Distraught father speaks out after daughter dies from undiagnosed peritonitis

Ramón Martínez has spoken out after his daughter died from undiagnosed peritonitis despite making three visits to the local hospital´s emergency section.

Speaking to 20minutos on Saturday, February 11 Martinez said that doctors had robbed his daughter of the chance to play games, to tell jokes and to enjoy life.

He said that he and his wife Beatriz Gascó are speaking with lawyers about the incident after doctors at the outpatient clinic in Viver in Castellon failed to diagnose and treat her.

He said she was suffering from abdominal pain, was vomiting and had a fever. But the doctor sent them home after a little poke around suggesting she may have a virus or something ovarian.

He continued saying: “We left, but the girl didn’t get better. In fact, it got worse. She didn’t eat, she was in a lot of pain.

“On Thursday, my wife returned to Viver’s emergency room, and the doctor didn’t even get up from his chair. Nor did he touch Emma. He didn’t give her anything.

“When he saw the history, he asked my wife what he was doing there and told her that they had already explained that it was a virus and could last eight days.

“I was travelling and, when I came back, she was in a bad way. She hadn’t eaten and I don’t know if she would have slept for almost a week.”

On Saturday he decided to take her to the Emergency Department of the Hospital of Sagunto. She had a 38.8 fever and after explaining her situation, they performed a urine test and examined her.

“According to the doctor, it seemed that everything was fine.”

This despite her tongue being very white and, given the possibility that it was a fungus, they gave her a syrup and sent them home.

“The next day was critical. Unable to move, I picked her up to take her to the hospital and along the way she suffered cardiorespiratory arrest.

“From there, they did CPR, adrenaline, electrodes… SAMUR arrived in twelve minutes and stabilized it in five more. It seemed that she was stable, but in the Clinical Hospital of Valencia, where they transferred her, her heart stopped again.”

He said they asked whether she had eaten anything before doing an ultrasound. That revealed peritonitis so they rushed her into the operating theatre where she died.

Martinez wants no one else to suffer the same fate.

He said: “At Viver Medical Center, I don’t know if there’s an ultrasound. Maybe not.

But the Hospital of Sagunto must have and so why was one not done or even a blood test?

“All this happens when I am telling you that my daughter has not eaten for almost six days and with continuous sharp pain in her stomach. Is that going to be from menstruation or gastroenteritis? No, for God’s sake. Discard the most dangerous first.”

Promising to do what is necessary, he said you can understand one mistake, but two or three is negligence.

He finished by saying that he doesn´t know if he has the strength to go through what has to be done, with his wife distraught and constantly breaking down. Adding: “we must fight to clarify this.”

The young girl´s parents are distraught at the loss of their daughter and cannot understand how she could die from undiagnosed peritonitis when they took her to the clinic multiple times.

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