There was a sensational and fatal error that led to the death of Carla Raparelli, 71, in the Villa Maria Pia clinic, one of the most prestigious in Turin. And it came to light, explains Repubblica, which is now reconstructing the case, thanks to the courage and honesty of an anesthesiologist who refused until the end and noted what was wrong in the medical records. Raparelli received a blood transfusion that was not intended for her, but for another patient, hospitalized in another room. Incompatible blood, which had led the old woman to cardiac arrest. The anesthesiologist noticed it, rushed to resuscitate her and noticed this bag of blood. The prosecutor's investigation lasted a year: a nurse and a doctor now risk charges of involuntary manslaughter and ideological forgery in public act. Because on the evening of March 9, 2023, the rigorous verification procedure required by the ministerial directives was not respected: namely the transfusion compatibility check.
The facts
Raparelli was at Villa Maria Pia for a valve replacement operation, eight years after the previous operation. Admitted on 23 February 2023, the operation was successful. He was approaching the last days of hospitalization when, on the morning of 9 March, he woke up with a slight fever. The daughter (protected as an injured party in the proceedings and assisted by the lawyer Fabrizio Bonfante) had been notified. Nothing to worry about, but after ten o'clock in the evening a call informed him: his mother was very serious. When he arrived, the mother had already died “from multiple organ failure due to an intravascular haemolytic reaction”.
“Acute due to an AB0 incompatible blood transfusion,” reads the final document of the investigation by prosecutor Giorgio Nicola. What happened: in the evening, at 9:15 p.m., a 54-year-old nurse of Romanian origin applied the blood bag intended for someone else to the old woman (who was 0 positive). According to the guidelines, a doctor and a nurse must check the correspondence between the bag and the patient. A procedure that was not carried out. However, the signatures on the forms are there, but the prosecutor's hypothesis is that they were previously affixed without elementary checks. At the time of the transfusion, the 42-year-old heart surgeon was no longer even present at the clinic.
Pressure on the anesthetist
That night, after her death, an emergency meeting was held at the clinic. Repubblica explains that the anesthesiologist, who rushed to resuscitate the woman, who then noted the transfusion error on the paperwork, was pressured to change the document: they suggested that the patient had died of sepsis. The anesthesiologist, however, firmly opposed this. And this no has led today to the closure of the investigation after a year.
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