Judge applied a sentence of almost three months in prison because he considered that his father’s behavior aggravated the diagnosis of the minor, who died
Two months and 28 days in prison. It was this penalty that a Spanish judge applied to a father who opposed treatment of his son, who had cancer. The teenager eventually died in 2022.
According to the court decision, cited by El País, the father claimed that his son, then 17, had received alternative treatment, although I have not provided elements that proved it.
In the judgment, which is subject to appeal, the judge condemned the father for violating the duties inherent in the exercise of parental power. Still, he applied an attenuating circumstance due to the delay in the process.
The prosecution had requested a penalty of four months in prison for abandonment. The defense asked for acquittal.
The facts date back to July 2019, when the minor, who lived in Navarre, was 17 years old. The doctors detected an osteosarcoma in the child’s left knee. A treatment was proposed in several phases, which included chemotherapy, surgery and new chemotherapy round.
The court decision speaks of “repeated refusal of the father” when authorizing the child’s access to treatment. The service then reported the situation to the ministry responsible for protecting children and young people. He filed a judicial complaint to request additional measures, leading the court to authorize the prescribed medical treatment.
In this more recent decision, the judge considered that the father “clearly conditioned the decision of the minor”, placing “constant obstacles to non -realization” of the recommended treatment.
The “obstructive behavior of the defendant” was also linked until the time of the death of the young man, in January 2022, since they did not take into account several judicial resolutions for the treatment to be applied. The tumor worsened and spread. In March 2020, two years before death, doctors even had to amputate part of the affected leg to prevent the disease from developing.
Despite recognizing that the outcome would be unpredictable even with access to treatment, the judge resorted to scientific data that mention that 74% of patients who started treatment in time, at the time of the diagnosis, survived.
Despite not having to serve the prison sentence applied to him, this father will now have to pay a fine of 1,056 euros.
