A patient was denied psychiatric treatment because she requested it in Catalan.

BarcelonaAfter suffering a suicidal crisis, in February 2024 a patient was referred from the public healthcare system to the Córcega Passage Day Hospital in Barcelona, ​​managed by the CPB Foundation, to continue her treatment. In the first session, she requested to have therapy sessions in Catalan, but after two days she found that the nurse attending to her was speaking in Spanish and said he didn't feel "comfortable" switching languages. When the patient complained, the psychiatrist told her that she couldn't ask the center's staff to speak Catalan and, therefore, they couldn't guarantee her treatment would be conducted entirely in Catalan. She told her to consider whether she was "able to prioritize treatment over that [referring to Catalan]; if not, we must stop the process," she added. She even compared the desire to be treated in Catalan to problematic behaviors that are not acceptable for continuing treatment, such as drug use or self-harm.

Because the patient refused to give up Catalan, the center denied her healthcare, disguising it as a voluntary refusal: "The patient has decided not to begin treatment." They didn't refer her to any other center and left her without the prescribed medical care. "It's blackmail," she told the doctor. "It's a dose of reality," the psychiatrist replied. The conversation is reflected in audio recordings made by the sick woman.

3,000 euro fine

The Platform for Language, which has provided legal support to the patient for a year and a half, states that when the young woman filed a complaint, the foundation's medical director pressured her to drop the matter and booed her for recording the conversations. For the first time, the Platform has succeeded in getting the Department of Health to recognize the discrimination and denial of treatment and has sanctioned the medical center with a €3,006 fine for a serious violation of the general health law. The patient has filed a claim for damages against the Catalan Health Service and is seeking €30,000 in compensation. She is also demanding that the Barcelona Medical Association take action against the professionals involved. According to the Platform, the Association responded to the victim that the center had followed "good medical practice.". In the response to the complaintThe CPB Foundation recognizes the right to choose one's language, but this right is granted to both doctors and patients, without prioritizing the patient's language. They state that all staff understand Catalan, but not all are fluent, although they offer free Catalan language training. The Platform for the Language also calls on the Generalitat of Catalonia to take action against linguistic discrimination in the healthcare sector. In 2025, they registered 330 cases.