Arrests over alleged hospital malpractice cover-up, Lorenzin says 'scandalous'

(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, April 21 - Four doctors were put under house arrest and six others were suspended on Thursday in relation to a probe by prosecutors in Reggio Calabria into alleged cover-ups of medical malpractice, ANSA sources said. A midwife was also suspended over the probe into alleged wrongdoing at the obstetrics and gynaecology, neonatology and anaesthetic departments of the southern city's Ospedali Riuniti hospitals. The probe, which began from wiretaps obtained in an an anti-mafia case, reportedly covers the suspicious deaths of two newborn babies. Among those involved are the head and the former head of the obstetrics and gynaecology department, Alessandro Tripodi and Pasquale Vadal.
   Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin on Thursday called the alleged cover-up a "really scandalous situation". She said that it was "strange that the complaints came from patients and not from health managers" at the hospital involved.