The Prosecutor enters in the register of suspects the cardiologist accused of having made visits, despite being positive to Covid19 and to have infected a patient. The investigation is conducted by the deputy prosecutor Maria Vallefuoco and the cardiologist, a 65-year-old from a town in the Grecìa Salentina, is under investigation for the crime of culpable crimes against public health.
The investigations began after the complaint, presented in recent days in the Prosecutor’s Office, by the lawyers Rita Ciccarese and Francesco Calcagnile, on behalf of a 79 year old from Uggiano La Chiesa.
In the statement, the story that led to the opening of a criminal investigation is reconstructed. The elderly gentleman underwent one cardiological visit for a check of routine at the office of the specialist in cardiology, in the afternoon of July 16, and he went there with his daughter. Both wore the ffp2 masks for the duration of the visit, as did the doctor. The latter, however, did not take the other necessary precautions aimed at preventing the spread of the virus, since he did not wear gloves nor did he worry about sanitizing his hands before starting the check. Above all, it featured the obvious symptoms of a severe cold and admitted verbatim to “not in excellent health”.
The visit, which lasted about 40 minutes, involved very close physical contact with the doctor, especially during the carotid artery check.
On the evening of July 22, the patient’s daughter received a call from the Lecce ASL informing her that the cardiologist, who went to the hospital due to respiratory symptoms and fever, had tested positive for the Covid-19 swab. Father and daughter were subjected, in turn, to the swab, while the other relatives decided to undergo serological tests and nasopharyngeal swabs which, fortunately, gave negative results, but entailed a series of economic expenses. On July 28, the 79-year-old’s positivity to Covid-19 was communicated by telephone.
The complainant underlines that the positivity to the virus has negatively altered his psycho-physical health, leading to anxiety states also due to the home restriction due to the covid. In complaint, it is believed that the behavior of the cardiologist has relevance from a criminal point of view, since it has led to the onset of a serious and potentially lethal disease.
The doctor, in fact, should have preserved the health of his patients as well as that of all the people with whom he came into contact. Also because, the onset of symptoms such as colds, coughs and febrile states obliges every citizen and even more so the medical-health staff, to avoid contact with other people and to report the presence of symptoms attributable to Covid-19 to the competent ASL to which they belong. .
We remind you that in recent months, the director of the Hygiene and Public Health Service of the Lecce Local Health Authority, as well as coordinator of the Covid del Salento task force, Alberto Fedele, after having ascertained the conduct of the cardiologist, sent a report to the Public Prosecutor and the Order of Lecce doctors on the case. The behavior of the doctor, in fact, would have seen the onset of a outbreak which has seen more than 25 people infected.
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