"Dear Councilor Bartolazzi, you were misinformed about the Professor Tuveri affair and in the Regional Council you said untrue things, even if perhaps not through your fault". A last gasp via Pec in the controversy over the revocation and reassignment of the position, by Brotzu, to the director of the complex structure of Oncological Surgery, Massimiliano Tuveri. An affair marked by a battle declared against him by Arnas Brotzu, closed, for now, with the about-face decided by the company's commissioner and the assignment of the doctor, for a period, to the ASL Ogliastra. Yesterday in the Regional Council the Health Councilor, Armando Bartolazzi, was called to answer for it ( HERE IS HIS RESPONSE ) who had spoken of maximum support, by the Company, towards the professional who, instead, had filed a complaint with the Court of Auditors because he was not put in a position to work. On behalf of the doctor, his lawyer, Gianni Benevole, intervened with a letter addressing the assessor. Here is the text.

Dear Councillor Dr. Armando Bartolazzi,

I am writing to you on the express mandate of Dr. Massimiliano Tuveri, in relation to the response you gave on 26 May to question no. 183/A (Hon. Sorgia) - to the content of which, for the sake of brevity, reference is made - with a request for a written response on the work-related issue concerning my Patient and on the critical issues in the management of the new complex oncological surgery structure at the regional company of national importance and high specialisation (ARNAS) G. Brotzu.

In response to the above question, you stated the following:

“For the profiles that can be referred to in this context, the circumstances that are not disputed and of interest for a better reconstruction of the facts are highlighted:

  • As he himself admitted, Dr. Tuveri was well aware of the complex dynamics inherent in the organizational aspects of the Structure he would direct and the consequent long timescales necessary to ensure optimal operation.

In this regard, it should be noted that Dr. Tuveri, given his professional level, was certainly well aware of the complex dynamics inherent in the organizational aspects of the Structure that he was supposed to direct, a circumstance that did not cause any concern for him. In truth, the point is another, Dr. Tuveri, only after his hiring in June 2024 - therefore more than a year after the publication of the July 2023 announcement - was able to ascertain that no department had been created by the top management of ARNAS while waiting for his hiring and that, therefore, at the time of his entry into service, there was no structure to organize, as he himself would have been happy to do. As for the long timeframes required to ensure optimal operation, it is noted, in underlining the extremely vague nature of your statement, that these were not at all known to Dr. Tuveri, who, on the contrary, relied and trusted that he could manage an existing structure that could be defined as such, at least at an embryonic level, at least in terms of equipment and basic personnel. On the date of his hiring and also in the following months, Dr. Tuveri could not help but find the void and the total absence of even the minimum equipment that could have at least the semblance of a Complex General Surgery Structure with an oncology focus that he had been called to manage in the role of Director. He had only one room at the PO Businco, completely improvised, where at most he could perform outpatient visits, without even the necessary equipment. It is therefore contested that my Client, "by his own admission", was well aware of these critical issues, given, as stated, the total absence of a department, which were also completely independent of his will and in no way related to his professional role.

  • In fact, since 04/20/2024, before signing the individual contract to complete the assignment of the task, Dr. Tuveri was informed by the Company Management of the circumstance that should have actively accompanied the activation of the Structure.

It is reiterated that the only structure that Dr. Tuveri has been able to "effectively accompany and activate" since the date of his hiring has been an improvised room, where, as highlighted, he has only been able to carry out outpatient visits for some patients. I would like to remind the Egr. Councilor that we are talking about a "Complex Structure" and in this regard I ask you a question. The General Director, the Medical Director and the Administrative Director of ARNAS, who should have implemented the call that led to the hiring of Dr. Tuveri, why did they limit themselves, 1) to making a simple room available to the latter (would this be the complex structure to accompany??) and, 2) only after the complaints of Dr. Tuveri, to assign him, in July 2024, four beds, within the Thoracic Surgery Structure of the PO Businco, without however reserving for him dedicated and specialized personnel in Abdominal Oncology Surgery pertaining to Dr. Tuveri? Why were the ARNAS leaders unable to go further?

  • Furthermore, on 05/06/2024, following a meeting with the Councilor for Budget and the Councilor for Health, Dr. Giuseppe Meloni and Armando Bartolazzi, Dr. Tuveri also learned of the failure to allocate funds in the Finance Act intended for the rapid implementation - within the Structure in question - of his projects connected to the insular autotransplant activity, to be developed within the scope of the surgical services provided in the Department.

