A lawyer has filed a complaint with the Madrid Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office to investigate alleged irregularities in the management of Torrejon Hospital, run by concessionaire Ribera Salud, as well as possible neglect of supervisory duties by the Community of Madrid.
The complaint, to which Somos Madrid was able to access, is based on the existence of internal recordings “in which a senior manager of the group gave instructions aimed at reducing healthcare activity, increasing waiting lists and subjecting clinical decisions to economic criteria.” In the audio recordings mentioned above, published by El País newspaper, a manager tells hospital managers that “unprofitable” patients should be rejected and waiting lists should be increased.
The summary was submitted by lawyer Javier Flores. In its text, it requests the opening of procedures, taking statements from the accused, and asking the Community of Madrid to hand over the files of supervision, inspection, and contractual monitoring of the Hospital of Excellence in the affected periods.
If these extreme cases are confirmed, the complaining lawyer argues that up to five possible crimes would be committed, because they would be “practices that could constitute indicators of crimes of administrative evasion, crimes against public health, reckless injuries, coercion and retaliation against internal whistleblowers.”
The text of the complaint also highlights the dismissal of four hospital directors who reported these violations through the internal ethics channel, as well as the absence of “an immediate reaction from the Health Department, despite the existence of a legal obligation to supervise the correct provision of an essential public service.”
“These directives could particularly impact people over the age of 65, a population that has a higher prevalence of chronic disease and a greater likelihood of suffering serious consequences due to delays in diagnosis and treatment,” the complaint highlights.
Javier Flores is a lawyer who regularly files lawsuits against public administration abuses. The recent ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid, which became final this summer, granted the lawyer several corrections to the changes made by the City Council and the Community of Madrid in the General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU). Among them, the veto power granted to municipal cantons to clean up green areas, and political parties obtaining approval from the administration to enjoy benefits such as placing their headquarters on plots of land designated for this use or reducing habitability regulations for converting buildings into housing (so that windows can face a courtyard with dimensions smaller than those stipulated in the regulations).