“To our damned little boy Citrobacter she ruined her life forever by leaving him irreversible damage al brain, but now that the dismissal of the charges against the alleged perpetrators has been requested, Jacopo risks being denied even the truth and above all justice. We can’t get over it, my husband and I don’t believe it possible, the only hope we had left was the judiciary, but after this decision the world is falling on us”. This is the outburst (to Corriere della Sera) of Jacopo’s mother, a child affected by citrobacter, a bacterium that had nestled in a water tap used by the staff of the neonatal intensive care unit and also in baby bottles at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Borgo Trento in Verona, the main regional birth centre.
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The process
According to the technical commission delegated to investigate by the governor of Veneto Luca Zaia, the “killer bacterium of children” would have killed four newborns in two years between 2018 and 2020. Who? Leonardo at the end of 2018, Nina in November 2019, Tommaso in March 2020 and Alice on August 16, 2020. While 9 other children – including Jacopo – would have suffered permanent brain injuries: in all, there would have been as many as 96 children affected by citrobacter. A number of cases that could have been avoided if those responsible had intervened in time and adequately.
The suspects
Last month the investigations were closed confirming against the 7 suspects (doctors, former executives, manager of the Scaliger hospital). The charges? Manslaughter and very serious injuries in relation to only two cases of contagion: for Benedetta, the Paduan girl who suffered irreversible damage, and for the death of Alice, daughter of Elisa Bettini. «A downward appraisal – Francesca Frezza arose, who is a biologist and who was the first to report the citrobacter emergency after losing her daughter Nina -. The prosecutor’s consultants divided the infection into three phases: early (2018-October 2019), intermediate (October 2019-February 2020) and late (last week of February-end of May 2020), saying that only in the late could it be avoided the contagion. My daughter Nina, for example, was placed in the intermediate. This distinction is absolutely arbitrary and cannot be shared on a scientific level”.
Parents ready to appeal
«No trial for our children affected by citrobacter? This is not justice », protest the parents who were notified of the request for dismissal at the turn of Easter. Now they have thirty days to object and ask the investigating judge for new investigations.