The alleged failure to allocate funds, of which, moreover, the Councilor for Budget Dr. Giuseppe Meloni and you, only informed Dr. Tuveri on June 5, 2024, or after his hiring, does not justify at all the marginalization and the condition of inactivity, to which he was forced for many months, so much so that he had to expressly request, through a formal warning from the undersigned lawyer, to be assigned to Command in Verona in order to work. Why was he not given the opportunity to operate within other SCs of ARNAS and was he also excluded from all the Oncological Surgery courses always within ARNAS?

  • Dr. Tuveri received the important and constant support of the competent administrative structures of ARNAS, in order to allow him to quickly complete the procedures aimed at activating the Structure he directed, given the delay recorded due to his evident difficulty in fulfilling the contractual obligations". Given this, the undersigned, considering the sensitivity of the issue and the inconvenience suffered by cancer patients, this Department took action promptly by convening the Parties involved in the matter on several occasions. Following these meetings, it was possible to appreciate that there are logistical critical issues for the activation of the Surgery service directed by Dr. Tuveri, primarily connected to the need to restructure the operating rooms. From the assessments that it was possible to carry out, it did not seem feasible to temporarily move the aforementioned surgical activity to another clinical context of the ARNAS G. Brotzu of Cagliari. From what has been learned, the aforementioned Company and Dr. Tuveri had agreed on a period of command of the same at the UOC of General Surgery at the IRCCS Ospedale Sacro Cuore Don Calabria, Negrar di Valpolicella (VR) pending the logistical and functional reorganization of the Department in question, which it is hoped will be active in the shortest possible time. Subsequently, following careful investigations also by the undersigned, it was possible to appreciate the continuing absence of the necessary conditions to be able to carry out surgical treatments by Dr. Massimiliano Tuveri in the complex structure of oncological surgery at the ARNAS therefore, pending the establishment of the aforementioned necessary conditions to perform the interventions in question, a collaboration of Dr. Tuveri with the team of Dr. Gusai at the ASL dell'Ogliastra has been foreseen, by mutual agreement between the parties.

Dr. Tuveri never received the important and constant support of the competent administrative structures of ARNAS, so much so that he was forced to turn to the undersigned lawyer who, in July and August 2024, sent several formal warnings to the Company, so that the minimum conditions were created to allow him to work. The same thing happened in December 2024 and January 2025, after Dr. Tuveri's return from his command period in Verona, when he continued to find that nothing had changed and that no structure or department had been created in the meantime by the top management of ARNAS. Dr. Tuveri did not have medical and nursing staff. Only in February 2025 were he assigned two assistant medical managers. No delay can therefore be attributed to my Client, given that, contrary to what is stated in his response to the question, he has, from the beginning, fulfilled his contractual obligations, among which were certainly not included those of creating from scratch a structure and a department that, instead, he should have started and managed, once the minimum conditions for making it operational had been created by the ARNAS top management. Certainly, the problems relating to the logistical criticalities that you indicated in the response to the question, connected to the restructuring of the operating rooms of the PO Businco, were not the responsibility and competence of Dr. Tuveri. The fact is that Dr. Tuveri, in order to be able to work, given the ongoing situation, not attributable to him, which has prevented him from carrying out his duties as a surgeon until now, finds himself, once again forced, against his will, to ask to be assigned to the PO of Lanusei, with further prejudice and inconvenience.

These clarifications, in light of the above, appear necessary with respect to the content of your response to the aforementioned question, Dear Councillor Dr. Armando Bartolazzi, to protect the personal and professional reputation of Dr. Massimiliano Tuveri, who, contrary to what you have highlighted, has never been in breach of contract and has only asked to be able to work and perform the duties of a surgeon, so much so that he had to turn to the undersigned lawyer to claim them.

In order to protect the interests of Dr. Massimiliano Tuveri, we also have the obligation, at the very least, to invite you to refrain, in the future, from portraying the professional image of Dr. Massimiliano Tuveri in the untruthful terms reported in the aforementioned question, without prejudice, of course, to your good faith - which is not called into question - or to the partial, inaccurate information in your possession regarding the matter in question, which, in such an event, Dr. Tuveri is available to provide you with in detail, in order to be able to represent to you the exact course of events, with respect to which, you have evidently been informed in a completely inaccurate and instrumental manner.

(Online Union)

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