At the Monaldi

Expert team says no to new transplant in Naples, two more children waiting for their hearts

For the doctors, the condition of the little one already operated on in December is not compatible with a new operation: the inspectors sent by Schillaci are also at work

by Ernesto Diffidenti

18 February 2026

L'ospedale Monaldi Napoli dove è ricoverato il bimbo di due anni in gravissime condizioni dopo il trapianto di un cuore danneggiato. ANSA / CIRO FUSCO

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The committee of experts meeting at the Monaldi Hospital in Naples has given a negative opinion on the new heart transplant on the two-and-a-half-year-old boy who had a damaged heart transplanted last December.

Two specialists from the Bambin Gesù in Rome (Lorenzo Galletti and Rachele Adorisio) arrived in Naples with three other colleagues from Padua (Giuseppe Toscano), Bergamo (Amedeo Terzi) and Turin (Carlo Pace Napoleone). Together with the doctors from the Monaldi Hospital, they assessed the little one's condition to see if there were any conditions to risk a new transplant and if therapies could be applied to alleviate the concomitant pathologies.

At the end of the consultation came the painful 'no' and now the heart that had become available will be destined for one of the only two other compatible children on the urgent waiting list for a transplant, explained Carlo Pace Napoleone, director of paediatric cardiac surgery at the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin.

This is the note issued by the Monaldi Hospital: 'The Azienda Ospedaliera dei Colli announces that the consultation between experts from the country's main healthcare facilities dealing with paediatric heart transplants has been concluded. A collegial comparison that allowed for a shared assessment that was as complete and broad as possible. In the light of the assessments carried out at the patient's bedside and on the basis of the latest instrumental examinations, it was established that the child's condition was not compatible with a new transplant. The Strategic Management has informed the National Transplant Centre and expresses its sincerest sympathy to the family, which was promptly informed, at this difficult time".

The lawyer Francesco Petruzzi, representing the child's family, had already anticipated that 'there would only be a 10% chance of a positive outcome of the transplant and that none of the surgeons who arrived in Naples would be willing to perform the operation, except for the surgeon who had already transplanted the child'.

Patrizia Mama

Patrizia Mercolino, the mother of the hospitalised child, had been summoned by doctors at the Monaldi hospital yesterday evening to inform her of the availability of a new heart. Then the tragic news received from the same doctors and the prayer with Cardinal Domenico Battaglia who supported her in this dark moment of despair. 'The mother is resigned,' the lawyer continued, 'she learns of the inoperability from this team of doctors who are the greatest experts in all of Italia, we have no reason to contradict them.

Inspectors sent by the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, also arrived at the Monaldi Hospital today. In the group investigating the case of the little patient operated on 23 December, there are experts from the Ministry of Health, Agenas, the Nas, and the National Transplant Centre, coordinated by Maria Grazia Laganà, from the Planning Directorate of the Ministry of Health. They are collecting all the documentation and testimonies to then leave in the direction of Bolzano, where the organ was explanted to be transported to Naples. 'Together with the National Transplant Centre,' Schillaci said, 'we have worked hard and seriously to ensure new opportunities for the child. We have hoped but we must follow the indications of science. We are waiting to know the outcome of the investigations by the public prosecutor's office and ministerial inspections into what happened because it is our duty to provide clarity'.

Investigations continue

On the investigative side, the work of investigators coordinated by Deputy Prosecutor Antonio Ricci, with Prosecutor Giuseppe Tittaferrante, continues. The investigators' attention is focusing, among other things, on the container used for transport: if one of the modern technological boxes used at the Monaldi had been used, the temperature detection and control system would have signalled excessive cold (probably due to the use of dry ice instead of traditional ice), thus preventing the heart from deteriorating. The cardiologist who was taking care of the little one and who resigned, six days after the operation, from his post-surgery follow-up position, has already been heard by the prosecutor as a person informed of the facts. In the next few days other persons informed of the facts will be heard and then also the suspects, six so far, members of the two teams in Naples: the one that performed the explantation and the one that carried out the transplant. A number that is destined to increase if presumed responsibility is also identified in Bolzano.

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