Long COVID: a new judicial challenge in determining it as a cause of permanent disability

Commentary on the Ruling of the High Court of Justice of Galicia 419/2025, of 29 January

Abstract

Ruling of the High Court of Justice of Galicia 419/2025, of 29 January, highlights a new challenge in the area of judicial interpretation when determining whether persistent Covid-19 can be a cause of disability in the workplace, and if so, to what degree and under what circumstances is this recognition associated with it. The emergence of this new clinical pathology, and the lack of scientific understanding of the mechanisms that can objectify the real cause of the manifestations involved, in the absence of a biomarker through which a definitive diagnosis and its possible symptomatic evolution can be established, favours its lack of specificity, leading to case-by-case and fluctuating interpretations, which limits the possibilities of establishing standardized parameters for its identification. Therefore, its recognition as a possible cause of permanent disability, as is the case with many other so-called "phantom" or central sensitization diseases, often means, in the absence of recognition in a prior medical assessment phase, a referral to the social jurisdiction, which will be forced to assess unclear issues without evident scientific support.