"We're all shocked at Monaldi; the situation is rapidly deteriorating." Antonio Corcione, Head of the Critical Care and Intensive Care Department at Monaldi Hospital in Naples, explains the situation of Domenico, the two-year-old who received a damaged heart transplant.
The situation is critical, very critical. We are implementing a 2017 state law that protects the patient, in this case the child. We have agreed with the parents on the necessary treatment. We are not aggressive, we are not pulling the plug, we are not performing the palliative care that is done at home, we are not providing pain management.
Little Domenico is sedated
The child is sedated, hooked up to a machine, and his organs are in severe multi-organ failure. So we're following a therapy that we've shared with the family's medical examiner and the mother, to try to protect the little one."
The words of the head of the critical care unit at Monaldi Hospital suggest that little Domenico's life is fading by the hour. The impossibility of a new transplant due to the child's critical condition has accelerated his condition, and his body is struggling to cope.
"The situation is very critical, there is multiple organ failure, and we are there to continue to protect the little one, not abandon him," says Corcione. "The mother is there, close to her child. The mother is a very loving person. We are all shocked by this. I, who have not participated in this process, am shocked. As a department head who works in this company, as a doctor, as a father, as a grandfather, I am shocked."
Corcione told reporters how Domenico's story shocked everyone at Monaldi Hospital: "Every day we arrive at the hospital," he said, "the first thing we do is ask everyone, from the security guards to the ward staff, about the child's condition."
Regarding what happened between the day of the transplant and today, Corcione explains that he "fully agrees with what has been done by his colleagues," adding that it was necessary to both transplant the child and then connect him to the ECMO. "The ECMO is essential.
"Of course, after so many days, it also brings other problems, but there were no alternatives," says Corcione, retracing the history of transplants performed at Monaldi: "500 operations already twenty years ago. The five-hundredth transplant," he recalls, "was performed on a child. And there were never any problems." For the child operated on December 23, 2025, however, things didn't go that way. "We all know," Corcione concludes, "about dry ice: dry ice created this situation."
Little Domenico's condition is worsening hour by hour. From the moment the Heart Team determined he couldn't handle a second transplant, the hope of his parents and those following his story was tragically extinguished.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (3)
I agree with you: a child's life is sacred and deserves all the care possible. I hope families receive support during this difficult time; they shouldn't feel alone in their struggle.
Domenico's situation is truly sad. We hope the doctors can do more to help him. It's unfair for such a young child to suffer so much; more care is needed.
The situation is truly complicated, but the doctors are doing everything they can. It's important to have faith in the experts' work and continue to hope for the best for Domenico.