SAS ordered to pay 107,366 euros to family of woman who died due to medical error at hospital on Costa del Sol

The patient was admitted to the health facility with terminal pancreatic cancer when a procedure was administered incorrectly which caused sepsis

Eugenio Cabezas

Torre del Mar

Tuesday, 25 March 2025, 23:29

The Junta de Andalucía's Servicio Andaluz de Salud public health service (SAS) has been ordered to pay 107,366 euros to the family of a woman who died as a result of a medical error at the Hospital de la Axarquía in Torre del Mar on the eastern Costa del Sol on 20 September 2014.

The woman was suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer and was admitted to hospital on 12 September 2014. According to a report to which SUR has had access, "On 19 September a doctor prescribed the administration of an enema, which was carried out by a nurse and an assistant without either of them noticing that the patient had a colostomy bag even though she did not have a colostomy. What she really had was a drainage due to a persistent biliary fistula which was incompatible with the enema in the area where it was carried out, the appropriate route being the rectal route."

The ruling included a forensic doctor's report which determined that although the fundamental cause of the patient's death was pancreatic cancer, "the immediate cause was the improper placement of the enema through the biliary fistula and that this error caused the entry of anomalous material into the abdomen and pancreas, causing sepsis which led to immediate death".

The report issued on 8 March 2021 by the Hospital Comarcal de la Axarquía acknowledged that on 19 December 2014 "the doctor prescribed an enema and that the nurse, when administering it, confused the biliary fistula with the colostomy and that, when she realised the error, she informed the doctor responsible for the patient, who observed her and gave her antibiotic treatment". However, in the afternoon, the patient's condition deteriorated, starting with a fever, and she died the following day.

In view of these reports, the advisory council of the SAS considered that "there is an unequivocal causal link between the damage alleged and the health care provided to the claimants". The claimants requested 134,207.73 euros. However, the administration proposed a reduction of the compensation, citing the opinion of the advisory council 480/2023 which states that in compensation "it is necessary to take into account the patient's previous pathologies, their age or their predisposition to suffer certain illnesses or that their physical or mental condition may enhance the harmful effects."

The report went on to say this "does not allow us to ignore that the forensic report states that the fundamental cause of the patient's death was pancreatic cancer", although "the immediate cause was the improper placement of the enema causing sepsis which led to immediate death”.

Therefore, "a favourable opinion is given on the proposal for a decision partially upholding the claim for financial liability made against the Andalusian Health Service".

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