A women’s cancer association in Andalucia is weighing up legal action against the region’s public health service after hundreds of breast cancer patients were left waiting months for vital diagnostic tests.
The association, Amama, confirmed on Tuesday that it is exploring the criminal route against the Servicio Andaluz de Salud (SAS), which falls under the Junta de Andalucia’s Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs.
The potential charges could include reckless injury, negligent homicide and failure of medical duty.
According to Amama’s lawyer, Manuel Jimenez, the group is now reviewing each case individually to decide whether to file a collective lawsuit or pursue separate claims.
The association also plans to seek financial compensation for what it calls ‘the suffering of countless women’ and is demanding that all pending tests be carried out ‘immediately’.
‘They must act now’
Speaking after a meeting at Amama’s headquarters in Sevilla – attended by around 60 women in person and dozens more online from across Andalucia – Jimenez said the largest number of complaints so far come from patients at Sevilla’s Virgen del Rocío Hospital.
The association’s inbox, he added, has been ‘flooded’ with more than 400 emails from women reporting delays or missing follow-ups in the region’s breast cancer screening programme.
While other political groups have already lodged their own complaints, Jimenez criticised what he described as ‘headline-chasing lawsuits’ that focus on sacking officials rather than fixing the system.
‘If the goal is just to cut heads, that doesn’t solve anything – the priority must be the women,’ he said.
Deaths under review
Amama has so far identified three women who have died, though investigations are still under way to determine whether their deaths were linked to the alleged medical negligence.
The Junta de Andalucia is expected to announce an emergency plan on Wednesday to deal with the backlog, but Amama insists it’s come far too late.
Amama president Angela Claverol urged authorities to contact affected patients immediately and carry out the missing tests.
‘We don’t care who resigns or who gets sacked,’ she said. ‘We just want every woman called and tested — and for this never to happen again.’
Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.
