A 23-year-old man in Argentina who sought medical attention for a toothache died hours later in unexplained circumstances, according to local media reports.
On June 6, Diego Soto visited a hospital in the city of Villa Regina, where doctors treated him with an injection, Argentine newspaper Diario Río Negro reported.
Soto later returned to his home, but by early the next morning he was dead. The results of a preliminary autopsy indicated that the cause of death was an "acute pulmonary edema."
This condition is characterized by an abnormal buildup of fluid in the lungs. Sudden onset, or acute, pulmonary edema is a medical emergency that can be life-threatening and requires immediate treatment.
It can lead to respiratory failure or cardiac arrest. Symptoms of pulmonary edema include difficulty breathing, coughing up foam and loose mucus, wheezing and chest tightness.
The man's family said they believe malpractice resulted in Soto's death and have demanded a full investigation into the incident.
"He was healthy. He liked to play sports, he rode bicycles, and he liked to go running. He was a very active person," Abril Suárez, the young man's partner, told Diario Río Negro.
Soto did not have any health conditions before the incident and had only recently completed a set of medical checks when he joined an oil company, according to Suárez.
"We believe that there was malpractice, and that is why we are waiting for the results of the autopsy to be able to say that it was so," Suárez said.
The public prosecutor's office said further analysis of samples taken from Soto must be completed to reliably determine the cause of the young man's death, according to Diario Río Negro.
Newsweek has contacted the Hospital Villa Regina for comment.
On the evening that Soto received treatment for the toothache, Suárez said, they went to bed shortly before midnight.
"Then he woke up scared and he tells me that he can't move," Suárez said. "We decided to call his parents. He was conscious and lucid, we even talked with his parents."
The man's brother, Octavio Soto, said the 23-year-old could not feel his legs or his arms, Argentine news channel TN reported. The family eventually called an ambulance, but Soto was taken to the hospital by car because of delays.
Doctors at the hospital began treatment, but shortly after 6 a.m. on June 7 he was pronounced dead.
"They never explained his paralysis to us or anything that could have happened to him," Suárez said, according to TN. "We believe there was malpractice. We made the complaint and we asked for the autopsy, which at first the doctor did not want to have it done, and she told us that the hospital was not going to take charge of it."
In a statement, the Argentine Ministry of Health said that Soto was given an injection with diclofenac and dexamethasone, which are anti-inflammatory compounds that do not tend to produce serious side effects.
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Aristos is a Newsweek science reporter with the London, U.K., bureau. He reports on science and health topics, including; animal, ... Read more
