The teenager’s parents refuse to leave the hospital. The mother explains to the emergency doctor that her son has a rare disease, that he had his spleen removed at the age of five, that he has a problem with platelets and that he needs an intravenous antibiotic. “I even asked the doctor if her life was in danger because you feel these things when you’re a mom. But she wasn’t listening to me…” The emergency doctor persists: it is a simple flu.
I should have taken my son to another hospital
Back home, Antonio lies down in the armchair. “He told me he wasn’t feeling well. I picked him up and heard his last breath, there was nothing I might do,” confides his dad, his eyes filled with tears.
“I was helpless next to him, like a rag”continues Youri di Michele. “I’m sorry for having trusted this emergency doctor. I should have taken my son to another hospital. This remorse has haunted me for 7 years.”
Antonio dies at home the same evening of pneumococcal sepsis before the helpless eyes of his two little brothers and his parents.