Teenage Boy Loses Testicle After GP's Alleged Failure to Diagnose Emergency

According to a recent hearing, a teenage boy had to undergo surgery to remove one of his testicles after a GP allegedly failed to properly diagnose his medical emergency. The case was one of two incidents being examined by the Medical Council, involving Dr. Alicia Marton Martinez, who worked as a locum GP three years ago.

Dr. Marton Martinez is accused of professional misconduct and poor performance in her treatment of both the teenage boy and a 3-week-old baby. The boy's mother said she contacted the out-of-hours GP service, SouthDoc, after her son woke up with a swollen, painful testicle. However, Dr. Marton Martinez allegedly told the mother that the condition was "normal for a teenage boy" and advised using a cold compress and taking ibuprofen.

A week later, the boy was referred to the hospital in severe pain and had to have one testicle removed. An expert witness stated there would have been a 90% chance of saving the testicle if the boy had been referred to the emergency department immediately.

In a separate case, the inquiry heard evidence about Dr. Marton Martinez's treatment of a 3-week-old baby with a fever, mottled skin, and slow feeding. The worried father said the GP initially dismissed the symptoms as "not very severe" before another doctor immediately referred the baby to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with viral meningitis.

The expert witness described the GP's actions as "disgracing the profession and dishonoring the patients." Dr. Marton Martinez, who qualified in Spain in 1988, did not attend the hearing and is not legally represented. She had previously given a voluntary undertaking to the High Court in September 2023 not to practice medicine while under investigation.