The Andalusia Public Health System, SAS, has dodged a claim for compensation over an accident in a hospital parking area.

A 70-year-old woman tripped over a low curb on her way to her car within the parking area of Hospital Clínico San Cecilio in the city of Granada about fives years ago. She decided to sue the SAS.

Her case was first rejected by a Court of the First Instance on the 30th of January, 2020, so she took it to the Regional Supreme Court, which has now also rejected her appeal.

The judges in both law courts considered that she had not been paying attention to where she was going and should have taken more care. In other words, it was not because of some fault on the part of the hospital. The low curb was perfectly visible and low enough not to cause a difficulty for a pedestrian; not even for a 70-year-old woman.

When the woman appealed, her lawyer said that she had been distracted by a car that was leaving the parking area. However, the magistrate in the TSJA considered that this circumstance should have been brought up in the original hearing and that it was thus too late.

The woman decided to take her case to court in 2018 after hearing nothing from the health service concerning her demand for compensation.

Beside losing her case, she has to pay the court expenses for both the original hearing and the appeal.

(News: City & Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)