The PM of the Nola court, Colonna Romano, has requested a 4 year sentence for Stefano Cristiano, accused of manslaughter in the trial concerning the death of Raffaele Arcella, a young man from Caivano who died at the age of 29 following gastric bypass surgery.
Instead, acquittal was requested for another doctor, Carlo Casillo.Article Key Points
Raffaele Arcella, married and father of a six-month-old baby, died on April 13, 2019 at the Secondo Policlinico in Napoli after a life-saving operation. Just two weeks earlier, on March 29, 2019, he had undergone a gastric bypass at the Trusso clinic in Ottaviano. “That gastric bypass was of no use to him, Raffaele was not obese.
He weighed 135 kilos and was 1,85 m tall,” says Antonio Arcella, Raffaele’s father, who describes how his son began to feel very ill after the operation, with a high fever and symptoms of an infection.
“Raffaele was only given cortisone to bring down the fever. A CT scan with contrast was not performed to check for lesions. If this CT scan had been done, we probably wouldn’t be talking about this case,” explains Fernando Maria Pellino, civil party lawyer.
After the first operation, Raffaele underwent another laparoscopic operation, again at the Trusso clinic, but his condition remained serious. It was therefore necessary to transfer him to the II Policlinico in Naples, where he arrived in very serious conditions and, after a further operation, he died. The autopsy revealed the presence of a foreign body in his body: the terminal nose cone of the gastric calibration probe.
Raffaele Arcella's family has been asking for justice for years
Antonio Arcella, who has been seeking justice for years, expressed “satisfaction” with the closing argument. The next hearing is scheduled for July 12.
Stefano Cristiano is also under investigation for other alleged cases of medical malpractice under the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prosecutor's office, including that of Angela Iannotta, left on the brink of death after bariatric surgery at the Villa del Sole clinic in Caserta, and Francesco Di Vilio, a cancer patient who died at the age of 69 after several stomach operations.
Article published on 17 June 2024 - 21:22
