Court 5 of the Civil and Instruction Section of the Court of First Instance of Getxo has ordered Occident GCO, SAU de Seguros y Reaseguros to pay compensation for the death of Corporal Francisco Pérez Benítez, the 35-year-old soldier who died in April following a cerebral thrombosis linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The ruling places the core of the case in the medical care provided after vaccination, not in the drug itself. The court concludes that the Clínica San Miguel in Pamplona did not follow protocols or order tests that, according to experts, would have given the corporal an 80% chance of survival.
The court identified a chain of errors across four emergency room visits
Francisco Pérez Benítez, born in Barcelona and residing in Tarragona, was stationed in Aitzoain, at the América 66 Infantry Regiment, when he received the vaccine on April 7, 2021.
Between April 15 and 21, he went to the emergency room four times due to intense headaches, dizziness, and vomiting. During these visits, healthcare professionals did not correctly interpret a blood test showing thrombocytopenia, nor did they conduct further studies with other tests.
The judge describes a series of failures over several days. This list of omissions includes the failure to assess post-vaccination complications, the absence of a CT scan with contrast, and the lack of an eye fundus examination.
The ruling separated AstraZeneca's safety from the clinical response
The judgment emphasizes that the proceedings do not question the safety of the vaccine or the vaccination campaign. The resolution focuses responsibility on the clinical response to persistent symptoms that, in the court's opinion, should have triggered a more in-depth diagnostic evaluation.
Two days after his last emergency room visit, on April 23, 2021, doctors confirmed brain death after his transfer to the Clínica Universidad de Navarra. There, they diagnosed a cerebral hemorrhage due to thrombosis of the cerebral venous sinuses associated with vaccination.
The family's lawsuit has been upheld five years after the death. Expert reports incorporated into the proceedings estimate an 80% probability of survival had the corporal received the appropriate diagnostic procedures.