diagnoses before dying from heart failure.

It all started when Martinez felt unwell and called emergency services. He was seen by a medical team who told him he was suffering from a cold and refused to transfer him to a hospital.

Rosa Martinez recalled that when her father’s condition hadn’t improved and he began to complain of chest pains, she took him into A&E where doctors again diagnosed a bad cold, sending him home with antibiotics.  

However, just two days later Martinez was back in the emergency room with his family. Doctors immediately took him away, running tests and diagnosing him with metastatic lung cancer. He spent the next 48 hours bedridden.

On February 1, as the situation worsened, Martinez was transferred to the intensive care unit where he remained until his death.

The girls are satisfied with the care their father received from nurses and doctors, but cannot understand how emergency room staff confused heart failure with a common cold, or even lung cancer, when Andres was complaining of very specific chest pains.

Staff at the clinic have extended their greatest sympathies and regret to the Martinez family, adding that hospital management are reviewing the case carefully to verify exactly what led to such serious failures.