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Giuseppe de Dono had returned to the profession of general practitioner. PHOTO: Facebook
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Italian hero Giuseppe de Dono, who was found hanged at his home in Mantua, is buried
The Mantua city prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation to uncover the cause of death of Giuseppe de Dono, a former chief physician at a local hospital, found dead at his home in Curatone, near Mantua, on July 27.
Last year, in the hottest phase of the pandemic, the 54-year-old
De Dono had become
a kind of symbol of
the fight against the virus,
after he began treating plasma patients with COVID-19. The doctor’s battle for the approval of his invented therapy for the treatment of patients with the virus divided public opinion, meeting both staunch supporters and outspoken opponents.
Unexpectedly for everyone, on July 27, the doctor was found hanged in his apartment in Mantua. He lived there with his wife Laura and his children Martina and Edoardo. His computer and phone were confiscated and his relatives were questioned. The doctor had not left any death certificate, so the reasons for his action are not clear.
Hours after the body was found, Mantua’s prosecution began
investigation for
incitement to
suicide
A forensic autopsy was also ordered. However, the results confirmed that the doctor died after hanging. A series of samples were taken to perform various tests, including toxicological, but the results will be known in 60 days.
Giuseppe de Dono’s funeral is scheduled to take place behind closed doors on August 2 at the Basilica of Sant’Andrea in Mantua. The doctor’s family continues to receive dozens of condolence telegrams. At the same time, there are many who speak of a conspiracy that led to the death of the man who caused great controversy with his therapy. Some time ago, De Dono left the pneumology department of the hospital in Mantua, where he was chief physician, and returned to the profession of jeep.
Giuseppe de Dono is considered the father of anti-COVID therapy, in which plasma is injected into the blood of patients from the blood of those already cured, as it is rich in antibodies.
De Dono’s life was entirely devoted to medicine, say people who knew him. De Dono graduated from the classical lyceum, and then with honors in medicine and surgery at the University of Modena. He then specialized in physiopathology and respiratory allergology. His first job as a doctor was in the respiratory department at the University Polyclinic of Modena.
In 2010 he headed a medical structure for the treatment of patients in need of mechanical ventilation at home. Three years later, he headed the entire pulmonology structure and the intensive care unit for respiratory diseases at Carlo Poma Hospital in Mantua. During the pandemic, De Dono practically became one of the most popular doctors in all of Italy because of his experimentation.
hyperimmune therapy
plasma, which he called
“Magic weapon”
At the global level, however, medicine does not consider this type of therapy to be the most appropriate weapon to fight the virus.
In November 2020, a study by the Italian hospital in Buenos Aires, published in the scientific journal New England Journal of Medicine, concluded that the use of this type of plasma in patients with severe COVID-19 had no effect.
For the experimentation of its therapy in Italy, the hospital of Mantua reached an agreement with the one in the city of Pavia. De Dono himself was deeply convinced of the functioning of his therapy and wanted to create a plasma bank throughout Italy to stop the wave of the virus.
The doctor thought that each of the cured could donate half a liter of blood to extract plasma rich in antibodies.
His therapy is both praised and insulted. Hundreds of cured people thank the doctor, but at the same time the scientific community never confirms the effectiveness of experimental treatment.
Now all of Italy is guessing what exactly prompted de Dono to commit suicide. All his friends knew him as a passionate fan of football, cycling, the sea and Puglia.
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