Ramón y Cajal Hospital asks surgeon who reported waiting list manipulation to confirm in writing

Ramón y Cajal Hospital has requested surgeon Luis Alberto Martos to confirm in writing his report on the manipulation of waiting lists. The centre has not clarified whether the request aims to investigate the facts or to open a file on the doctor.

The Ramón y Cajal Hospital in Madrid has asked surgeon Luis Alberto Martos to confirm in writing his report on the manipulation of waiting lists, according to information obtained by Cadena SER. The request comes after the doctor himself acknowledged, in conversations with the newspaper El País, that he and other officials at the centre were the ones who altered the category of priority patients.

The case came to light a few days ago when Martos reported that at Ramón y Cajal, the priority of patients he had registered as urgent was downgraded. The medical union Amyts claimed that this practice is repeated in more centres, and the Minister of Health acknowledged that she is aware of similar cases, although she emphasised the difficulty of proving them without a medical report.

The Health Councillor of the Community of Madrid, Fátima Matute, publicly accused the surgeon of lying during a statement. Now, the head of surgery at the hospital has told El País that the councillor was mistaken in that intervention and has admitted that he ordered the changes to the lists. Furthermore, the newspaper has published audio recordings in which officials at the centre admit to having altered the classification of patients.

I did not inform most of the doctors about the changes I decided on their patients because I have 29 years of experience,” the head of surgery declared to El País.

The request for written confirmation from the whistleblower occurs in a context where Ramón y Cajal has not specified whether the measure is part of an internal investigation or, on the contrary, is a preliminary step to open a disciplinary file against Martos. The surgeon has stated that he reported the facts at the cost of being left alone in the hospital.

Neither the Health Department nor the hospital have detailed what steps they will take after receiving the doctor's written confirmation. The union Amyts maintains that the manipulation of waiting lists is not an isolated case and affects more hospitals in the region, although it has not specified which ones or how many patients would be involved.