Naples — New questions are being raised about the surgery and the sequence of medical procedures that preceded little Domenico's death. The family's defense team points out an alleged gap in the medical records provided by the hospital and announces a new referral to the Public Prosecutor's Office to request further investigations.
According to Francesco Petruzzi, attorney for the family of the child who died yesterday, the medical records sent by the Monaldi Hospital are missing a document deemed crucial to accurately reconstructing the stages of the operation.
The missing document: "It is used to establish the time of the removal."
The crux of the matter concerns the so-called "perfusion diary," that is, the technical tracing relating to extracorporeal circulation during cardiac surgery.
"The perfusion diary is missing from Domenico's medical records that Monaldi sent us," the lawyer explained. "This is the document that records the management of the heart-lung machine and would allow us to establish the exact moment when the child's heart was removed before the implantation of the one that later proved damaged."
An element that, according to the defense, could be crucial to clarifying the timing of the surgical procedures and verifying any liability.
Another point Petruzzi raised about the documentation received from Monaldi is the timing. "The various phases are described chronologically, but the precise timestamps, which would be necessary to understand the sequence of events, are missing."
Tomorrow, the lawyer will also discuss this with Deputy Prosecutor Ricci, who is coordinating the investigation. Petruzzi will also submit the appointment of the party's pathologist for the autopsy, which has not yet been scheduled.
The return to the Prosecutor's Office
Attorney Petruzzi announced that tomorrow morning he will return to the offices of the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office, which has already been assigned to the matter, to formally report what he calls a documentary anomaly.
“We will ask the magistrates to acquire this document, if they haven't already done so,” the defense attorney explained.
The aim is to determine whether the perfusion diary has already been seized as part of the investigation or whether it needs to be recovered through further searches at health offices.
The family's doubts and the next developments of the investigation
The absence of the document fuels family doubts about the correct reconstruction of the surgical procedure and, above all, the precise moment of the removal of the little patient's heart.
The Prosecutor's Office will now have to determine whether the submitted medical documentation is complete and whether the missing tracing can provide useful information to clarify medical liability and the dynamics of the operation performed at the Neapolitan hospital.
The investigation remains in its early stages, but the defense's request already opens a new investigative front that will impact the chronological reconstruction of the operation and the assessments of the technical consultants appointed by investigators in Naples.
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Comments (1)
I find the perfusion diary issue very important, because without it, there's no clear understanding of the procedure. It's crucial that the authorities verify all the information necessary to understand what happened.