Nurse Dies in Marbella Hotel After Doctor Admits Administering Propofol, Investigation Continues

October 08, 2026

A 56-year-old nurse has died in a hotel in Marbella after spending several hours with a 66-year-old doctor who worked at the same hospital.

The doctor told police that he administered propofol and morphine to the woman intravenously before the pair fell asleep. She did not wake up.

The doctor was arrested following the death but has since been released provisionally with precautionary measures. He remains under investigation while police and judicial authorities work to establish exactly what happened and what caused the woman's death.

What happened in the hotel room?

The incident took place on Thursday, October 1, at a hotel in Marbella.

According to the doctor's account to police, he and the nurse arrived at the hotel at around 2:20pm. The two worked at Hospital Costa del Sol and, according to investigators, had been in a romantic relationship for approximately a year.

The pair reportedly had been visiting the same hotel regularly.

After arriving, they ate food they had brought with them before going to their room.

According to the account given by the doctor, after 4:30pm he inserted a central intravenous catheter into the nurse's jugular vein and administered propofol and morphine.

He said she subsequently administered propofol to him through his right forearm.

The doctor told investigators that both then fell asleep.

When he woke at around 7pm, he said he found the nurse unresponsive. He contacted police and emergency services and waited outside the hotel for officers to arrive.

Police subsequently entered room 113 and found the woman on the bed without signs of life. Emergency medical personnel attempted to resuscitate her but were unable to save her.

Propofol is at the centre of the investigation

Propofol is a powerful intravenous general anaesthetic used in medical settings.

The substance can cause serious complications, including respiratory depression and a dangerous fall in blood pressure, particularly when combined with other substances that also depress the central nervous system.

Investigators found multiple medicines and medical equipment in the hotel room, including propofol and morphine-related medication. Additional medicines were reportedly found in connection with the investigation.

The doctor reportedly told police that the medicines had been taken from Hospital Costa del Sol, where both he and the nurse worked.

Police are investigating that allegation separately as part of the case.

What caused the nurse's death?

This remains one of the central questions.

The preliminary autopsy has reportedly indicated a violent death caused by pharmaceutical intoxication. However, additional forensic and toxicological examinations are still required to establish precisely which substances, quantities and circumstances contributed to the death.

That distinction is important.

The available evidence does not establish that the doctor deliberately caused the woman's death.

His account is that both administered medication to themselves and then fell asleep. Investigators are examining that version alongside the physical evidence, toxicology results and other evidence collected from the hotel room and elsewhere.

Why did the doctor survive?

Another unresolved question is why the woman died while the doctor survived after, according to his account, both had administered medication.

Investigators are examining the amounts administered, the substances involved, the way they were administered and whether additional medicines may have played a role.

The doctor himself was also subjected to toxicological testing, which investigators will use to assess his account.

These results will be important in determining what happened in the room that afternoon.

The doctor's legal situation

The doctor was arrested following the woman's death and subsequently appeared before the investigating court in Marbella.

He exercised his right not to give a formal statement before the judge.

The court ordered his provisional release with precautionary measures, including a prohibition on leaving Spain and the withdrawal of his passport.

The private prosecution, representing the woman's husband, requested provisional imprisonment without bail and argued that the circumstances could potentially amount to homicide with eventual intent.

That is an allegation made by the private prosecution, not a judicial finding.

The doctor remains under investigation for a possible offence against persons resulting in death, an offence against public health and an alleged continuing offence of theft relating to medicines.

No final criminal responsibility has been established.

Police investigate possible use of medicines with other people

The investigation has also widened.

According to current reporting, police have found hundreds of hotel accommodation records involving the doctor and both men and women in hotels across Málaga province.

Investigators are examining whether he may have administered medicines to other people outside the hospital environment.

At this stage, however, this is an investigative hypothesis.

Hotel records showing that someone stayed with other people do not, by themselves, establish that medication was administered or that a crime took place. Police are reportedly examining the doctor's phone and other evidence to determine whether there is any connection.

The hospital is also under investigation over the medicines

Another major question concerns how the medicines reached the hotel.

The doctor reportedly told investigators that the drugs came from Hospital Costa del Sol.

Police have requested information from the hospital about the medicines, while the hospital has opened an internal investigation and is cooperating with the authorities, according to current reporting.

Investigators will need to establish what medicines were allegedly taken, when they were obtained and whether there is evidence connecting them to the doctor's professional access.

A case with major questions still unanswered

The death has left investigators with several key questions.

They include the precise toxicological cause of death, the quantities and combination of drugs involved, how the medicines were obtained, whether the doctor's account corresponds with the physical evidence and whether any other people received medication from him outside a hospital setting.

The doctor remains free provisionally while those questions are investigated.

For now, the confirmed picture is of a nurse who died in a Marbella hotel after receiving medications including propofol, according to the account given by the doctor who was with her.

The investigation has not established that he intentionally caused her death.

The definitive forensic evidence and the ongoing police investigation will determine what happened inside room 113 on October 1.

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