The Prosecutor's Office is accelerating its efforts to clarify every step in the death of Domenico Caliendo, the two-year-old boy who died after a heart transplant at the Monaldi Hospital in Naples.
By requesting an evidentiary hearing and an autopsy, the magistrates aim to obtain definitive technical answers regarding the management of the operation and subsequent care.
The number of suspects has risen to seven. The request was also notified to the health workers involved in the various stages of the transplant.
The child had undergone a heart transplant that was later found to be damaged. After the surgery, he survived for 59 days thanks to a machine, awaiting a second transplant, which was considered possible until a few days before his death.
The prosecutor's questions: verifying medical errors and liability
The appointed consultants will have to ascertain the presence of any culpable profiles, evaluating possible negligence, imprudence, or incompetence on the part of the healthcare personnel.
The investigation focuses on all phases of the transplant procedure: from surgical removal of the heart to preservation and transportation of the donated organ, removed last December 23 in Bolzano.
The experts will have to establish whether the operations were carried out in compliance with national guidelines and accredited good scientific practices.
The condition of the implanted organ and the presence of any anatomical or functional alterations attributable to errors by the removal team or the transplant team are also examined.
Operating times and therapeutic choices under the magnifying glass
The investigation also focuses on the correctness of the surgical and therapeutic decisions made by Monaldi doctors.
The magistrates are seeking clarification on whether the surgery was performed correctly and in the correct manner, with particular attention to the timing of the removal of the diseased heart and the time it took the removal team to arrive in the operating room.
Key points also include the predictability and preventability of the child's death and the possible link between the death and the healthcare activity performed.
Consultants will need to determine whether alternative options were available, both during the procedure and in the clinical management following the failure of the first transplant, which could have led to a different outcome.
The lawyer's accusations: "After the surgery, omissions and silences"
The family's lawyer, Francesco Petruzzi, has been very harsh in his words, announcing a battle before the investigating judge.
According to the lawyer, attention should also focus on what happened in the 45 days following the operation, from December 23 to February 6, the date of the first interdisciplinary commission.
"Medical documentation shows that up until that point, not even a brain CT scan had been performed," the lawyer explained, hypothesizing omissions in the clinical evaluations following the transplant.
Petruzzi openly speaks of "a blatant attempt at cover-up," claiming that further diagnostic investigations would have involved the involvement of other transplant centers and increased the circulation of information about the case.
The case of the "frozen heart": "Kept from the mother"
The family's complaints also center on the management of communications with the child's mother.
According to the lawyer, the medical records contain references to a "frozen heart," a fact which, he claims, was not disclosed to the family.
"We find it crazy that an entire hospital withheld this information from the mother," Petruzzi declared after the meeting at the Prosecutor's Office.
The lawyer, however, distinguishes the position of the health department from that of the individuals under investigation, hypothesizing that any incorrect information may have been transmitted internally as well.
"Advised not to speak to the press or lawyer"
Among the incidents reported by the defense was the alleged invitation to the family not to speak to the media about the negative opinion expressed by the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital regarding the possibility of a second transplant.
According to Petruzzi, that advice would have represented an attempt to psychologically condition the mother.
"She was advised that, to keep the child on the waiting list, it would be best not to spread certain information," the lawyer explained, referring to pressure exerted by leveraging the hope that the child would continue to live.
The preliminary investigation, along with the autopsy, will now determine whether medical negligence was behind the tragedy or whether little Domenico's death was inevitable.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (1)
The news is tragic and calls for responsibility, but many doubts remain about how the various stages of the case unfolded. The Prosecutor's Office believes it is necessary to clarify the situation, but the documents appear incomplete, and the communication with the mother appears to have been suppressed. Careful investigations and expert consultants are needed to determine what went wrong.