The director General of the General Hospital from Mexico “Eduardo Liceaga”, Guadalupe Guerrero Avendaño, and five other medical directors face the risk of criminal prosecution for the omission or lack of timely response to give the medicine lapatinib a Maria de Lourdes Pacheco Madrid, who fights breast cancer.
On March 16, the Eighth District Judge in Administrative Matters in Mexico City the Public Ministry gave a hearing “to determine whether the general director, director of the Medical Coordination, Surgical Director, Medical Director, Surgical Deputy Director ´A´, and Director of Administration and Finance, all of the General Hospital of Mexico ´Doctor Eduardo Liceaga´ incurred in the conducts established in the Amparo Law“.
Guadalupe Guerrero Avendaño
This decision was made because the hospital failed to comply with the suspension, issued on January 14, which forced it to provide the medicine to María de Lourdes.
Approximately two hours after the judge determined that the procedure is to give a hearing to the Public Ministry, the hospital called the patient to give her the medicine, but the process continues, he explained. Pablo Rigoberto López Sánchez, trial lawyer at the firm Rincón, Mayorga, Román Abogados, in an interview with The Broken Chair.
“In fact, that is precisely what is claimed. The omission of the Hospital that violates article 22 of the Constitution, that is, that it endangers the life of a person and it was, due to the aggressiveness of the disease he has. From that perspective, it is clear that the omission has put the life of María de Lourdes at risk and of course deteriorated her health, “he said.
The Broken Chair requested a position to General Hospital from Mexico and to Health Secretary on this case, but there was no response.
COMPLAINT OMISSION OF GENERAL HOSPITAL
In an interview with The Broken Chair, reported that María de Lourdes suffers from exposed breast cancer and in December of last year they prescribed the drug lapatinib as part of the treatment she requires.
However, in the General Hospital of Mexico, where he has always taken his treatment, they told him that they did not have it, this despite the fact that since January 1 of this year it was reported that all medical units must provide free services and medicines, since now the person responsible is Institute of Health for Wellbeing.
This implies that from that date all federal public hospitals must guarantee patient care and specialists cannot ask people to buy medicines or supplies, since they would be committing an improper act that can even be referred to the Ministry of Public Function.
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There began another ordeal for María de Lourdes and her family. They tried to buy the medicine, which has a cost of approximately 40,964 pesos. Although they looked for alternatives, they did not have the resources to acquire it.
“Because of the cost (of the medicine) is why her husband looks for me and I see that practically the General Hospital de México had abandoned María de Lourdes in the sense of providing her medications despite being affiliated with Seguro Popular, now Insabi and left them to their own devices in obtaining the drug, “said López Sánchez.
In order to be granted the drug, they filed an amparo, the judge granted the suspension on January 14 and with this legal measure the hospital was obliged to give it to them; however, this did not happen, as the authorities said they did not have it, explained the litigant.
“In that amparo trial there was also Insabi, who for his part responds that the General Hospital of Mexico has access to the fund that precisely manages this health institution and that it can perfectly resort to said fund to buy the medicine and provide it to the patient.
“However the General Hospital Mexico responds that it is in the process of trying to acquire the medicine, it does not, we constantly insist and the hospital systematically does is evade responsibility for the delivery of the medicine, “explained the lawyer.
“LOURDES DOES NOT LOSE HOPE”
He indicated that the hospital tried to separate itself from the patient and told her that since they did not have the medicine, they recommended that she go urgently to the National Cancer Institute and that they could give her a reference sheet for that.
The problem, the lawyer pointed out, is that there was no guarantee that the Incan would give him the treatment and to seek care in the Incan he had to unsubscribe from the General Hospital, which implied that he could be left without medical attention in any institution.
López Sánchez said that now it is the Public Ministry who must determine whether the directors of the General Hospital of Mexico committed a crime by not giving the medicine to María de Lourdes, if so, they could face a penalty of three to nine years in prison, a fine of 50 to 500 days and dismissal and disqualification from three to nine years to perform another position within the public service.
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She said that currently María de Lourdes “is hopeful, she is fighting the disease, but the truth is that this whole situation of not being provided with the medicine did not pay for her and her husband’s state of mind.”
Although this Wednesday they gave her the medicine, the patient and her family are afraid that the shortage will be repeated, since she must receive this treatment every month, so they hope that the legal authorities will give a definitive answer.
YOU HAVE FACED CANCER TWICE
This is the second time that María de Lourdes has faced breast cancer. The first time was in May 2016, when she realized that she had a lump in her left breast, next to her armpit.
As she was affiliated with Seguro Popular, she went to General Hospital from Mexico, where they followed up on his case. In July of that year, he received six red chemotherapies. In April 2017, she underwent a mastectomy, the next part of treatment was 25 radiation therapies and 12 cycles of the drug called trastuzumab.
When she finished the cycles, the doctors discharged her, but the cancer returned last year, requiring again six cycles of chemotherapy, the last one was on June 19.
Because he was not reacting favorably, he received five cycles of chemotherapy with another drug, which ended last December. At that time, Dr. Mario Escobar Gómez, attached to the General Medical Deputy Directorate of the General Hospital from Mexico, he prescribed 250-milligram lapatinib, which is the drug he is fighting for to continue his cancer treatment.
DESABASTO, HISTORY OF THIS SEXENY
At the beginning of the current administration, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decided to transform the Health sector and the way in which medicines and supplies are purchased. The Seguro Popular disappeared and replaced it with the Health Institute for Well-being, which started with setbacks and still has no regulations.
However, the consolidated purchase of drugs is one of the issues that have been most questioned, since first the process was placed in the hands of the Senior Officials Office of the Ministry of Finance, and now it is left under the responsibility of UNOPS.
The shortage or intermittent supply has been the main problem in the first two years of government, especially drugs for cancer patients. One of the most notorious cases has been that of the parents of children who suffer from this disease, who have denounced the lack of drugs.
The risk of shortages remains latent this year, as there are delays in the consolidated purchase through UNOPS and it is not yet defined how they will be distributed in medical units throughout the country.
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