A court in Elche has acquitted the caregiver of a 78-year-old woman and a close friend of hers of injuries alleged to have arisen from a poisoning linked to the ingestion of medications. The elderly patient had been prescribed a monthly hydroferol tablet as a vitamin D supplement, but she ended up taking a daily dose for four months, which led to hospitalization.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office charged the caregiver and the friend, represented by attorney Iván Padilla Franco of Bufete Padilla, with injuries through gross negligence and asked the court to impose fines of 3,240 euros each. However, Penal Court Number 2 found that there was insufficient evidence that the caregiver had given the patient a daily hydroferol pill or that the friend, who stood to inherit the woman’s assets, had issued any instructions to do so.
According to the ruling, one of the defendants had carried out caregiving duties and other arrangements for the 78-year-old woman who lived in El Altet. The woman was described as a close friend and had been named as her heir to the estate before 2021.
The septuagenarian was multimorbid and dependent. In February 2021 the other accused was hired as a caregiver. The patient had a monthly hydroferol prescription, and in June 2021 she was hospitalized with a diagnosis of hypercalcemia. Ten days later she was discharged and died in August 2021 from natural causes not related to the medication.
Imprudence
[–>
For the presiding judge, it has not been proven that the caregiver supplied the patient with a daily hydroferol pill or that the other accused issued any instructions to do so.
Although the Prosecutor’s Office argued that the action represented grave recklessness in giving a daily hydroferol dose, the magistrate did not find that claim proven, nor that the poisoning arose from the drug.
The case was initiated by a complaint from the caregiver against the friend, though the defense argues the accusation was false after the woman’s hospitalization. The ruling notes that the complaint could have had ulterior motives, but there were not enough indications to proceed to witness testimony or to initiate further investigation.