"The recognition of partial insanity can theoretically impact the determination of intent." This sentence, cited by the Supreme Court of Cassation, is the key to the success achieved by the defense of Alba Veronica Puddu, the 53-year-old former doctor from Tertenia, charged with aggravated homicide, defrauding an incompetent person, and fraud for promising to cure tumors with ultrasound. Puddu's 18-year prison sentence was overturned on appeal.

The Supreme Court, which filed its ruling today, upheld two of the three points of the appeal filed by lawyer Gianluca Aste, who had already succeeded in overturning the life sentence handed down in the first instance.

The new trial will have to establish once and for all whether the doctor's conduct was based on malice (even if intentional) or negligence (even if conscious).

The investigation began following a 2017 report by the TV show Le Iene, which highlighted cases of cancer patients abandoning traditional therapies for alternatives proposed by Alba Veronica Puddu, which involved ultrasound for aesthetic procedures. A new trial will now be held before a new composition of the Court of Assizes of Appeal, in which the judges will once again address the issue of intent, namely, the defendant's awareness of defrauding her patients , reducing their life expectancy, at least in one disputed case. The civil parties are represented by lawyers Rita Dedola and Mauro Massa.

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