Medical malpractice: A woman dies at 40 while doctors argue over her heart.

MALPRACTICE IN CAMPANIA –

The chain of horror is clear. In Campania, there are nine specialized centers equipped for cardiac surgery: five are public, four private, and only one of these is connected to the emergency network. On the same day and at the same time, in the middle of the night, the two operating rooms at Monaldi Hospital, the pilot center for this type of care, are occupied. In one, a very delicate operation is being performed on a dissecting aortic aneurysm; in the other, five organs are being removed from a fifteen-year-old boy. At this point, calls from San Paolo Hospital and 118 arrive requesting the immediate admission of Francesca Napolitano, 42, suffered from acute myocarditisHer heart is exploding, but a decompression surgery might be enough to save her, a cardiology operation, not a cardiac surgery. However, the on-duty managers at both San Paolo and 118 are delaying sending her by ambulance to Monaldi Hospital, which has meanwhile announced its unavailability, and poor Francesca... he dies at 6 in the morning after hours of futile waiting.

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CASES OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE IN CAMPANIA –

Regardless of the criminal and ethical responsibilities of individual doctors, there are already five notices of investigation for manslaughter, which will be ascertained by the judiciary, the fact remains that this tragedy demonstrates one thing unequivocally: Campania's emergency health network is a sieve, leaking from all sides.

CAUSES OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE IN CAMPANIA –

For what reasons? The chain of horrors of last Thursday night provides us with clear answers. First: the various centers for the most urgent and delicate operations, from cardiac surgery to neurosurgery, are online only on paperIn reality, they live and operate closed in their own microcosms, without a common direction and without a functional connection that makes this part of care integrated and effective. Second: there is an unbalanced relationship between public hospitals and private clinics, all in favor of the latter. The clinics are contracted, therefore paid with public funds from the National Health Service, but this only applies to elective procedures, that is, the least risky and most profitable. When it comes to emergencies, private providers opt out; they don't want the hassle and risk. Can we tolerate a half-hearted agreement, which stops short of the most serious, most urgent cases, for which we should be better equipped? Third: individual unpreparedness, which unfortunately exists, as this story demonstrates, is amplified and becomes deadly, in the chaos of a lack of system planning. And in the black holes of the network. Like, for example, that of the Policlinico which, for the purely private interest of the university barons who control it like a personal fiefdom, refuses to make its essential contribution to the emergency. Fourth: a some idiot doctors, a minority, oppose generous and competent professionals, the silent majority.

HEALTH IN CAMPANIA –

In the same hours that poor Francesca's heart stopped beating, the Monaldi team managed to save another life and recover five vital organs that will allow for another five transplants. This is a dual-system healthcare system, reflecting not just one region but an entire country, where every operation, every procedure, every hospital stay becomes a lottery ticket. Things can go well, very well; but they can go terribly wrong and you'll lose your life. An unjust healthcare system, transformed into a roulette wheel, that makes you angry, immensely angry..

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