For 18 years ... never forget Philip Rectina http://www.primonumero.it/attualita/primopiano/articolo.php?id=5049 malpractice Dead ': Verrecchia Florio and charged with murder investigation
Clamorous epilogue the death of Philip Rectina: the former regional manager of the local health commissioner Basso Molise investigated for murder. According to the prosecutor prevented the Vietri their business decisions to avert the death of a patient who had to be hospitalized in a department resuscitation has never been opened.
Florio and Mario Sergio Verrecchia, Director General of Asrem and former special commissioner of Termoli-Asl Larino, had the power and duty to open the center of Vietri hospital resuscitation, where for ten years (and still) operating in a regime of lawlessness endangering patients' lives. They did not, though aware of the risks to which this "omission" has exposed and continues to expose the sick.
are therefore responsible for both, the death of Filippo Rectina, retired 75 year old that just because of the unavailability of a bed in intensive care died January 20, 2006.
This, according to the prosecutor of Larino, the assumption underlying the prosecution's information assurance manager came to the two these days, at the end of the investigation into the death of the pensioner Larino, concentrated around the Resuscitation of Vietri, never activated although the department is functionally related to surgery, gynecology and other departments where they perform surgery. In practice - he says the law - if there is no one there can be even each other.
The hypothesis formulated by investigators of crimes against Florio and Mario Sergio Verrecchia is not the usual "abuse of office" but one of the most serious charges against him: murder. And it's not manslaughter, the one that provides a fault through negligence, carelessness, distraction or lack of capacity management. No. 'murder. The two leaders of the regional health materials would be responsible for the death of a pensioner, took place in the ambulance on the night between 19 and 20 January 2006. A death that, according to the coroner who made the report based on autopsy and the reconstruction of human suffering, could have been avoided if only it worked in that department Larino ready since 2000 but never activated for management decisions that Florio and Verrecchia see precisely the referents of decisions on all administrative departments. The story of Philip Rectina is known: emergency surgery by doctors at the Vietri for an abdominal aortic aneurysm caused by the shock following the death of his wife, he needed intensive care after surgery, a complete success. But
Vietri resuscitation does not actually exist, despite the label that proclaims it. There are machinery, sophisticated and fully functional, ventilators and monitors: all wrapped in cellophane, never used since February 2000. Rectina it should have been transferred to the intensive care unit closest to that of St. Timothy Termoli. But it was not accepted. San Severo there was no room, and was hijacked in the one department available to Foggia. A journey too long, obviously, for a man in critical condition. In fact, a journey that ended at 4.40 body of the night.
Now, the evidence collected, after consultation with doctors and families, established the reconstruction of that night, after reading the reports and called together the incredible story of the ghost of Larino department, comes the conclusion of the investigation with two cases of crime against Florio and Verecchia: interruption of public service and, above all, murder. It did not have the intention to kill Rectina, the two - for the prosecution - were aware that the absence of resuscitation, a consequence of their business decisions despite numerous requests and reminders of physicians, would could trigger a high probability of death among patients. They accepted the risk, therefore, are responsible for the death of Rectina.
The prosecutor, through the Financial Police has conducted a complex investigation following the complaint of family members, establishing a clear link between the non-resuscitation, and activation of a larger plan: they would be put in - say - behaviors, omissions , management intentions and carried out to establish a real hardship for patients Vietri to pursue the project of structural scaling Hospital Larino. As if to say that Florio and Verecchia, both political expression of regional summit, agreed to be design tool that was designed to penalize the hospital frentano also benefit the San Timoteo Termoli, at the material virtually unchallenged reign of the spouses De Palma-Di Giandomenico, as is assumed, with the support of wiretapping and investigation results , Black Hole in the investigation into the links between health and politics.
The reasoning of the investigators is based on what the law is called 'accepted risk'. In practice, if we admit that there is a risk (as measured and) we have full cognizance of the consequences of encounters. Consequences that also cover - in this case - the death of patients. And the risk Florio had calculated, as he himself write down on paper in April 2008, after the seizure of resuscitation at Vietri, when he invites the medical director of the hospital to "want to take measures to ensure that in Vietri are carried out only activities compatible with the current organization, that is, with the lack of department of anesthesia and resuscitation, confirming the fact that for nearly ten years until his death Rectina precisely Vietri hospital had acted in violation of the law (which requires the presence of resuscitation where there is a department of surgery) and essentially putting life-threatening patients.
one described by the prosecutor Nicola Magrone a legal view is quite unusual, but recently seen the important proceeding in Italy. From Thyssenkroup case of Turin, scene of a tragic accident that claimed the lives of six workers. The leaders of the steelworks in Turin are currently on trial for "murder" because their behavior with omission not endowed the establishment of adequate tools to prevent accidents.
E ', therefore, a legal bomb that exploded at the highest level of health of Molise, which is undergoing a critical stage and come to a head sees nodes, gradually but inexorably, after the disasters of the past. But it is also a bomb strong social impact and implications distressing.
The investigation, What time should reflect on and evaluate the judges, which has the last word on the case, however, marks a turning point nailing health managers to their specific responsibilities. Regardless of the judicial process that will follow the story remains the consideration that among the many ills of the health of Molise, aided and amplified by managers handsomely paid with money collectively, there are only cronyism, corruption and recommendations, but crucial to the choices and omissions life (and death) of patients.
The former manager of Termoli-Asl Larino Mario Verrecchia, interviewed on the phone, can not bring himself to make statements: "Any comment to my currently not possible because there is no equality of relationships between an ordinary citizen under investigation, and prosecutors. " It was not however possible to speak with the Director-General Sergio Flores, about to leave to go to the summit of health - as rumors - at the top of Molise Acque.
LINK
Resuscitation of Vietri: ghost story of a department
(Published on 27/03/2009)
