A 27 year old mother of two has become the fifth Influenza A fatality in Málaga province in a case not without controversy.
On September 13th, Dolores Gómez Salazar arrived at the hospital at 04:30 complaining of fever (39 degrees), dry cough and muscle pain. Hours later she was diagnosed with retrocardiac pneumonia, treated and was discharged.
Later in the day, her condition not having improved and now vomiting, she returned to the Emergency Room where she was treated for the new symptoms and once again discharged.
Dolores returned again the same day as her conditioned worsened and she now had severe pain in the side of her chest. She was given painkillers and discharged.
At this point the family were very concerned but, confident that the professionals were doing their job, followed their recommendations.
At 00:54 on September14th, Dolores made her fourth visit to the hospital, her condition much worse and her lips now blue. At the insistence of relatives who accompanied her, Dolores was placed under observation where her health continued to deteriorate. Five hours later she was placed in ICU and put on mechanical ventilation.
Only at this stage was a test carried out to check for the Influenza A virus and two days later it was confirmed that Dolores was indeed suffering from the virus. She died fourteen days later.
The family believes that the medical staff wasted forty-eight valuable hours and that the delay in administering Tamiflu or Relenza not only affected the health of Dolores but also put her family at risk when she was sent home each time. They contend that the lost forty-eight hours were critical in the administration of the drugs and have denounced the hospital for manslaughter through medical negligence.