Controversy over death of elderly man killed by violent migrant: 'No one told us he was violent'

“If only they had told us that the patient had aggressive behavior, if only they had told us what he had done on Saturday, we would have taken more precautions,” this is the testimony of the health workers on duty, still shocked by the incident the other night at the San Rocco hospital in Sessa Aurunca. It is Charles Opoku Kwasi, thirty-one years old, Ghanaian who killed Luca Toscano, a retired nurse of seventy-seven years old from Falciano del Massico, with his fists. They identified him only late yesterday morning when, unfortunately, it was already too late. Yesterday, on the ground floor of the Sessa hospital, a tragedy occurred that, according to the hospital staff, could have been avoided.
“We are alone against continuous emergencies, at the mercy of people with mental problems, sometimes drug addicts. The danger is daily for those who live in our wards. Not even the immigrant's known previous convictions were given to us at the time of admission, the police when they handed him over to us forgot to tell us what he had done. The doctor put him in a single room, but it wasn't enough. He woke up and silently attacked the other patient. They were moments of unheard-of violence. Some of us have been injured in similar circumstances, but not even nurses with forty years of careers behind them have ever seen anything like this”.
“We will ask once again for more security and a police squad in the hospital or surveillance – the health workers continue -. It is not the first time that something similar has happened in the department, but this is the most serious episode ever. We are all traumatized, our patients are in shock”.
There were, according to the hospital staff, other viable options that would have avoided the tragedy. “In prison there is a psychiatric unit, it is also present in Santa Maria Capua Vetere: if a subject is very dangerous socially he can be treated in the penitentiary to make everyone safe.”
Meanwhile, the dismay of the community of Falciano del Massico for the tragic death of Luca Toscano, a very well-known and esteemed man. Nurse and laboratory technician, he worked for almost forty years first at the Monaldi hospital in Naples and then at the one in Teano. In Falciano everyone knew him also because he provided his assistance, almost always free of charge, to the sick for injections or drips at home. He was also a city councilor for a long time, always elected in civic formations of the progressive area. Married, he had two daughters, both married.
An autopsy was performed on the man's body, ordered by the magistrates who are investigating the murder. The body is expected in Falciano del Massico this morning. The funeral may already be held this afternoon. Mayor Erasmo Fava has announced his intention to declare a day of mourning. "Luca was a true example for the entire town. He was distinguished by his vocation for his profession and his humanity. He always worked with the goal of helping others. For these and many other values, typical of this wonderful person, I am bound to him by a relationship of esteem and friendship. Luca was a special person," the mayor commented.