Two surgeons at Naples' Monaldi Hospital have been suspended as a precautionary measure from their transplant team. They remain on duty pending investigations into the case of a two-year-old boy whose heart was apparently damaged by contact with dry ice, which was used instead of regular ice for his transportation.
This is the decision made by the hospital's management regarding the heart transplant, which became unusable due to a storage error that allegedly "burned" the organ. And—a disturbing detail, if confirmed—according to what the mother of the child for whom the heart was intended told the family's lawyer, Francesco Petruzzi, the transplant was performed anyway, after the replacement organ had already been removed, despite the organ being unusable. This circumstance has led the lawyer to ask the Prosecutor's Office to clarify the matter. Petruzzi himself will proceed tomorrow with an addition to the complaint already filed in light of the new information emerging from press articles.
At this time, neither confirmation nor denial has been received from Monaldi Hospital: meanwhile, heart transplants for pediatric patients have been suspended as a precautionary measure. This decision could have a negative impact on transplant rates, which had seen a significant surge last year. The hospital has launched an internal audit to reconstruct the events of this tragic affair . Furthermore, the investigation already opened by the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office (an investigation into the matter has also been launched in Bolzano, where the transplant took place, in addition to the hospital's internal audit) will need to shed light on another aspect of the heart transplant case.
Lawyer Francesco Petruzzi explains that it's also "necessary to understand what happened in the operating room at Monaldi: the little boy's parents were told that the transplant hadn't been cancelled, that it had actually been performed, referring to the new implanted organ, but that there had been problems with the new heart. But if that heart was compromised, why was that decision made?"
The young patient is currently attached to a life-support machine, awaiting the arrival of a new heart. But his condition, explains the family's lawyer, is deteriorating significantly, on the verge of a medically induced coma. "We are asking the Naples Prosecutor's Office," the lawyer explains, "to investigate what happened. The mother was told that the unusable heart was implanted. Why?" "We can only hope for a miracle, that a heart suitable for implantation arrives. The child," the lawyer emphasizes, "has been connected to a machine for 50 days, and the condition of his other organs is at risk of being compromised. Our priority right now, even before knowing what happened, is a new transplant."
(Unioneonline)