202. The Commission asked the Court to order the State to “adopt all necessary measures
to avoid similar incidents occurring in future, in compliance with the obligations of
prevention and guaranteeing rights recognized by the American Convention.”
203.
The State did not refer specifically to this measure of reparation.
204. The Court observes that, in the Compliance Agreement, the State undertook “to
conduct planned permanent training sessions for health care professionals on patients’
rights in both the public and the private sphere.”
205. In Chapter IX of this Judgment, the Court declared the violation of the obligation to
guarantee the right to personal integrity of Melba Suárez Peralta in relation to the medical
attention provided to her and considered that no supervision and control were exercised in
this case, both as regards the control of the services provided in the State entity, and as
regards the private institution (supra para. 155).
206. The Court recalls that, in the Judgment in the case of Albán Cornejo v. Ecuador, 238 it
had already ordered as a measure of reparation that “[t]he State must, within a reasonable
time, offer an education and training program for agents of justice and health care
professionals on the laws and regulations that Ecuador has implemented on patients’ rights,
and the penalty for failing to comply with them.”
207. Nevertheless, the Court observes that, as revealed by the corresponding proceeding
of monitoring compliance with judgment, more than five years after this measure was
decided, it has not yet been executed completely. Owing to this, in an Order of this Court of
February 5, 2013, it was considered necessary to reiterate the State’s obligation to comply
with the education and training programs ordered in the said Judgment. 239 Consequently,
this Court reiterates this obligation of the State and does not find it appropriate to order an
additional measure to the one decided in the said case, added to the absence of the
respective causal nexus.
D.
Compensation
1. Arguments of the Commission and of the parties
208. The representative asked the Court to order the State to “pay pecuniary
compensation to the victims and their families for the damages to the family’s capital assets
suffered as a result of the medical malpractice, and the search for justice, truth and
reparation over the subsequent years,” in the amount of US$750,426.57 (seven hundred
and fifty thousand, four hundred and twenty six United States dollars and fifty-seven
cents). 240 In addition, the representative requested the payment of US$432,000.00 (four
hundred and thirty-two thousand United States dollars) for loss of earnings.
238
Case of Albán Cornejo et al., supra, para. 7.
239
Case of Albán Cornejo et al. v. Ecuador. Monitoring compliance with judgment. Order of the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights of February 5, 2013, para. 19.
240
The representative detailed the expenses for pecuniary damage as follows: “(1) Hospitalization for
appendicitis: Minchala Clinic $2,000.00; (2) Hospitalization for medical malpractice: Luis Vernaza Hospital
$50,000.00; (3) Operation to correct injuries: Medi-Houston Medical Center $20,000.00; (4) Treatment: CEMEFA
$300.00; (5) Continuing treatment: Cemefa $80.00; (6) Emergency hospitalization: Kennedy Clinic $150.00; 7)
Emergency attention: Moreno Clinic $120.00; (8) Emergency hospitalization: Punto Médico Familiar $586.19; (9)
Emergency attention: Punto Médico Familiar $118.48; (10) Hospitalization: San Francisco Clinic $630.89; (11)
Hospitalization in the San Francisco Clinic $527.27; (12) Emergency hospitalization in the San Francisco Clinic
55
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