Julien Muñozformer mayor of Marbella, died at the age of 76 from complications lung cancer for which he was being treated at the HC Hospital in Marbella. Although the tumor was the final cause of the sad outcome, the former councilor suffered from a “serious and incurable multiple pathologies“as stated in the resolution that granted him parole which allowed him to spend his last days with his family and out of prison despite his conviction for ‘Operation Malaysia’.
This term refers to the competition of more than one chronic disease in a patient, an increasingly common reality in Spain. Experts in care Complex chronic patient The Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) estimates that 60% of patients requiring hospitalization due to their specialty have one of these complex pathologies. 40% however suffer comorbiditiesthat’s to say two or more of them both.
In addition, the older the patient, the greater the accumulated risk. The prevalence of multipathological patients in Spain is 1.8%, but it is from the age of 60-65 that this proportion increases. “Chronic diseases add up in the same person as age advances, so that, Among those over 80, their average is more than four“, explained María Dolores Martín Escalante, spokesperson for the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) and head of the internal medicine section of the Costa del Sol hospital in Marbella.
The most common pathologies in complex chronic patients with multiple pathologies are heart disease (68%)THE chronic kidney disease (49%)THE neurological diseases (43%) and the respiratory (32%) according to SEMI. Precisely Julián Muñoz – whose health status has been made public in recent years after disclosing it himself in the Heart programs and as justification for prison pardon measures – has suffered serious health problems that affect the four systems described, cumulatively worsening your prognosis.
The first known diagnosis was that of “chronic multipathology of a cardiovascularmetabolic and respiratory.” First, there is damage to two of the four heart valves, the aortic and mitral. This arterial problem eventually caused him to have a stroke or cerebrovascular accident and “two or three heart attacks” that required him to “take 20 pills a day,” as he explains in his particular style. It is important to emphasize that each of these incidents increases the risk of Fatal recurrence up to 50%.
At the same time, Muñoz had to be hospitalized for a while. acute cholecystitisan inflammation of the digestive system that affects the gallbladderThe former mayor of Marbella himself explained that it was necessary to remove “the mud and stones”, emphasizing the gallstonesa buildup of hardened fragments of bile, cholesterol, and bilirubin that can get stuck and block the ducts, causing infection. As with kidney stones, “kidney stones,” surgery may be necessary to remove them. In his case, he had to undergo surgery twice.
Muñoz also suffered partial blindness -50% vision loss- due to macular degeneration from which he suffered, and for which he had to have “monthly injections” at the hospital. This is a very common eye disorder that affects 10% of people over 60 and is the leading cause of visual impairment, being responsible 50% of cases of legal blindnessAfter the age of 75, it affects one in four people and its incidence increases due to unhealthy habits such as smoking, but also arterial problems.
He endemic lung cancer This is the last of the concomitant factors, and the one responsible for the respiratory failure problems that Muñoz has suffered in recent years. According to SEMI, given that multiple serious pathologies are incurablethe emphasis should be on quality of life of patients and the family supportavoiding prolonged hospitalizations as much as possible. Muñoz himself had made it known that his wish was to die surrounded by his family.
