He knew he was positive for the coronavirus, but he continued to see his patients in the clinic and at home, even a terminally ill cancer patient. An incredible imprudence that did not go unnoticed and got into trouble 59-year-old Valter Borghino, family doctor with office in via Roma in Villafalletto, reported by the ASL Cn1 to the Order of Doctors and by the Savigliano carabinieri to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Cuneo for violation of the quarantine, mandatory in case of positive Covid-19. Even more so for a doctor. In addition to heavy disciplinary measures, he risks a criminal sanction with arrest from 3 to 18 months, and a fine from 500 to 5 thousand euros.
It all starts on Wednesday, when Borghino undergoes a swab at the hospital in Savigliano. The positive outcome is communicated to him the following evening. As the local health authority, through the Sisp (Health and Public Health Service of the ASL) the mayor, Giuseppe Sarcinelli, also learns about it, who writes to the doctor on Friday and invites him to immediately respect home isolation, “in how much it can represent a considerable danger of spreading the serious pathology “. Nevertheless, that same Friday Borghino is in the office and meets borrowers until the evening, when the carabinieri intervene and escort him home.
On Sunday evening, however, he goes out for a home visit to a cancer patient. And on Tuesday morning he goes back to the office to use the printer. Hence a new letter from the mayor, who this time “orders” him to immediately leave the clinic where “he continued to practice, even though he was aware that he was a vehicle of contagion for his patients and anyone who has attended since his ascertained positivity “. And he specifies that access to the outpatient clinic “” will be inhibited with the replacement of keys and other ways of entering the San Luigi Gonzaga nursing home “, a structure at risk because although separated from the residence for the elderly, the office is located in the same building .
On the phone, Valter Borghino denies having received this last order, he has it sent by email and explains his version: “After Savigliano’s positive swab, theoretically I should have stopped, but a few hours later I did a serological test, negative, and a swab at the Santa Croce di Cuneo, also the negative one. I was asymptomatic – even now I’m fine – I wasn’t sure what had happened to me, so I continued the activity until 7pm on Friday, when the carabinieri arrived and told me to stop. That day I met a few patients and always respecting the safety devices ». But he should have stopped at the first positive swab certified by the Sisp: “I haven’t thought about it well.” On Sunday evening’s visit to a cancer patient: «Your son called me, begging me. The father was very ill and wanted my intervention, only I could solve the problem. He insisted several times, so I went. ‘ Breaking the quarantine again, like Tuesday morning. “It was 6, I went to the office for a quarter of an hour, to print documents. I haven’t seen or visited anyone. ‘ But he left the house anyway. Do you realize, as a doctor, that your motivations are irreconcilable with the sense of responsibility and protection of public health? “I only realized it later.” Meanwhile the mayor Sarcinelli has launched an appeal “to citizens, patients and anyone who has met Dr. Borghino, to contact the ASL and take the necessary measures to limit the potential spread of the infection”.
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