NAPLES, Italy – The condition of a two-year-old boy awaiting a second heart transplant at the Monaldi Hospital in Naples is “very critical,” according to Dr. Antonio Corcione, head of the critical care department at the hospital’s parent organization, Azienda Ospedaliera dei Colli. The boy, who received an initial heart transplant on December 23, 2025, is currently sedated and receiving life support following complications related to the procedure.
The medical team at Monaldi, after receiving a negative assessment regarding the possibility of a second transplant, met with a legal medical consultant and the child’s family on Thursday to discuss a shared plan of care. Dr. Corcione explained that the hospital is adhering to a 2017 Italian law designed to protect patient rights. “We are applying a law of the State of 2017 that protects the patient, in this case the child. With the patient, in this case with the parents, we have shared the therapy to be done,” he said. “We do not stubbornly prolong life, we do not pull the plug, and we do not provide the palliative care that is done at home, we do not provide pain therapy.”
Dr. Corcione emphasized that the focus remains on ensuring the child experiences no suffering. “The child now is sedated, connected to the machine, with severe multi-organ failure. It’s a therapy that we have shared with the legal medical consultant and the family to try to protect the little one, who absolutely does not suffer, the child does not perceive pain,” he stated.
The situation has deeply affected the hospital staff. “We continue to protect the little one, we do not abandon him. The mother, a very kind person, is close to him. We are all shocked by what happened. I am shocked as head of department, even though I have not personally participated in this journey, as a doctor, as a father, as a grandfather,” Dr. Corcione said. He noted that hospital personnel, from security guards to nurses, routinely inquire about the boy’s condition.
Dr. Corcione affirmed his support for the decisions made by his colleagues, stating that both the initial transplant and the subsequent use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) were necessary. “ECMO is fundamental. Naturally, after many days, it also brings other problems, but there were no alternatives,” he explained. He highlighted the hospital’s extensive experience with transplants, recalling that the 500th heart transplant at Monaldi was performed on a child, with no prior complications.
The current case, though, has been complicated by an issue with the preservation of the donor heart. “We all know about the dry ice: the dry ice created this situation,” Dr. Corcione said, referring to a problem with the organ’s storage and transport.
Despite the grim outlook, Dr. Corcione stressed that the medical team is continuing to provide the best possible care. “What will happen now? I don’t know. I know that the conditions have worsened. We are doing everything we can, we have shared the therapy, according to a law of the State, both with the family’s legal medical consultant and with the mother, and we continue like this, always hopeful, even if the hopes are very faint,” he said. He added that the boy’s condition had “rapidly worsened” since the previous day, describing it as “very serious.”
Dr. Corcione is the Director of the U.O.C. Anestesia e Terapia Intensiva post-operatoria at the Ospedale Monaldi, according to hospital records. The hospital can be reached at 081 706 1111.
