the mother is safe, Camila dies just born

The happiest event in the life of a couple, transformed into tragedy in the short span of 24 hours, the dizzying and exciting joy of waiting for the birth of a child transfigured in a few moments into inconsolable pain: it will be the competent authorities who investigate after a detailed complaint-complaint filed by a grief-stricken dad to establish what happened in the delivery room at theBethany hospital last Wednesday.

It is just after 3 pm on Tuesday 21 February and a couple arrives at the emergency room of the Naples east unit, in what is considered an excellence of gynecological and neonatal care in the city. The 31-year-old woman is expecting a baby girl. The pregnancy passed 37 weeks of gestation. The waters have broken and the birth is imminent. After the triage, according to the story given to the police, the woman comes hospitalized in gynecology where a series of tests and checks begin. The next day at 8.30 the two spouses communicate via telephone and whatsapp. The child’s father is informed by his wife that a tracing is underway.

Doctors administer a first pill to increase uterine contractions preparatory to a birth that will have to be by natural means. At 11.45 the woman takes a second pill. Severe pains begin in the uterus, blood pressure rises but heart rate drops. Then two and a half hours of silence: at 18.30 it is the ward doctor’s turn to inform the father of the little girl that during the birth there was a detachment of the placenta, fetal suffering and the decision to perform a cesarean. The mother is out of danger but for the little girl there are few possibilities: she has suffered irreparable brain damage. Her little heart continued to beat until 4pm yesterday. The grief-stricken dad immediately called the police to file a complaint. The little body was seized. It is the practice that an autopsy is performed to establish the causes of death. A decisive and unrepeatable examination which will not be carried out before the appointment of official and party technical consultants.

“We are close to the pain of the family that we understand in its devastating extent – he warns Vincenzo Bottino, medical director of the via Argine structure – we immediately started an internal audit dedicated to clinical risk to evaluate the adequacy, timing and methods of all clinical acts. We are very sorry for the tragic epilogue of a delivery which, from the first summary news acquired from the delivery room, had continued on a regular basis with a normal route up to induction when a slowdown emerged. We cannot make any clinical considerations since there is an investigation. I can say that from what we know the conversion times of the childbirth, planned naturally, in caesarean section, were almost immediate. All the operators feel they offer heartfelt condolences to the parents.

Giulia Capricano and Claudio Riccio, aged 31 and 33, they have been married for 18 months, and their dream of becoming parents has just turned into mourning. “We ask for clarity on the tragedy that has struck us – they say through tears – Camila, unfortunately, she will no longer be with us even if we waited for her with all our hearts. She was our first daughter. It saddens us that more than 24 hours have passed since the breaking of the waters until the beginning of the cesarean which proved to be useless after an induced labor ».

(Gennaro Di Biase collaborated)

Read the full article
on Il Mattino