Italian courts order compensation for medical negligence deaths

The Court of Appeal in Bari reversed a lower‑court decision and ordered the Santa Maria clinic in Bari, its insurer and the surgeon who performed the first heart operation to pay roughly €500,000 to the deceased woman's husband and daughter. The woman died in June 2012 after two heart‑valve surgeries; a criminal probe for involuntary homicide was closed, and judges highlighted the lack of an operative report as impeding a clear assignment of responsibility.

The Tribunal of Parma awarded €320,000 to the three daughters of a woman who died in 2011 from colon cancer that was diagnosed five months too late. Judges labeled the hospital staff’s omission as culpable and unjustifiable, noting that earlier detection could have allowed successful surgery and a better quality of life.