Grieving father arrested for threatening doctor in Spain

POLICE arrested the grieving father of a child cancer victim for threatening a doctor and criminal damage.

The paediatric oncologist had been treating the man’s daughter at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Torrecardenas hospital. Sadly the child died. When the doctor informed the immediate family of the tragic news the father reacted by punching the wall and hitting the furniture and nearby flowerpots.

At the same time the man verbally attacked the doctor, repeatedly threatening to kill him and blaming him for his daughter’s death.

The doctor reported the incident to police. Officers arrested the father a few days later, reporting they had waited until after the child’s funeral and to “as much as possible” allow the family some time to come to terms with their loss.

This was the ninth arrest made by police in Almeria since last September in connection with acts of aggression aimed at hospital and health centre staff.