A 4-month-old baby dies in Sant'Antioco. His parents say, "We want clarity."

"We want clarity: nothing will ever give us peace over this senseless death, but we want to know if the doctors treated our child correctly." Michela Brasile and Carlo Zurru, two young parents from Sant'Antioco, are devastated by grief. They were supposed to celebrate the baptism of their son Francesco Edoardo yesterday, but instead are in Rome awaiting an autopsy on the body of the four-month-old baby. He died at Gemelli Hospital, where he had been taken on the night of March 18th following an emergency transfer decided by the doctors at Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari, who were treating him.

The nightmare

The two parents, assisted during these dramatic hours by psychologists at Gemelli Hospital, have entrusted their cousin Christian Spiga and lawyer Marco Aste with explaining why they decided to go public with this terrible story, which has plunged the family and the entire community of Sant'Antioco into despair. "We can't come to terms with this," Spiga began. "The little boy's grandmothers had been preparing sweets and decorations for his baptism for days, and now we find ourselves with a house decorated for the holidays but devastated by the most terrible of losses: our beautiful Francesco Edoardo will never return."

The little boy has closed his eyes forever at the end of an ordeal that began on Tuesday, March 17, the day he celebrated his fourth month of life, when his parents took him to Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari to have a catheter changed: "Even before he was born, a problem with the connection between his kidneys and bladder had been discovered. A small surgical procedure was needed to resolve this, as the Brotzu doctors had told Carlo and Michela, and it would be performed after the first four months of life," says Christian Spiga. "In the meantime, a catheter was allowing the little boy to urinate. Last Tuesday, they took him to Cagliari to have the catheter replaced, which appeared to be clogged. They received him as soon as the doctor was available, and they replaced the catheter."

As is standard procedure, the child was held until he urinated, but this didn't happen: "So he was held to manage the problem," she continues, "and since an infection was detected, he was given an antibiotic, which he would then have to continue taking at home." But already on the way home, the child began to show signs of strange impatience, crying inconsolably. This was unusual, as he almost never cried.

In the hospital

On Wednesday morning, the child continued to feel unwell, and his mother decided to take him back to Brotzu: "At 11 a.m., he was already in intensive care," Spiga continues, "and his parents were told he would be urgently transferred to Rome on an Air Force flight. Then, to speed things up, the parents were told, they opted for a helicopter ambulance, but several more interminable hours passed until they were told it would depart at 10 p.m. Once it took off, the helicopter stopped in Olbia for refueling and finally arrived in Rome at 3 a.m.." Two hours after arriving, the little boy died in front of the doctors at Gemelli Hospital, who were unable to do anything to save his life. Why did the situation, which went from a simple catheter change to an unmanageable one, become unmanageable? The autopsy, ordered immediately, will have to provide answers." An unimaginable nightmare: "Clearly, the family isn't blaming anyone for this," explains lawyer Marco Aste, "but faced with such a dramatic and unexpected situation, they can't help but wonder if everything was done correctly. The parents demand complete clarity."

Brotzu Hospital has chosen not to release any statements pending the autopsy, except to express its condolences to the family for the sad outcome of the incident. Sant'Antioco Mayor Ignazio Locci, expressing the community's sentiments, said he was "incredulous and particularly saddened. A child so young leaving us creates an unfillable void. We stand with the parents to support them and provide the help they need."

Stefano Garau

Stefania Piredda