The criminal proceedings against the doctors of the Surgery, Urology and Nephrology departments of the Grand Metropolitan Hospital of Reggio Calabria, accused of the crime of manslaughter in relation to the death of the patient DP, which occurred in August 2018, ended with a full acquittal.
The sentence was pronounced today 5 November by the Court of Reggio Calabria, in monocratic composition, Judge Dr. Elsie Clemente, who acquitted all the defendants pursuant to art. 530 cpp because the fact does not exist, reserving ninety days for filing the reasons.
The procedure
The investigation was started following the request for indictment dated 20 July 2021, signed by the Deputy Public Prosecutor Dr. Marco Antonio De Pasquale, which had led to the formulation of the charge of manslaughter (articles 113 and 590 sexies in relation to article 589 of the criminal code).
They had been called to trial
The doctors Giuseppe Laganà (defended by lawyer Natale Polimeni), Vincenzo Cedro (lawyer Emanuele Genovese), Domenico Antonio Nucera (lawyer Himmanuel Emilio Rinciari), Sebastiano Fabio Cristiano (lawyer Attilio Parrelli), Umberto Bagnato (lawyer Saverio Gatto) and Nicola Agostini (lawyer Leone Fonte), serving in the Surgery department;
the doctor Gesualdo Costantino (lawyer Pietro Modafferi) of the Urology department;
the doctors Pietro Finocchiaro (lawyer Pasquale Zoccali) and Francesco Marino (lawyers Demetrio and Maria Teresa Pratticò) of the Nephrology department.
The protests
According to the indictment, the surgeons were accused of failing to timely request specialist advice and late adopting adequate therapeutic measures given the worsening of the patient’s condition, hospitalized from 8 to 14 August 2018. Similarly, the nephrologists and urologist were accused of not having ordered hemodialysis treatment promptly enough and of having underestimated the severity of the clinical picture.
Absolution
After a long and detailed debate, characterized by expert reports, counter- expert reports and numerous testimonies, the defense team managed to demonstrate the correctness and full legitimacy of the doctors’ actions, highlighting how the procedures adopted were in line with the guidelines and the patient’s clinical conditions.
The Court’s decision, which acquitted all the accused, was welcomed with great satisfaction by the defense team and the doctors involved, putting an end to a proceeding that lasted over four years.
A relevant precedent
The ruling also takes on importance in an evolving regulatory context: the examination of the reasons will be useful to understand the application of the criteria of medical negligence and the implications of the legislative reform on the new “criminal shield” for healthcare workers, a highly topical topic in the national legal and healthcare debate.