The Colli Hospital has suspended three doctors from the Cardiac Surgery and Transplant Department at the Monaldi Hospital in Naples from performing transplants, as part of the investigation into the case of a "damaged" heart intended for a two-year-and-three-month-old child.
In addition to the two cardiac surgeons on the team who performed the operation on December 23rd—the head surgeon and his assistant—the director of the Department of Cardiac Surgery and Transplants has also been suspended.
The decision entails a complete suspension of pediatric transplants at the Naples facility until the situation is fully clarified. "The need to suspend the positions of responsibility relating to the various phases of the transplant process," the health authority specified in an official statement.
A wait between life and death
"We're waiting for the miracle of this heart to work for a transplant, before it's too late," Francesco Petruzzi, the lawyer representing the child's family, told Adnkronos. The young patient remains hospitalized in a medically induced coma in the intensive care unit, kept alive by ECMO, the lifesaving technique that temporarily supports cardiac and pulmonary function.
"The situation is extremely complex," the lawyer explains. "Even if the heart were to arrive, the doctors who would perform the implantation are currently suspended, and the baby cannot be transferred. This is a particularly difficult time." Petruzzi also revealed that the Carabinieri of the NAS (National Anti-Hospital Unit) in Nola are conducting technical investigations into the matter.
The heart from Bolzano arrived "burnt"
According to reconstructions by the Naples Prosecutor's Office, the organ from a young patient from Bolzano arrived at the Monaldi Hospital on December 23 already irreparably damaged, presumably due to the incorrect use of ice during transport.
The South Tyrolean Health Authority has clarified that "the responsibility for removing the heart, its proper preservation during transport, and the subsequent transplant operation falls to the team at the receiving transplant center."
Furthermore, an investigative hypothesis, yet to be verified, has emerged: the transplant was actually performed, and only after the implantation did the team realize the organ was unusable. The Naples Prosecutor's Office is investigating charges of negligence and negligent injury, currently against unknown persons.
The Mother's Hope
"There's only hope that the heart will arrive; anger doesn't prevail," says attorney Petruzzi. "The child's mother, who is next to me now, is surprising me," he adds. "She's just hoping the organ will arrive; there's no room for resentment." The family has filed a complaint and is awaiting the little patient's complete medical records, while time is running out for the child, who urgently needs another transplant.
SOURCE EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (1)
It's incredible how such a serious situation can happen in a hospital. The child's parents must be very worried. I hope the situation resolves itself soon, even though there are many doubts about how everything will be handled.