"My girlfriend also died because the 118 operator did not speak English". This is the complaint of Michael Douglas, companion of a young German tourist, Janna Gommelt, struck by an illness, which was then fatal, last January 20 in her camper in Focene, on the Roman coast.
A case that caused a sensation, while an audit is underway on the management of the telephone triage of that day by the Health Department of the Lazio Region.
The Lazio Region itself, however, denied it, also broadcasting the audio of the phone call reached the emergency switchboard. A phone call, explains a note, “immediately handled correctly in English. Furthermore, the intervention was geolocated with the coordinates of latitude and longitude ".
"There was no problem with the English language and the ambulance arrived in 18 minutes where the user had reported being but, upon arrival at the scene, the health teams did not find anyone, since the man had autonomously decided to move ", also specifies the 118. The management of Ares 118 also specifies that" the call was passed to the 118 operations center by the NUE 112 at 3.41 pm (and the two minutes of full audio without cuts were made available by the 112 Operations Center), with the simultaneous activation of the interpreting service. The exchange staff therefore answered the user's call with the interpreter already on line ".
And again: "From the printouts in our possession it appears that 18 minutes have elapsed from the end of the call to the arrival of the ambulance and self-medications - continues the management of Ares 118 - The vehicles have been correctly sent where the user had reported to be there but, upon arriving on site, the health teams did not find anyone, since the man had autonomously decided to move ".
The Civitavecchia prosecutor's office has launched an investigation file on the matter to be able to carry out the autopsy. The examination was carried out on January 26 and about a month later the investigators gave the authorization for the return of the body in order to proceed with the cremation. "The prosecutors immediately opened an investigation for instigation to suicide - explains the lawyer Manuele Piccioni, lawyer of the tourist's family. A case perhaps hypothesized as a necessary act to be able to proceed with the examinations on the body".
The lawyer explains that after receiving the green light for the restitution of the body, he received no further communications from the Prosecutor's Office. "I have never been contacted and my clients have never been summoned. We are awaiting the filing of the technical advice, to date I have no news of this filing so I cannot say anything about the conclusions on the causes of death", specifies the criminal lawyer, adding having met the young woman's partner on one occasion when the family went to her office.
"I do not know anything about the interlocutions that Douglas had with 118. About what happened in the camper he only told me that the girl suddenly collapsed accusing an illness", concludes Piccioni.
(Unioneonline / lf)