Feb 21 • 00:01 UTC 🇮🇹 Italy La Repubblica

Domenico, the child at Monaldi: witnesses are called to the prosecutor’s office. Those three €7,000 boxes never used

The case of Domenico, a two-and-a-half-year-old boy who underwent a heart transplant using a severely damaged organ, is under investigation by the Naples prosecutors, focusing on unused medical equipment.

The investigation into the case of Domenico, a two-and-a-half-year-old boy who received a heart transplant at the Monaldi hospital, centers around the troubling events in the operating room and the discovery of advanced medical boxes that cost €7,000 each, which were never utilized. Prosecutors in Naples are conducting inquiries into the circumstances surrounding the transplant, particularly the use of a heart that had been exposed to dry ice, leading to severe damage.

As part of their investigation, prosecutors will be interviewing hospital personnel who were involved in the surgical procedure as well as those who were present in the hospital at the time. The focus is not only on the heart transplant itself but also on the potential mismanagement of medical resources, as these high-cost boxes, meant to safeguard and improve transplant success rates, remained unused in the hospital's storage. This raises significant questions about hospital protocols and their adherence to equipment usage standards.

The implications of this case are broad, raising concerns about the quality of care provided at public hospitals in Italy and the protocols that govern surgical procedures. The absence of critical medical technology during a life-saving operation calls into question the effectiveness of hospital management and accountability in ensuring proper medical practices, especially in high-stakes situations involving young patients. These inquiries will likely have a lasting impact on policy and oversight in healthcare operations in Naples and beyond.

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