Caserta, June 17 - A doctor and his wife
were placed under house arrest on Friday and their private
clinic was seized in relation to the cancer death of a
three-year-old girl, sources said.
The suspects named as neonatologist and pediatrician Angelo
Coronella and Ersilia Pignata, who has no medical degree or
license, accepted the child as a patient in May 2011 when she
was just three months old.
The couple allegedly failed to diagnose the infant's
cancer, prescribing ineffective medicine.
In September 2013 the parents took their daughter to the
couple's clinic, called Pediatric Center, in the southern town
of Casal di Principe because she was crying and couldn't
urinate.
Pignata attributed the child's symptoms to an excess of
parental attention, and prescribed an anti-inflammatory.
The child however continued crying, so her parents took her
to Santobono Hospital in Naples where an ultrasound revealed the
presence of a tumour and she was diagnosed with fourth-stage
neuroblastoma.
She was hospitalized for a year, and died in 2014.
Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer in infancy, with
nearly half of cases occurring in children under two. It is a
neuroendocrine tumor that most frequently originates in the
adrenal glands but can also develop in nerve tissues in the
neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis.
The couple has been charged with manslaughter, unlawfully
practicing a profession, forgery, and impersonation, because
Pignata frequently signed prescriptions and other health
documents in her husband's place.
Investigators say they may also be responsible for the
death of a four-year-old girl that occurred while they were
caring for the three-year-old cancer patient, making them
habitual offenders.
This is why they were arrested - an unusual move in
manslaughter cases in Italy, Naples prosecutors said.
Their pediatric clinic was renowned and Coronella, touted
as a child disease specialist, had several minors under his care
on behalf of local public health authorities.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
