Domenico, the two-year-old boy admitted to the Monaldi hospital in Naples after an unsuccessful heart transplant, never woke up. When the sedation was withdrawn, there was no response. No signal. No return to consciousness. Hence the most painful decision: the launch of Shared Care Planning, the path required by law to avoid aggressive treatment when the prognosis is now defined as poor.
This was communicated by the family’s lawyer, Francesco Petruzzi, explaining that the request presented was accepted by the hospital. “It’s not euthanasia“, he clarified, but a choice aimed at shifting attention from the impossible healing to the alleviation of suffering. A passage that marks a clear boundary: no longer extreme attempts, but palliative care respecting the dignity of the little patient.
The pain of a mother and the appeal for donations to AIDO
Next to her son’s bed there is always her, her mother, Patrizia Mercolino. His voice, broken but lucid, tells of a pain that does not seek spectacularization. “As long as it breathes, it’s there“, he said on television, clinging to a very thin thread of hope. But awareness has now left room for that hope and even his little brothers – aged 5 and 11 – have understood that Domenico will never return home.
In recent weeks, thousands of people have expressed solidarity, also offering economic aid. The mother, however, chose a different path: no monetary donation to the family. The invitation is clear and direct: whoever wants to be close to her and her children, do so by donating to AIDO, the association for organ donation. A gesture that transforms a family’s pain into an invitation to donate to those who save dozens of lives every day, as it should have been for little Domenico.
“It’s getting more and more serious. – explains the mother – I thank you for the support. My baby is now everyone’s son.”
The investigation and the issues regarding heart transport
At the same time, the legal case expands. In Naples, six doctors and healthcare workers are under investigation for very serious negligent injuries. At the center of the investigation is the most delicate phase: the transport of the heart removed from a small donor to Bolzano.
According to initial reconstructions, the damage to the organ could be linked to the use of dry ice instead of traditional ice for preservation during the journey. An error which, if confirmed, would have irreversibly compromised the heart even before the operation. The Bolzano Prosecutor’s Office has opened a parallel file to clarify each step.
Meanwhile, the clinical documentation has been delivered to the family and will be examined by a medico-legal consultant. While the judiciary investigates, a suspended period of time expires in the hospital. The one in which a mother remains next to her child, counting every breath and preparing for an inhuman farewell to a child of just two years old.
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