Spain.- An Italian woman, 46 years old, was compensated with more than 470,000 euros after having undergone almost five years of aggressive oncological treatments for a cancer that never existed, in what the Justice qualified as a serious medical error with devastating physical, emotional and labor consequences.
The Florence Court of Appeal issued a ruling considered historic by raising the permanent invalidity recognized to the patient from 40% to 60% and increasing the economic compensation from 295,000 to more than 470,000 euros. The court emphasized not only the bodily and psychological damage, but also the functional and professional harm suffered by the woman, whose daily life was profoundly altered.
The facts date back to 2007, when the patient went to the Hospital of Volterra to undergo a routine orthopedic intervention. During the pre-operative tests, the doctors detected a supposed anomaly in the white blood cell count, which led to postponing the surgery and sending the results to the University Hospital of Pisa.
After several bone marrow and intestinal biopsies, specialists diagnosed a MALT-type non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a slow-growing cancer that usually occurs in the intestine. Convinced that she was suffering from a serious illness, the woman began a long cycle of chemotherapy, corticosteroids, and steroids, treatments that lasted for almost five years.
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During that time, he suffered from chronic fatigue, constant discomfort, physical limitations, and profound psychological distress. Added to this were the side effects of corticosteroids and steroids, which ended up affecting his autonomy and emotional stability. The sentence highlights the “extraordinary anguish and suffering” that living for five years with the constant fear of dying from a terminal illness entailed.
The impact was also felt in her work life. The woman, who worked as an insurance agent, was forced to drastically reduce her professional activity and even temporarily lost her driver’s license due to her health condition.
Everything changed in 2011, when she decided to request a second medical opinion at a hospital in Genoa. After new tests and biopsies, the specialists concluded that there was no cancer. For years, she had been treated for a non-existent pathology.
The affected person initially attempted an out-of-court settlement with the responsible hospital, but in the absence of a response, she went to court. The University Hospital of Pisa defended its actions, alleging the complexity of the clinical picture and the supposed adequacy of the treatments applied.
However, an expert opinion was conclusive: there was no evidence to support the diagnosis of lymphoma or to justify the administration of aggressive therapies for four years. The patient’s symptoms were not compatible with the diagnosed disease and the treatments proved unnecessary and harmful.
The Court of Appeal emphasized the importance of “personalization of the damage,” recognizing that prolonged medical error can completely alter a person’s existence, and fully justified the increase in compensation for the suffering experienced.
