The Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country has denied absolute permanent disability to a 63-year-old family doctor with a pancreatic tumor, which had spread to the liver. Justice agrees with Social Security and determines that he is entitled to the full degree, since, although he can no longer practice his profession, he can carry out “lighter or sedentary activities.”
The National Social Security Institute recognized his total permanent disability in September 2024, which was raised in December 2025 to qualified total permanent disability (being over 55 years old and not having a job), increasing the amount of his pension by 20% more, so that he went from collecting 55% to 75% of the regulatory base.
He asked to be given the absolute rank, as he claimed not to have the capacity to work in another job, in addition to the fact that he would have the right to 100% of his regulatory base, set at 3,572.17 euros. To this we must add that, according to the controls, he suffered from back pain, osteoarthritis in both knees, diabetes and a 65% disability, to which was added that, according to the Social Security medical report, the psychiatrist reported a “bleak prognosis” for his depression.
Depression keeps him away from the office and lets him do sedentary work
After the rejection by Social Security, the doctor went to court and the Court of Instance of Bilbao (what was previously the social court) refused to give him an absolute approval. The TSJ, after an appeal, also denied him this degree based on article 194 of the General Social Security Law, that is, that the man could continue working with a minimum of efficiency. According to the doctrine of the Supreme Court cited in the ruling, absolute means not being able to work with a minimum of continuity and effectiveness, not just having lost one’s profession.
For the Court, his physical ailments are minor and his mental illness has “repercussions on responsible functions”, such as deciding on the health of others, so it does not take away his ability to do simple tasks, according to the ruling (available in the Judiciary), against which an appeal could be made to the Supreme Court.
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Thus, the TSJ denies absolute permanent disability and maintains total disability, since, according to the Court’s grounds, he can perform “lighter or sedentary” tasks. In the event that his absolute disability had been recognized, he would not have received 100%, since the General Social Security Law limits the collection to the maximum set for each year (for example, for 2024, when the disability was recognized, it was 3,175.04 euros per month).