Five doctors at Campobasso's Cardarelli Hospital are under investigation for the deaths of 15-year-old Sara Di Vita and her mother, 50-year-old Antonella Di Ielsi, from food poisoning in Pietracatella , in the province of Campobasso. The charges advanced by the prosecutor's office are manslaughter and negligent assault.
The woman's husband, admitted to Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, remains alert, stable, and "well monitored." He is currently undergoing all necessary tests.
The women had visited the emergency room twice with symptoms and were discharged with a diagnosis of food poisoning. Then the 15-year-old returned a third time, and her condition deteriorated with "unusual" speed, the doctors reported. "There was liver failure and then a cascade of events, one after the other, with truly uncanny rapidity, leading to multiple organ failure," they explained. After the girl's death, her mother was also hospitalized, but there was nothing that could be done for her either.
The investigation, explains Campobasso Prosecutor Nicola D'Angelo, "is primarily aimed at reconstructing the entire chain of medical interventions, with specific regard to the fifteen-year-old's previous visits to the emergency room: it appears, in fact, that the minor had presented herself to the facility twice before her death. Likewise, we are investigating the interventions requested by the mother before the fatal event ."
"Given the extreme complexity of the clinical picture," the prosecutor continued, "multidisciplinary investigations have been ordered, including autopsies and specialist consultations, focused on three areas. Individual responsibility: verify any negligence or underestimation of the minor's and her mother's clinical picture , as well as errors in the application of diagnostic protocols. Identification of the 'trigger source': trace with absolute precision the origin of the pathology and the causal agent that led to such a sudden death for a 15-year-old girl and her mother, clarifying the reasons for such virulence. Protection of public health: reconstruct the pathological onset to isolate any residual 'trigger sources' and interrupt any risk dynamics , ensuring that no other citizen is affected by a tragedy of this nature."
Finally, the prosecutor emphasizes that the registration of the health workers in the register of suspects constitutes "a necessary act , necessary to guarantee the right of defense and the participation of the individuals involved in the non-repeatable technical investigations that will be ordered shortly."
(Unioneonline)