Carmen Prada, head of mental health at Córdoba's Hospital Reina Sofía, testified Thursday in court that her patient Francisco Miguel León Benítez had no suicidal intentions when he died in 2020. Prosecutors seek four years in prison, while the private accusation demands eight for two involuntary homicides, including that of a man the patient killed in 2015. The family accuses the doctor of failing to order involuntary commitment despite repeated requests since 2010.
Carmen Prada faced trial Thursday in Córdoba's Juzgado de lo Penal 4, potentially facing up to eight years in prison. The psychiatrist argued that Francisco Miguel León Benítez's death at age 39 resulted from cardiopathy complicated by pulmonary edema and antidepressants, not suicide. “The patient had a risk of not controlling his behavior, but no suicidal intentions,” she claimed.
The victim's father, Francisco León, tearfully recounted numerous complaints filed since 2010 with courts, prosecutors, the Junta de Andalucía, and the hospital. “I warned countless times what would happen. I reported it and no one did anything,” he censured, noting his son's eight acute crises with hospitalizations, over 50 consultations since 2006, and several suicide attempts.
Prada diagnosed the patient with a mixed personality disorder worsened by psychoactive substance abuse, not a severe mental illness like schizoaffective disorder as per a private psychiatrist the family says she ignored. “Preventive confinement does not exist,” the nervous doctor defended during her 90-minute testimony. The patient killed another man in 2015 in self-defense and was acquitted after three years in pre-trial detention.
The family criticized the lack of home assistance and proper follow-up, despite assaults like one on the father in 2014. Prosecutors and the private accusation allege denial of healthcare; defenses include the College of Physicians and SAS. The trial continues next week with expert witnesses.
