Massimiliano Marino Granfazza, 56, a metalworker from Vigevano, had to undergo surgery on his left knee at the Beato Matteo Institute in Vigevano. But they operated on the healthy one. And now he is continuing the clinic. His story is told by National newspaper: “Principle: a mistake can always happen, even if it is difficult to imagine such an oversight in Lombardy of the excellence of health care. But what bothered me most was the attitude that followed. Nobody, neither the specialist nor the institution, wanted to apologize: I did not even receive an email.”
The other two interventions
Granfazza had undergone two other operations at the clinic. The doctors had recently diagnosed him with “pain in the left knee due to a suspected rupture of the medial meniscus”. In October 2023, he visited the specialist. After examining the MRI, the doctor suggested an “arthroscopic revision procedure”. The operation took place in November 2023: “I was not at all worried – says Granfazza – even though in the operating room I was asked several times what the problem with the knee was”. When he woke up, the worker found that the healthy person had been affected. “I was offered to repair it with a second operation. But I obviously refused. Also because it would have forced me to stay in a wheelchair for at least a month. After a night at the clinic, I signed my resignation and went home.”
Respiratory complication
The surgeon explained to him that there had been a respiratory complication: confusion had arisen at that point. “The operation, among other things, was very short: as soon as the team realized that the knee was intact, they stopped the intervention,” he recalls. The medical examiner certified that the operation had caused him two days of temporary incapacity at 100%, fifteen at 75%, another fifteen days at 50% and finally the last fifteen days at 25%. In the meantime, at the Humanitas hospital in Rozzano, he was told that the operation was not necessary. The meniscus had already been completely removed and there was no injury to the anterior cruciate ligament.
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