A friend just told me this true story - and I laughed so hard at the absurdity, I thought it was meant to be shared.

This past week, a young man, in his mid-twenties,asked his boss for the day off because he was taking his Grandmother to small, private surgery center in Foligno for a minor procedure on her finger (the person telling me the story thought it was for a wart or mole removal - something minor).

After the surgery, they were in the elevator and the Grandmother faints. The young man gets all upset and thinks to take her immediately to the hospital emergency room....so he picks her up, puts her in the car and drives to the hospital where the emergency room people tell him to take a seat and he will have to wait.

Now, keep in mind, his Grandmother is still passed out, and he sits there for over an hour with her cradled in his arms waiting for someone to see her.

When the hospital person finally gets around to looking at the Grandmother - still in the waiting room - they say she is dead. There is an immediate flourish of activity - as the Doctors have called the police and filed a denuncia against the young man for bringing a dead person into the hospital!!!!!!

(they said that it is illegal to bring a dead person to the hospital)

This is NO JOKE!

The police arrived, took statements, etc. while the young man is still in shock and bewilderment.

An autopsy done a few days ago revealed she had had a heart attack and the hope is the young man will be eventually released from the denuncia - but, it is not a certainty, as this is ITALY!

You're kidding me! I don't even know what to say.

Craziness. Is that true that you can't take a dead person to the hospital? Poor man.

While there is a funny side to this story, can you imagine being the poor guy dealing with this nonsense?

I searched the net for news about this and found nothing. Where and when did this happen? There are a few details that really sound strange to me. Why didn't the guy call an ambulance? And it seems strange to me that they had to wait at all, given that every incoming patient in the ER is given priority depending on how bad their condition is (being unconscious seems pretty bad to me...)

This happened this last week. The man works here in Assisi / although I don't know where he actually lives.

He felt it would be faster to take her in his car, versus calling an ambulance, as they were near the hospital.

The young man is very innocent. He was in a panic. The strangeness isn't his Grandmother dying - but of the hospital and police reactions!

Mah!...

First and foremost, never heard of someone getting a denuncia for bringing what we call (with a very cold, cynical definition) a "codice 4" into the ER. And volounteered on an ambulance as rescuer for 13 years since I was 18.

Second, I really doubt that if the doctor or the assistant at the triage saw an unconscious person they would let this person alone waiting a minute.
An unconscious ( or, more, not breathing) person is a red code and all the ER stops its activity to help him/her.

That's what's happening here.
Tutto è possibile anyway...never say never in this impossible terrific Country of mine. As I last discovered to my great disappointment (Naples, Mastella, Vibo Valentia, Alitalia...etc...etc...) and if the Procura in Napoli a while ago called Topolino, Paperino, Minny (sic) and Qui Quo Qua as witnesses in a trial...

Chia

Don't tell me Goofy is the defendant.

quote:

if the Procura in Napoli a while ago called Topolino, Paperino, Minny (sic) and Qui Quo Qua as witnesses in a trial...

Sounds like a typical Neapolitan trial. Would be funny if it wasn't so true.

Sounds like the poor grandson was not angry enough to make it all go away - seems like if you make a loud enough fuss with bureaucrats, they will look the other way.

Quick question:

If nobody checked the lady out and they then waited an hour before being seen, how does the hospital know the lady was already dead when she was brought in? Maybe she died in the waiting room. That would mean the grandson is not guilty of bringing a dead person into the hospital....

Emma

http://emmina-milano.blogspot.com

Exactly! But would they want to take responsibility for their own incompetence?....I don't think so!