This Tuesday, he died at Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Seville a 75-year-old man who suffered severe burns for him fire of a 061 helicopter in mid-August in the city of Cordoba Goat. The family, through the El Defensor del Paciente association, filed a real estate claim against the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) by 1.8 million euros.
As the association details in a note, the male died after severe burns and injuries caused by fire 061 helicopterdepending on Andalusian health servicewhere he was carried on a stretcher on August 10 and had landed on the cCabra football field.
In this regard, the lawyer Damien Vazquezspecialist in health law and legal collaborator of The patient advocatefiled a complaint for damages, in which it is reported that “the patient suffered from severe chest pain and constant sweating at home, so his family decided to transfer him for medical treatment.” Infante Margarita Hospital of Cabra“.
Thus, “they accessed via the EMERGENCIES“, the patient was admitted and immediately taken to the intensive care unit and they began checking his vital signs”, it is specified, adding that “once the diagnosis was made at the Infante Margarita Hospital of Cabratransfer of the patient to the Reina Sofia Hospital of Córdobareference, to perform cardiac catheterization.
They explained that “it was decided to carry out the transfer by helicopter because there was no UVI mobile with the necessary equipment for road transport near the hospital, as indicated”, so “the patient was transferred by ambulance to the María Dolores Jiménez Guardeño de Cabra Sports Centerfacilities used in the latest transfers by helicopter from Cabra Hospital, although they are not the most suitable location for this.
In this sense, the association emphasized that “the transfer was not carried out from the heliport used for many years in Cabra, and which is located at the top of the street Ben Mocadem“. “This heliport apparently does not comply with regulations and is therefore not legalized,” they added.
Furthermore, they added that “the temporary helipad used – sports center-football field – was used for such a transfer with spectators present in the stands waiting to watch a football match later, and no evacuation has not been carried out beforehand. .
Fire
Concretely, “they had a staff made up of two local police officers, paramedics who had carried out the transfer of the patient from the hospital and paramedics and flight officers from the hospital”. 061“, they reported, specifying that “the helicopter began the pre-takeoff checks around 8:00 p.m.”, and, “as seen in the videos on social networks, once the pre-takeoff checks were carried out, and with the co-pilot always outside the helicopter, a fire broke out on the helicopterwhere the patient was on a stretcher, fully strapped in and the pilot was at the controls of the aircraft,” while “the doctor and nurse were inside with the patient.”
“When the fire started, the doctor and nurse exited through the side door of the helicopter opposite where the stretcher was, leaving the patient completely restrained and immobilized; just like he did too pilotwho left the cabin and moved away from the source of the fire“, they indicated, to emphasize that “it was at that moment that the co-pilot came to the aid of the patient to try to free him from the stretcher, experiencing an explosion right in front of him, which caused him injuries. burns to his arm and made it impossible for him to continue helping him.”
After these events, “one of the agents of Local police came to the aid of the patient, so during all this time the claimant suffered burns and damage, for not being able to remove it earlier”, they pointed out in the claim, where they point out that “after a lot effort, he managed to get rid of the patient”. took him out of the device once the part of the straps which immobilized him burned, because apparently they did not cut or remove them. opening of the safety mechanisms Later, “another police officer, dragging him on the ground, managed to move the patient away from the flames.”
“After about ten or fifteen minutes, a person appeared mobile intensive care unit at the sports center, drawing attention to this particular point, because this means of transport, previously, they said it was not available”, they warned, specifying that “we tried for a certain time to stabilize the patient and prepare him for transfer to Reina Hospital in Sofia, as initially planned.
Transfer to Seville
The claim states that “the patient arrived at Reina Sofía Hospital Emergency Roomwhere he was treated by health workers, and after carrying out all the relevant checks, the health worker in charge of the emergency department informed the family members that his heart was fine, that they had not found no anomaly, although that was the case. supposed cause of the transfer, and that given the importance of the burns, the most appropriate was to schedule an emergency transfer to the Virgen del Rocío Hospital in Sevilleas a reference hospital in the SAS for burns.
In the complaint presented by the Association The patient advocatethrough lawyer Damien Vazquezit is indicated that “once transferred to Virgen del Rocío Hospitalthe surgeon who was on duty at Burning unit informed his family that he had to urgently operate on the patient, because based on the photographs provided by his colleagues at Queen Sofia Hospital “It was a priority to act as quickly as possible.”
After performing the operation, they were informed of “the serious situation of the patient”, with “40% of the body surface burned; lower limbs with 3rd degree burns; the chest, back and arm are 2nd degree burned, and the left leg is particularly affected, warning that in the worst case it may be necessary to amputate part of it, as happened.
Since then, the patient has been treated in the burn unit of the Virgen del Rocío Hospitalwith interventions and admission to Intensive Care Unit (ICU)“with great suffering and pain caused by the severe burns caused by the helicopter fire.”
The lawyer provided the preliminary investigation conducted by Civil Aviation and specifies that “the causal link between the fire in the helicopter, where the complainant patient was, and the serious injuries, after-effects and burns suffered is clear”, therefore “the responsibility of the health administration is also clear, and must be compensated for the damage caused After filing his claim on Monday, the patient died on Tuesday, “after months of suffering”.
Claim
In the request made by the lawyer before the death, they asked 1,875,000 eurossubject to its further extension. After the death of the patient (major burn), his family, following his wishes, They will continue their claim.
Meanwhile, the president of the association The patient advocateCarmen Floresdeclared that “it is very sad that a patient who was going to be transferred to a hospital 061 dependent on the SAS died as a result of burns and problems caused by the said fire in the helicopter, even though he did not present any other serious pathology, for which the SAS and/or the company that owns the helicopter. They will have to answer for it.”
