The Durango State Attorney General’s Office confirmed the first conviction related to the meningitis cases reported at Hospital del Parque. Prosecutor Sonia Yadira de la Garza Fragoso reported that Erasmo “N,” the hospital’s owner, and Sandra “N,” his wife and partner, were sentenced to 24 years in prison for the crime of willful misconduct by omission.
The case went to trial after a series of injunctions and appeals delayed the process, the prosecutor explained. “This sentence is the first of many pending cases,” she added. Both defendants have been in prison since March 2023, when they were arrested for their alleged involvement in the incidents.
She explained that some cases involving the hospital did not go to trial because the victims’ families reached reparation agreements with the defendants, while in other cases, family members did not authorize autopsies.
It should be noted that investigations conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office revealed that the Hospital del Parque was the center of most infections. As of January 2023, 79 cases of meningitis had been confirmed, with 31 deaths; subsequently, the total number reached 80 cases and 41 deaths. Of these, 61 cases were recorded at the Hospital del Parque, where 32 women died, in addition to 31 additional cases of fungal meningitis.
Source: newsweekespanol
