Mum says never held newborn

(ANSA) - Catania, February 13 - The mother of a newborn girl who died in an ambulance after being sent away from a Sicilian hospital for lack of space vented her desperation and anger on Facebook on Friday, saying she hadn't even been allowed to hold her baby.
    Meanwhile several people were placed under investigation for the death, which took place in an ambulance rushing from Catania to Ragusa.
    "They didn't let me see her, to hug her, to stroke her little hand and let her feel I was close to her: they took her away without me getting to give her her first and last greeting," said the baby's mother, Tania Laura Egitto. "My little one, you'll live forever in our hearts, I'll remember every little movement you made inside me until just before your birth. "You were and will always be my wild little dancer. I love you, mummy's darling," said Egitto on Facebook, posting a photo of herself pregnant.
    "You will soon have justice and peace," Egitto added, saying "what they said on the TV news isn't the whole truth, by any means".
    One of Nicole's grandparents, who preferred not to be named, told reporters: "The health system in Sicily is absolutely disastrous, almost criminal". Catania Prosecutor Giovanni Salvi said Friday that several people were formally under investigation in the case.
    But Salvi also stressed that this move was necessary for people involved in the care of the baby to "have all the elements to be able to defend themselves". The prosecutor added that it was a complicated case and that so far no "precise responsibility" for the death had been pinned to anyone. Nicole was born in a private clinic in Catania on Wednesday night, but when she developed breathing complications medical staff quickly tried to move her to a neonatal intensive care facility in the same city. However, it was too crowded so an ambulance then tried to rush the newborn to the intensive care facility at a pediatric hospital in Ragusa. The two cities lie about 105 kilometres apart by road. The baby died en route even as doctors in the ambulance tried to revive her.
    On Thursday Italian President Sergio Mattarella phoned Sicilian Governor Rosario Crocetta to say how "incredulous" he was at the case. Mattarella, elected last month to replace Giorgio Napolitano, is Italy's first president from Sicily.
    Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said Friday: "Things like this aren't supposed to happen".
    But she said before taking any action, she would wait for inspectors to report on what happened.
    That will include assessing if basic levels of care are properly available, she said. "I await the results from inspectors before I take any decisions or initiatives," including whether a commissioner should be appointed again to oversee regional care, she said. According to a survey released Friday, a fifth of cases of medical negligence or bungling in Italy happens with births or neonatal care.