July 8, 2026
This week, the 29th Civil Court of Santiago, Chile, issued a landmark decision upholding a claim for damages, filed by the family of Oscar Walter, a 38-year-old man with Down syndrome who became ill and died during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In his decision, the judge recognized that the care Oscar received fell short of expectations, and that he was a victim of discrimination because of his disability. The judge ordered the Chilean State not only to pay compensation to Oscar Walter’s family, but also to hold an official ceremony offering a public apology to the family and to ensure that its officials receive training on the human rights of people with disabilities.
The ruling emphasized that the hospital where he was treated in Santiago did not provide him with adequate care and medical follow-up, and that he was discriminated against because he had Down syndrome. This discrimination was made clear in several ways. Upon admission, the severity of his condition was minimized, and then he was not assigned a hospital bed or a mechanical ventilator. According to the judge, this took place without “a rational and justified excuse for the hospital professionals not to have used invasive mechanical ventilation with the patient,” considering “the availability of such resources” and “the existence of other patients who were connected to invasive mechanical ventilation, precisely during Óscar’s hospitalization period.” Furthermore, the judge stated, no attempt was made to transfer him to another hospital where he could receive adequate care. Óscar spent five days on a stretcher in the emergency room during which his frailty was disregarded and his family was unable to be with him until, unnoticed by hospital staff, he stopped breathing. A nurse found him dead, and doctors decided not to attempt resuscitation.
The judge established that the health care provided to Oscar “blatantly violated accepted medical practice” and that the evidence illustrated a “scenario of clinical neglect that not only deviated from the required medical standard, but also resulted in profoundly undignified and inhuman treatment.” The judge emphasized that the evidence presented at trial “definitively establishes that the patient’s intellectual disability operated as a covert criterion for medical deprioritization and exclusion from care.” Thus, the judge concluded that “Oscar was arbitrarily discriminated against, for being a person with Down syndrome, based on deeply ingrained stereotypes revealing stigmatization and a lack of empathy, unacceptable in general, but particularly so among healthcare personnel.”
The case of Oscar Walter in Chile illustrates the difficulties people with disabilities face in living their lives with dignity and equal rights, and the discrimination they have experienced in contexts of crisis or scarcity when prioritizing healthcare resources. In 2025, the case was noted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in its Report on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which warned that during the pandemic people with disabilities suffered discrimination through the application of criteria based on the functionality or value of the life of certain individuals over others.
The Chilean court’s decision is historic and decisive. Oscar Walter was unacceptably abandoned and deprioritized because of his Down syndrome, and the State must compensate his family for the harm suffered and ensure that this never happens again.
Oscar’s family has been supported pro bono in this process by the law firm Colombara Estrategia Legal and the Center for Health and Human Rights of O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law, who represent them in the lawsuit initiated in 2023.
Oscar Walter’s family and the supporting organizations celebrate the court’s decision.
Jennifer Walter, Oscar’s sister, says, “As a family, we are very happy that justice has been served and that it has been recognized that Oscar died due to negligence and discrimination at Félix Bulnes Hospital because of his condition. We are very glad that the hospital will have to train its staff so that this never happens again, and we sincerely hope that no one else has to suffer discrimination for having a disability.” Rosa Díaz, Oscar’s mother, says, “I am happy because justice has finally been done. I am very pleased that the hospital will have to train its employees, and I sincerely hope that a similar situation never happens again. No one can bring my Oscar back to me.”
Lawyers Ciro Colombara, Aldo Díaz, and Manuel Sotelo, from the Colombara Law Firm, emphasized that “the ruling sets a precedent because it establishes that the death occurred due to discrimination based on the victim’s disability of having Down syndrome, because the Félix Bulnes Hospital and the Health Service were ordered to hold an official ceremony offering public apologies to the family, and because their officials were ordered to receive training on the human rights of people with disabilities.”
For Silvia Serrano, co-director of the Center for Health and Human Rights, “This decision is very important because it shows that health emergencies cannot be an excuse for discrimination. Oscar’s case reflects how the persistence of prejudice, stigma, and stereotypes regarding people with disabilities are a determinant of health and a source of injustice. Accountability mechanisms, such as this ruling, are fundamental to eradicating this problem.”
Contact persons:
Ciro Colombara López. Socio del estudio jurídico Colombara Estrategia Legal. ccolombara@colombara.cl
Aldo Díaz Canales. Socio del estudio jurídico Colombara Estrategia Legal. adiaz@colombara.cl
Manuel Sotelo Sotelo. Coordinador del área Litigios y Arbitrajes del estudio jurídico Colombara Estrategia Legal. msotelo@colombara.cl
Silvia Serrano Guzmán, Co-Director of the Center for Health and Human Rights, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University. sjs357@georgetown.edu +1 (202) 384-8469
Andrés López Cabello, Consultant Attorney for the Center for Health and Human Rights, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University. arl116@georgetown.edu +54 11 30379477