A TWO-year-old boy has died after being given a damaged heart transplant which had allegedly been “burned by frostbite”.
Little Domenico passed away on Saturday two months after receiving a heart which had wrongly come in direct contact with dry ice, reports claim.
A probe into the boy’s death has been launched – with six medics so far placed under formal investigation.
Domenico underwent surgery to receive a heart transplant in December.
But he was placed on life support in Naples shortly after – where he remained for the next two months.
It has been claimed that Domenico’s transplanted heart had previously been in a container alongside dry ice.
The organ had therefore been “burned with frostbite”, the family‘s lawyer claimed.
The tot’s state was described as “not compatible” with another transplant on Wednesday.
Before he died, he had suffered a “sudden and irreversible worsening of his clinical condition” while at Monaldi Hospital.
Doctors had warned that the continued use of life support system may have compromised his lungs, liver and kidneys.
The heartbreaking case has sparked outrage in Italy.
The family’s lawyer Francesco Petruzzi said: “If the time for hope has ended, then the time for responsibility has begun.”
It comes after his mum Patrizia Mercolino appealed to the Pope to helop her son.
Italy‘s Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said earlier this week that “we must absolutely clarify what happened”.
He said: “We owe it to the child, to the family, but also to all Italians.
“We have an excellent national health service, which has been able to handle and almost always resolve complex situations.
“So, I believe citizens should not lose faith.”
Local cops are investigating whether the donated heart was accidentally transported using dry ice instead of standard ice.
Last year, little Domenico was fighting worsening heart disease and was on the waiting list for a heart transplant.
He was born with cardiomyopathy, a condition which makes muscle tissues of the heart become thicker than they should be.
Soon after, a donor heart became available after the tragic death of a four-year-old boy who drowned in a swimming pool in Bolzano, northern Italy.
The heart was transported eight hours south to Naples, to the Monaldi Hospital, where it was transplanted into the two-year-old.
Doctors quickly realised that the heart was not functioning properly.
Patrizia Mercolino, told Italian TV: “They called me after the operation to say, ‘There is a problem — the heart does not start’.
“I didn’t ask too many questions.”
The distraught mum said: “My son was fine before the transplant, despite his heart problems he played and smiled.”
Police found that the heart was transported in an ordinary plastic box, not a specialised container usually used to deliver organs.
Their findings allegedly suggest that the heart was packed with dry ice, which is much colder than normal ice.
Investigators suggested that the lack of temperature readings meant medics would not have known that the heart was going into a deep freeze.
In her last desperate appeal, Patrizia said: “My life is now dominated by pain and the desire to have my baby back home.
“I appeal to the Pope to help find a new heart for my son. That’s all I want.”
