The Criminal Chamber II of the Supreme Court has sentenced to the false doctor of Ferrol, José Manuel Pérez, Coté, to four and a half years in prison for intrusion and fraud in their activities in a clinic in Vinarós, Castellón.
Those affected in Galicia, awaiting trial
The 140 affected by the Coté case in Galicia continue to await trial for 12 years. After two postponements, the oral hearing was scheduled for April 2 at the Provincial Court of A Coruña. The judicial delay due to the impact of the coronavirus has made it run out of date.
The Prosecutor’s Office asks for 334 years in prison for Coté in the Galician summary for crimes of intrusion, fraud and falsehood, for a homicide for gross negligence, for injuries with deformity and for 63 injuries with a dangerous instrument. Those affected hope that the ruling of the Supreme Court sets a precedent for the Galician case, once the trial is held.
Esther Fontán, president of the Association of People Affected in Galicia, stresses the importance of setting a new date: “I think that after 12 years more than 140 people need to turn the page for the audience to set a date for that much desired trial, forgetting will be impossible but that at least we can live with the peace of mind that justice has been done. “
In February 2008, Coté was arrested in Ferrol for practicing as a doctor without having a degree and causing injuries among part of his patients. He was released after six months in prison. Then he moved to Castellón where he opened the clinic for which he has now been sentenced.
The Supreme Court has also sentenced another false doctor who practiced with him in Castellón to four and a half years in prison. The Court insists that the convicts exceeded the scope of alternative medicine. It recognizes compensation for 137,000 euros for 22 injured, the majority for moral damages.
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