The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has sentenced the Community of Madrid to compensate with 150,000 euros a 32-year-old patient who contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) when taking a CT test with contrast at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in 2018.

In a judgment dated February 23, the Contentious-Administrative Chamber partially estimates the patient's appeal against the dismissal of a previous lawsuit, in which she requested 400,000 euros from the Madrid Health Service (Sermas) for the "damages derived from the iatrogenic inoculation of the HIV virus", as eldiario.es has advanced.

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According to the ruling, to which Efe has had access, the plaintiff, who is a dentist by profession, was subjected to the CT test with contrast on September 18, 2018 after having been operated on the previous June for an ovarian carcinoma by laparoscopy in a private hospital and being subjected to chemotherapy.

After testing positive for HIV the following December, and filing a claim with the Community of Madrid in December 2019, the response of the Health Inspection was that "the patient suffered an HIV infection that has not been causally related to the care received at the Gregorio Marañón General University Hospital (HGUGM)", and that in addition "the evolution has been satisfactory and the viral load became undetectable".

Likewise, "it cannot be ruled out that HIV infection is related to her activity as a dentist or to the care received in private centers", according to the Health Inspectorate for whom "the care provided in HGUGM has been adequate and in accordance with the lex artis".

However, an expert medical report presented by the plaintiff's defense has concluded that this patient "suffered a contagion during the different therapeutic and surgical medical acts carried out at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital", since in July 2018 the patient had "a negative analysis for HIV".

In addition, this report ensures that the results "of viral load and CD4 lymphocyte count, place them in the first part of the evolution of U1H infection. Making hospital contagion much more likely", and discarding the suspicion of transfusion-borne infection.

Given that between August and November 2018 there had been five infections of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) during CT tests with contrast carried out consecutively on the same day in the Gregorio Marañón, the analytical tests of all patients submitted to a CT scan with contrast were requested on September 17 and 18, 2018.

This HCV outbreak has "a period from late August to November 2018. Which brings us fully to the overlap of the date of performance of thoraco-abdomen CT with contrast" to which the plaintiff submitted on 18/09/2018, the judgment continues.

Also, "three HIV-positive patients have been detected. As we can see, there was an HIV-positive patient (238) the day before the thoraco-abdomen-pelvic CT test with contrast" of the plaintiff, and "another patient on the same day of the procedure (139). These two patients are more likely to have been the source of contagion," according to the expert report.

The judgment adds that, in an analysis carried out on the plaintiff "on 03/12/2018 there is positive serology for HIV and HCV with subsequent serological confirmation analysis for HIV and HCV on 05/12/2018 also positive and levels of CD4 lymphocytes 329 (35%)".

For the above, the expert reaffirms that "the source and cause of contagion has its direct cause in the health care provided at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital".

Given this, the Administration replied that a report from the head of the hospital's Preventive Medicine Service, dated 18/10/2021, indicates "expressly that none of the three patients coincided in the same room and shift" as the affected patient.

However, "the existence of two positive cases of HIV on the date on which the CT scan was performed on the plaintiff and the recognition by the Administration of failures in the work procedures (which determined the outbreak of hepatitis C infection) lead us to consider plausible the hypothesis that the plaintiff was infected as a result of this test", according to the judgment.

"It is appropriate to partially uphold the contentious-administrative appeal filed against the dismissal" of the claim for an amount of 400,000 euros for "the hospital contagion of HIV and cause of this disease during the care received at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital, and compensation of 150,000 euros is set.

  • Health
  • Community of Madrid
  • Infectious diseases

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