The president of the doctors of Melilla resigns, investigated for the death of a patient | Society

The president of the Medical Association of Melilla, Mohamed Benazzouz, has submitted the resignation of the charge for "strictly personal reasons," according to a statement made public this morning by the entity. The ad comes alone three days after EL PAÍS revealed that Benazzouz, who took office just six weeks ago, was being investigated in a court of Melilla for "homicide for professional imprudence" in a case related to the death of a patient in the regional hospital of Melilla.

Benazzouz is one of the five hospital professionals investigated for the death in June 2014 of Francisca Gutiérrez, 59 years old, after suffering an allergic reaction to the iodinated contrast used to perform a CT scan in the area of ​​the kidney.

According to the briefs of the Office of the Prosecutor and reports included in the summary of the case, the health center failed to take the necessary measures to avoid these incidents. In the first place, according to the family, Gutiérrez was not asked about this allergy when she arrived with her relatives at the emergency service on June 9 of that year, which prevented her from wearing the bracelet that should alert her of hypersensitivity to the contrast. .

Subsequently, and despite the fact that the allergy was recorded twice in the clinical history, Benazzouz prescribed the TAC without filling in the flyer the box in which these risks should be stated. The doctor, who today declined to speak with this newspaper, explained a few days ago that from his position as emergency doctor he had no way of knowing that Gutiérrez was allergic: "When I started the shift that morning [del 10 de junio], she was already admitted. There was no allergy in the clinical sheets. She did not say anything either. Then I knew that the last entry that was on it in the clinical history dated from 2005, "he said.

Finally, the Prosecutor's Office criticizes that Gutiérrez was not informed in writing of the risks of the TAC before its realization. "There is no evidence that the patient gave written consent to the practice of the test," says the public prosecutor, who complains that "the hospital is limited to say that the patient was informed of her verbally."

Doctors at the hospital say Gutiérrez did not notify her that she was allergic when she was told that the contrast was going to be applied. The family maintains that "in any case it was the doctors' responsibility to look at the medical history." "My mother was not in very good health, she was diabetic, had suffered more than one stroke and had other ailments, she had had many tests," explains Marina, her daughter. "That day, besides, she was not well, she had been admitted to the hospital with vomiting and pain in her side, she had slept badly, she was 59. She can not be blamed for something that was the doctors' obligation," she adds.

The reports included in the summary of the case and collected by the prosecutor detail what happened after the test: "Upon leaving the Radiology service, [la paciente] he began to present symptoms of respiratory insufficiency, hemodynamic instability and progressive deterioration, "the documents stated." His condition progressively worsened, finally presenting a multiorgan failure that caused his death "after being admitted 35 days in the ICU, the text follows.

A letter from the Institute of Legal Medicine of Melilla considers that "without a doubt, there is some causal link between the Administration of the radiological contrast medium [...] and the appearance of complications that led to the final outcome. "