The National Chamber of Criminal Cassation confirmed the
sentence to three years in prison against the endoscopist
Diego Bialolenkier and the acquittal of the anesthetist Nélida Puente, who were tried in 2019 for the death of the journalist and legislator from Buenos Aires Débora Pérez Volpin.
The measure was adopted by Chamber III of the court, made up of judges Héctor Magariños, Alberto Huarte Petite and Pablo Jantus, who
rejected the appeals
filed by the defense and the complaint by confirming the ruling of August 2, 2019.
The endoscopist's defense appealed the ruling, considering it "arbitrary", but the Chamber held that "
the only proven medical instrument that was introduced into the
victim's body before the crisis that led to his death broke out was the endoscope in charge of which was Bialolenkier".
"This object was clearly suitable for producing an injury such as the one that ultimately caused the death of his patient, and the only possible explanation for the genesis of such injury was the inappropriate use of the endoscope by him," the judges highlighted.
The endoscopist in the defendant's dock.
Photo: Luciano Thieberger.
Pérez Volpin died on February 6, 2018 during the medical procedure carried out at the Sanatorio de la Trinidad in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.
In the ruling it was recalled that "the injuries occurred when, upon encountering a difficult distension of the digestive tract, the defendant
Bialolenkier advanced forcefully with the endoscope
", which they described as a "reckless and negligent action".
Meanwhile, room III confirmed the acquittal of the anesthetist, understanding that
her role was "conditioned" by the actions of the doctor
who did the practice.
On the other hand, in this case, last December the Supreme Court of Justice had unanimously rejected an appeal presented by the director of the La Trinidad Sanatorium, Roberto Osvaldo Martingano, accused of hiding evidence to hinder the investigation into the death of Pérez Volpin.
Debora Perez Volpin.
The medical director had been prosecuted in 2020 together with the surgical instrumentalist Miriam Eliana Frías, who participated in the abdominal video endoscopy in which the journalist died, but they have not yet
been tried
.
Among the evidence to prosecute Martingano, Judge María Fabiana Galletti pointed out that "on the occasion of one of the raids at the aforementioned sanatorium, he handed over to the police officers, as part of the endoscopic team, a Fujinon brand processor 'EVE 200 EPX 201 model that he identified as the one used in the study carried out on the victim, which presented his filed serial number".
This "prevented the investigators from knowing the origin and location of the aforementioned equipment, as well as the controls on its proper functioning," he added.
In 2020, Judge Galletti dismissed Claudia Esther Balceda, head of the surgical instrumentation team;
Eduardo Cavallo, director of the prepaid Galeno, and Sebastián Alfredo Cecchi Gallo, who cleaned the endoscope after the intervention.
The journalist had gone to La Trinidad to be treated for abdominal pain, less than a month after being sworn in as a Buenos Aires legislator for the Evolution list, led by the former Minister of Economy and current national senator for the UCR, Martín Lousteau.
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