“It was very hard to hear from doctors in our country that they could not do anything for our daughter’s life,” the parents recall.
The Murcian Health Service (SMS) will have to pay around 400,000 euros to the parents of a girl from Murcia, Lucía, affected by congenital heart disease. In 2015 her parents, Juan Bernal and Inma Mompeán, decided to go to a hospital in the American city of Boston – Boston Children’s Hospital – to save the life of her little girl, who is now ten years old. After a legal battle that has lasted longer than necessary, the Social Chamber of the Supreme Court has confirmed and declared final the previous sentence of the Social Court number 2 of Murcia that forced the Administration to pay the expenses that it entailed for this family the treatment of the minor and the displacement to that country (350,000 euros plus interest). “It is a great relief for all the human and monetary effort we have had to make to pay for Lucia’s operations,” they underline.
This “cheerful and smiling” girl was born in 2012 with a complex congenital heart disease and had to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Virgen de la Arrixaca Hospital in Murcia. After numerous tests, and due to the lack of adequate treatment at the center, Lucía was referred, at 54 days of life, to the San Joan de Deu hospital in Barcelona. There she was diagnosed with pulmonary atresia and another battle of doctors began to try to tackle the problem that afflicted the minor.
Despite the treatment, according to the resolution, the minor’s state of health did not improve, indicating to the parents that the only thing they could do was palliative treatment. Faced with this situation, Juan and Inma decided, after consulting with the Pediatric Cardiology Unit of the Arrixaca Hospital, to go to the La Paz Hospital in Madrid.
The toilets of this center tried again to solve Lucía’s ailment with a new catheterization but, once this was done, they concluded that they did not have sufficient means to save the life of the little girl. A final visit by specialists gave these parents a name: Boston Children’s Hospital, a reference center in the American city that could give this family some hope.
Lucía arrived at the American hospital in 2015 and there she underwent a series of interventions that made it possible for her to study in fourth grade today. She needs support teachers and goes to an Early Intervention center but, the family emphasizes, she is achieving goals and continues by her side. The sentence itself, now final, highlights that this pathology was fatal in 50% during the first year of life and, at ten years of age, untreated patients only have a survival rate of 5%.
“It was very hard, as parents, to have to hear from several doctors in our country that they could not do anything for our daughter’s life,” recall Juan and Inma. When Dr. Del Nido opened a door for them in Boston, they did not hesitate. “The main problem was money, we were not able to afford that expense, but our daughter’s life depended on this operation, so we asked for help from their family, friends, companies, associations, sports clubs, as well as people who, without knowing us, wanted to help us». This couple stresses that they will be “eternally grateful” to all those who helped them. “Thanks to all of them his heart continues to beat.” The parents also express their gratitude to their lawyer, José Antonio Cascales, for “his closeness in processing the procedure and his professional and personal support over all these years.”
the only one on the planet
The Social Court number 2 of Murcia upheld the demand for Social Security procedure that the parents filed against the Murcian Health Service to try to recover the money that it cost them to treat Lucía. “It is evident that if the public health of our country lacked the means and techniques that were applied in the Boston Hospital and that have saved Lucia’s life, the actions of the parents were not arbitrary or capricious”, remarked the magistrate Mariano Gascon. “When they don’t get a response that would lead to the healing of her daughter, they go to the only hospital center on the entire planet where she could be cured.”
The regional administration appealed this decision before the Superior Court of Justice and the Supreme Court alleging that it was an exceptional medical treatment, that it could not be provided by the national health system and that therefore it was outside its coverage, but the argument did not prosper and the sentence is now final.
The lawyer argues that “the life of a girl was at stake”
The lawyer José Antonio Cascales, who represents the family, remarks that “I understood the commission to be carried out intimately linked to the personal aspect, since literally the life of a girl was at stake.” The lawyer maintains that he held meetings with the manager of the Murcian Health Service, with the Minister of Health and with the Committee on Petitions and Defense of the Citizen of the Regional Assembly in order to seek an amicable solution. «We knew that the Galician Health Service and the Aragón Health Service had financed or reintegrated two families in identical situations for assistance abroad; however, although the treatment was very correct, no one ended up giving us an answer to these requests », he specifies.
With this victory in hand, Cascales emphasizes that the legal component of the resolution is “highly gratifying”, but also its emotional aspect. “This component of helping those who need it, without a doubt, ennobles our work as lawyers,” he concludes.
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