Rome, 10 June (LaPresse) – The judge presiding over the preliminary hearing in Rome, Paola Petti, in the order to stand trial for four doctors accused of the death of journalist Andrea Purgatori, who died on 19 July 2023, emphasises that the defendants played a decisive role in the ‘failure to recognise infectious endocarditis’ which, had it been diagnosed promptly, would have allowed for appropriate treatment and ‘a significant prolongation of the patient’s life’. In the order, the judge emphasises that “the body of evidence gathered – which may be usefully examined in greater depth during the trial phase – allows for a reasonable expectation of conviction for all the defendants”. At the heart of the investigation is an MRI scan carried out on 8 May 2023, in which brain metastases were diagnosed but later found to be non-existent. According to the preliminary hearing judge, the error caused “a serious deviation in the diagnostic and therapeutic approach”, directing the patient towards unnecessary radiotherapy and delaying the investigations necessary to identify the actual condition. The judge highlights that the healthcare professionals should have considered a “differential diagnosis, also assessing the ischaemic hypothesis”. The ruling states that “the three defendants are accused of failing to comply with the guideline suggesting that other diagnostic hypotheses should be considered, indicating brain metastases as one of the possible diagnoses rather than the only viable one”. According to the ruling, elements consistent with ischaemic lesions were already evident from the tests available in May.
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