The national health system must
correct any mistakes that may have caused the deaths of five
women in childbirth over the past week, Health Minister Beatrice
Lorenzin told RTL 102.5 radio on Tuesday.
"We must correct possible errors," she said.
"The fact is that each case was different from the others
and they all took place in large hospitals with excellent
reputations in our country... I hope there has been no omission
of aid, on the other hand we must provide answers to the
families. If mistakes were made along the way, they must be
corrected immediately".
Her comments came after funerals of two women who died in
childbirth were held Monday.
Giovanna Lazzari, 30, and her eight-month fetus Camilla
died on the maternity ward of Brescia's Spedali Civili hospital
on December 31.
Lazzari was married to Giovanni Coppini and the mother of
two children aged four and one. According to initial reports she
died of a hemorrhage after her placenta detached from her
uterus, which can occur in the last trimester of pregnancy. This
is one of the most common causes of maternal death, and early
and skilled medical intervention is needed to ensure a good
outcome.
Angela Nesta, 39, died of cardiac arrest at Turin's
Sant'Anna Hospital shortly after her daughter Elisa was
still-born on the night of Saturday December 26. City
prosecutors are investigating for manslaughter in both cases.
Lazzari and Nesta are among a total of five pregnant women who
died on Italian maternity wards in the past week.
Two of the other fatalities were named as Marta Lazzarin
and Anna Massignan, who died at facilities in the Veneto towns
of Bassano del Grappa and Bonifacio. A fifth young woman died
during a home birth in Foggia.
Doctors there were able to save her daughter with a
post-mortem cesarean.
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