«According to our medical examiner, the child presents a clinical condition that would make him no longer eligible for a transplant» .
This was stated by Francesco Petruzzi, attorney representing the family of the 2-year-and-4-month-old boy whose damaged heart underwent a transplant at the Monaldi Hospital in Naples on December 23. The attorney added, however, that "we intend to ask the Monaldi Hospital's medical directors for a third-party opinion, at Bambin Gesù, regarding the child's transplantability."
Our doctor has never seen the baby: we asked the health management of the Monaldi Hospital to ask the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital for an opinion on the transplantability, given that, after what happened, the relationship of trust with the Neapolitan hospital has been damaged , a decision our doctor agrees with. A positive opinion will allow the mother and everyone else to breathe a sigh of relief .
In the early afternoon the family will receive official news on the condition of the child, hospitalized in a pharmacological coma in the intensive care unit of the Monaldi hospital .
Meanwhile, the Carabinieri of the NAS (National Anti-Corruption Unit) in Naples, acting on behalf of the Prosecutor's Office, have seized the container used to transport the heart . The box, a true organ preservation and transport system designed to keep the organ at controlled temperatures, is scheduled for an expert assessment by consultants specifically appointed by investigators.
Six doctors are under investigation : the members of the Monaldi team who performed the heart removal in Bolzano and the team from the same hospital who performed the organ transplant on the child in Naples. All are charged with negligent injury.
Along with the container, the Carabinieri of the NAS of Naples (coordinated by Lieutenant Colonel Alessandro Cisternino) have acquired all the documentation relating to the affair, which investigators are now examining.
"We need to understand how it was possible not to distinguish cold ice (dry, ed.) which has a temperature of -75 degrees from ordinary ice which ranges from zero to 4 degrees: the heart arrived frozen, burned by cold burns," said the lawyer for the little boy's family, Francesco Petruzzi , on the Rai program 'Storie Italiane'. "Although one can say that the time was tight and that the implant and removal should have been concurrent, in my opinion the organ to be implanted should have been checked before removing the heart which would have allowed the little boy to live his life anyway."
The Ministry of Health has ordered inspectors to be sent to the hospital in Bolzano , where the heart assigned to the child was removed. The inspectors will be tasked with clarifying the situation, from the transportation to the decision to operate on the organ, which was apparently damaged during transport, using dry ice instead of regular ice.
The Campania Region is also activating its inspection powers, President Roberto Fico announced : "We must shed complete and absolute light on what happened and determine all responsibilities with the utmost transparency and determination . On behalf of myself and the entire Regional Council, I express our deepest sympathy to the child's family."
(Unioneonline/L)
