Madrid's regional health department has accused the surgeon who reported irregularities in waiting lists at Hospital Ramón y Cajal of altering 57 cases for his own benefit, Telemadrid reports. The allegation was made public on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, and marks a direct response to the complaint that first brought the hospital's waiting lists under scrutiny.
According to Telemadrid, the Consejería de Sanidad says the doctor manipulated the records to serve his own interests. Cadena SER reports that the regional government, led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, frames the matter around the surgeon's working conditions, saying he "wanted to work less." ABC likewise reports that Madrid authorities claim the lists were changed for his benefit, while EL PAÍS describes the regional government's position as an attempt to reduce the wider scandal to a personal quarrel between doctors.
That framing is echoed by Libertad Digital, which reports that a long-running dispute between the surgeon and his department head may lie at the root of the conflict over the hospital's waiting lists. The competing accounts leave two central questions unresolved: whether the original complaint identified genuine problems in how patients were scheduled, and whether the health department's counter-claim against the complainant can be substantiated.
The surgeon has not yet responded publicly to the accusation, and no independent verification of the 57 altered cases has been reported. What to watch next: whether the Consejería de Sanidad provides documentation for its claim, and whether the surgeon or his representatives answer the allegation directly.