Overview

• Judges concluded the child, now 16, was misdiagnosed in 2012–2013 and underwent two temporal lobectomies that were not indicated.
• Court-appointed experts established an unequivocal causal link between the inappropriate care and the boy’s severe encephalopathic condition, including tetraparesis and a vegetative state.
• The ruling notes the information given to the parents before surgery was wholly inadequate given the risks and diagnostic uncertainty.
• Expert reports state a pharmacological approach could have led to a different clinical course, with life expectancy now estimated at 35–40 years.
• Meyer Hospital in Florence was ordered to pay about €3.7 million in damages and legal costs following years of proceedings with multiple medico-legal assessments.