Sudden cardiac arrest after breast surgery, falling into a coma, being admitted to intensive care and, five days later, dying on Tuesday 10 September. This is how Helen Comin died, a 50-year-old from Cittadella , in the province of Padua, who had decided to undergo surgery in a private medical clinic to replace the two prostheses from a mastoplasty performed a few years ago.

The woman, married to an entrepreneur, was the mother of four children. What precipitated the situation in the surgical room of the 'DiviClinic' in Castelfranco, directed by the surgeon Antonio di Vincenzo, will have to be established by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Treviso, which has opened an investigation for manslaughter. Di Vincenzo himself and an anesthetist, Fabio Toffoletto, are under investigation, both of whom were present in the surgical room at the time of the operation.

"The breast implant replacement surgery that the lady underwent was simple and had been carefully prepared, performed without any problems, with the usual assistance of a former head of anesthesia and resuscitation, who had administered light sedation," commented Di Vincenzo, in a note released by his lawyer Ernesto De Toni.

The problems arose about forty minutes after the operation, when the patient was in the post-operative room. "After the operation - Di Vincenzo reconstructed - the patient had been transferred to the post-operative department, with constant monitoring by the staff, and had not shown any problems, so much so that after about forty minutes she had even sat up in bed. After more than an hour from the operation she had a sudden heart attack and was immediately assisted by the clinic staff, who administered resuscitation practices then continued by the 118 staff who arrived in a few minutes".

Helen Comin, in a coma, was then urgently transferred to the San Giacomo hospital in Castelfranco and admitted to the intensive care unit. Five days of excruciating wait for the family, until her death on Tuesday. The autopsy, for which the prosecutor Giovanni Valmassoi has appointed the medical examiner of the University of Padua Claudio Terranova, will have to ascertain . The medical examiner will be supported in the autopsy by an expert in anesthesia. "We are deeply saddened and shocked by what happened - Di Vincenzo said - and we are close to the husband and children of the lady".