The family of an Irishman who died after going to a Faro hospital is demanding compensation of 500 thousand euros

The family of an Irish man who died less than 48 hours after he was taken to a Faro hospital where he was examined by a doctor will seek compensation of 500,000 euros from the Algarve hospital center.

The incident occurred on June 16, 2022, when 27-year-old Robert Patrick Byrne, who was on holiday in the Algarve, was taken by ambulance to hospital complaining of abdominal pain, but left the department a few hours later.

According to Lusa, the lawyer for the parents of the victim, Alexander Martins, he was pronounced dead less than 48 hours later, in the early hours of June 18, in Dublin, Ireland, where he was traveling in what his friends described as severe pain.

The family is demanding compensation of €500,000 from the Centro Universitário Hospitalar do Algarve (CHUA) and the doctor who treated him, claiming that the department did not provide him with adequate care, causing him to leave the hospital without knowing that he was at risk of dying .

“All the patients are unprofessionals, they did not speak Portuguese, and no one spoke English to him so that he could understand what was happening,” the lawyer said in a statement to Luse, saying that in his opinion, if the doctor , who saw him, would have continued treatment, care, Robert would not have died.

According to the initial petition in the case, to which Lusa had access, on June 16 at 6:00 a.m., the victim began to feel severe abdominal pain that did not go away, and friends called the National Institute of Emergency Medicine (INEM). ).).

The medical team arrived on the scene and decided to take him to the emergency department of Faro Hospital, where Robert was admitted at 10:26, having been, as described in the document, “abandoned” for approximately three hours “without any support.” “.

According to Alexander Martins, during the examination, the nurse gave him a green bracelet, which corresponds to a non-urgent situation, and his pain was classified from 1 to 4 on a scale of 0 to 10.

At 12:26 p.m., Robert was seen by a physician who performed a physical examination and noted in the clinical observations that the patient had a “hard abdomen” and observed “abdominal guarding,” placing “acute abdomen” as a possible diagnosis.

“The doctor realized that it could be an acute abdomen, but did not inform Robert about the severity of his clinical condition, did not conduct additional examinations, did not give medications to relieve pain, and did nothing,” the lawyer emphasizes.

According to the family, the doctor “did not adequately respond to this case” because the acute abdomen could have been a situation requiring urgent treatment.

According to Alexander Martins, the autopsy determined the cause of death to be “metabolic ‘stress’ due to a perforated duodenal ulcer and severe ulcerative esophagitis.”

Without “any support from medical professionals”, the man eventually “sought support from friends” and returned to his accommodation, with “negligence in information” playing a decisive role in the patient being discharged from hospital, as he did not know that his life is under threat. risk.

When Robert was called to continue treatment around 3:00 p.m., hospital staff realized the patient was no longer there and he was administratively discharged due to abandonment.

The following day, 17 June, Robert traveled back to Ireland and his death would be confirmed by the medical team upon landing at Dublin Airport at 2am on the 18th.

“After all, the doctor had at his disposal all the means that he considered necessary to ensure that the patient was cured and did not die, but he did not even have the humanity to inform the patient about the seriousness of his case,” the study authors emphasize. petition alleging that the son’s death was the result of medical error.

Given that this was not a “simple mistake” or “mere delay in providing assistance”, the young man’s family believes that “failure to provide assistance” cost him his life, causing them not only “immense pain, but also irreparable damage”, for which they are demanding compensation of 500 thousand euros.

The amount requested relates to compensation for moral damages, taking into account “all the suffering and pain that the authors have and will continue to experience every day of their lives due to the absurd loss of their son.”