AGROPOLIS. The judicial case on the death of Giovanni Palma, the 76-year-old businessman from Agropoli who died in a Tuscan clinic in Lucca following thyroid surgery, has been reopened. The investigating judge of the Court of Lucca, Alessandro Trinci, accepted, in fact, the request for opposition from the family of the well-known Cilento trader, defended by the lawyer Riccardo Ruocco, after the Tuscan prosecutor’s office had requested the dismissal of the proceedings against three doctors ended up in the register of suspects with the hypothesis of manslaughter. Therefore, opposition accepted and first round for the Agropoli family, defended by the lawyer Ruocco who, following a long and complex discussion, where there were moments of tension and heated tones, obtained the reopening of the case, and even the partial nullity of the report of the consultants appointed by the Prosecutor’s Office and the forced indication by the investigating judge Trinci of an extension of the investigation.
“Among the many cases of medical error generally understood with which I have dealt, it is the first time – declares the lawyer Riccardo Ruocco – that a consultant of a public prosecutor’s office, in fact appearing out of nowhere, signs and participates, moreover in a decisive manner, in the drafting an expert report already filed when the Public Prosecutor appointed him. However, despite the evidence of serious and intolerable facts, together with Giovanni Palma’s family, up to now we have decided to maintain a light and typical profile of those who place their trust in the justice they rely on, rather than shouting about the scandal of suspicions and report. The investigating judge’s order repays us for this choice, it satisfies us, but we remain vigilant and determined to ensure that the truth comes out. The case is very complex and the nullity of part of the Prosecutor’s report, declared – at our request – not usable, is significant. We are certain that the issues will soon come to a head”.
The well-known and esteemed trader, who died at the beginning of 2023, had turned to the clinic, a center of excellence at a national level, for a routine operation which then anomalously lasted for over 6 hours. The case had aroused disbelief in the local community, but also many suspicions due to how the death occurred a few hours after the operation. For these reasons, the Palma family had filed a complaint against unknown persons. The fact is that despite the certainty, during the autopsy examination, that during the operation Giovanni Palma had been “discovered” a serious thyroid neoplasm which had never previously been diagnosed, the Lucca Prosecutor’s Office had requested the dismissal of the three doctors under investigation.
