Edward Murillo
Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, July 12, 2022, p. 12
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) will resolve tomorrow whether economic compensation can be imposed through an amparo trial as a measure to repair the damage in favor of the victims of medical malpractice and other cases of human rights violations committed by individuals.
The decision will establish jurisprudence, since it is a contradiction of criteria between two federal courts.
Case 217/2019, denounced by Christus Muguerza, a company that manages private hospitals in the north of the country, indicates that collegiate courts have issued contradictory sentences in different trials for medical malpractice, because while some magistrates forced them to financially compensate the damages, others dismissed this measure.
The company maintains that an amparo ruling does not prejudge the defendant’s administrative or liability, which is the subject of another type of trial.
The case is ready to be voted on in the first room of the highest court; the draft resolution prepared by Minister Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena has not been released.
The imposition of economic compensation as part of the reparation of the damage is the norm in amparo cases in which the State is responsible, but Mexican legislation has not established a single criterion when the causer is an individual.
This is even when article 63.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights and various judgments of the Inter-American Court include this compensation as part of the comprehensive reparation for damages.
The definition of the SCJN will determine not only if it is possible to establish economic compensation in an amparo trial, but also other alternatives of satisfaction, such as measures of non-repetition, public apologies or commemoration of the victims, for the comprehensive reparation of the damage they suffered. .
The highest court has pending resolution of contradictions 351 and 388, both from 2018, on the same subject.
