Gema Maldonado Cantero
This week it was known judgment which condemns the La Paz University Hospital to compensate the family of the victim with just over 218,000 euros. Dr. Joaquín Díaz Domínguezhead of the General Surgery and Digestive System Service of the center, died in the first wave of covid-19. The sentence, which is not final and will be appealed, according to sources from the hospital itself, concludes that the center incurred a negligence by omission by not providing adequate prevention measures.
This is not the first time that a court has ruled in this sense, recognizing the occupational contagion by covid-19 of a healthcare professional and responsibility that the company has for not making available measures to prevent it. Last August, the Valencian justice system confirmed a previous ruling that had condemned the Ministry of Health to compensate a family doctor with almost 30,000 euros who spent more than a month hospitalized after contracting Covid-19 at her workplace.
The sentence, which will be appealed, condemns the La Paz Hospital to compensate the family of Dr. Joaquín Díaz Domínguez because the center incurred negligence by omission by not providing preventive measures
Table of Contents
- The sentence, which will be appealed, condemns the La Paz Hospital to compensate the family of Dr. Joaquín Díaz Domínguez because the center incurred negligence by omission by not providing preventive measures
- The head of the Madrid hospital was infected on March 12, 2020 and it was proven that he had been treating patients during those days
- The precedent is a firm ruling from the Valencian justice system that condemned the Ministry of Health to compensate a doctor who spent more than a month hospitalized for covid-19 with almost 30,000 euros.
The reasons were the same as those of the opinion of the head of the La Paz service: the lack of security measures, the responsibility of which falls on the center or the Administration that hired them and which must ensure their safety. Furthermore, both imply the recognition of occupational contagion, that is, were infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the course of their work.
The case of La Paz
The ruling regarding Dr. Joaquín Díaz Domínguez, issued by the Social Section of the Court of Instance 28 of Madrid, considers it proven that he was exposed to the virus in the exercise of his work and indicates that it was the March 12, 2020even before the state of alarm was declared, when got infected. At that time, there were already clear guidelines from health authorities, including the WHO, on the need to adopt urgent preventive measures.
The head of the Madrid hospital was infected on March 12, 2020 and it was proven that he had been treating patients during those days
The hospital itself had already certified that they were an occupational disease resulting from work, according to the ruling, and it had been proven that the doctor had been treating patients during the first days of the pandemic. The ruling mentions that Dr. Díaz Domínguez had repeatedly requested instructions from the hospital on preventionbut claims that the hospital did not provide them in a clear and concrete way.
Indications on aspects such as the maximum number of attendees at meetings, whether they had to be suspended or what protection measures to adopt were “generic, ambiguous and lacking concreteness”as reported by the Judiciary in a statement. There was also no training on how to prevent Covid-19 nor was personal protective equipment provided, the ruling adds.
The court determines that the hospital incurred “negligent conduct by omission” and bases the conviction on the violation of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law and Royal Decree 664/1997 on exposure to biological agents. He understands that there is a direct causal relationship between the preventive omission and the contagion that finally ended with the death of the specialist. Finally, the opinion determines that the hospital will have to compensate the widow with 154,661 euros and 21,300 euros for each of the three daughters.
The precedent is a firm ruling from the Valencian justice system that condemned the Ministry of Health to compensate a doctor who spent more than a month hospitalized for covid-19 with almost 30,000 euros.
Previous similar
Something very similar is what the magistrates of the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) that confirmed the sentence of a Valencia court for the demand for a family doctor for damages against the Department of Health. The doctor, who worked in a health center in Sagunto (Valencia), was infected with covid-19, with a positive PCR, on March 16, 2020. The infection led her to be admitted to the hospital, where she spent four days in resuscitation and four more weeks in the ICU with bilateral pneumonia.
In this case, it was the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) that determined that the origin of the leave was a labor contingency and, later, the Labor Inspection considered that the company was responsible for not implementing the necessary security measures, as indicated by the Judiciary in a note.
The magistrates considered that the damage suffered “It had its origin in the contagion of the virus (…) that generated the period of temporary disability and the consequences that are reflected in the proven facts of the lower court ruling”. The sentence, which is not appealable“establishes the causal relationship” between their work at the health center and contagion and the lack of prevention and occupational health measures. The sentence in that case fell on the Ministry, which had to compensate the family doctor with 29,939 euros for damages.
