Outrage as Spanish woman dies after calling the health centre for a week with no answer

The death of a Spanish woman who had spent a week calling her local health centre, in Castilla y León, with no answer has sparked outrage among those who knew her and has led them to file a formal complaint.
The family of a 63-year-old woman who died on Tuesday, January 18, at her home in Valladolid has filed a lawsuit against the public health system of Castilla y León (Sacyl) for failing to provide medical assistance after the woman spent an entire week making phone calls to her local health centre without being sent an ambulance.
The association Defensor del Paciente has demanded that the public prosecutor’s office carry out an investigation to try to shed light on the circumstances of the death, as it appears that the woman did not get the help that she had a legal right to receive.
On January 12, the woman began to feel unwell and called 112 to ask for medical assistance. They referred her to her local health centre, but every time she tried to call and make an appointment, she found that the line was busy. She decided to lie down to see if she felt better. According to the statement made by the association, “she had pain in her right arm and she could not feel her hand”.
She continued to make calls over the next few days and took a rapid antigen test from the pharmacy to rule out COVID (it was negative). She tried to get assistance at the speciality centre Arturo Eyries, but she was still unable to get medical assistance.
The woman’s elderly mother found her daughter’s lifeless body after her children tried to contact her via telephone and obtained no answer. The woman’s mother called 112, who refused to act when they understood that the patient was already dead. She then called the police, who sent a doctor from the Casa del Barco health centre to confirm the death, according to the family and the association.
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Written by

Tamsin Brown

Originally from London, Tamsin is based in Malaga and is a local reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering Spanish and international news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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