Healthcare liability: ASL Napoli 1 sentenced: massive compensation awarded to a patient's family

A serious and negligent underestimation of a patient's cardiac status has cost the ASL Napoli 1 Centro a fine of approximately €600. The court ruled, finding medical liability for the death of a man admitted to a well-known Neapolitan hospital and ordering compensation for his wife and son.

The case stems from the patient's admission to the emergency room after an accidental fall at home, which resulted in a bone injury. The man suffered from serious chronic heart disease, which had long been stabilized and managed with appropriate therapies, allowing him to return to clinical equilibrium. Despite this well-known condition, healthcare providers focused exclusively on orthopedic issues, unjustifiably neglecting his cardiac condition.

The patient was admitted to a ward deemed unsuitable for his complex general condition and did not receive the necessary specialized care. This omission led to a progressive deterioration in his health, culminating in fatal heart failure that led to his death. The Maior Lawyers, Pierlorenzo Catalano, Michele Francesco Sorrentino, and Filippo Castaldo, supported and proved the reconstruction of the facts, assisted by the medical examiner Marcello Lorello.

During the proceedings, the panel of technical consultants appointed by the Court fully confirmed the defense's arguments, finding serious medical liability related to incorrect clinical management and gross medical care omissions. Despite the clearly unfavorable expert opinion, the ASL Napoli 1 Centro did not initiate any attempt at a settlement agreement.

The Court therefore issued a guilty verdict, awarding the family both damages for the loss of parental ties and catastrophic damages, linked to the patient's clear awareness of dying in a state of suffering, agony, and lack of adequate healthcare. "This ruling reaffirms a fundamental principle: the patient must be assessed as a whole and not for individual clinical fragments," stated the lawyers of Studio Associati Maior, emphasizing how the decision restores justice to the family and calls on healthcare facilities to respect the most basic duties of care and supervision.