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Kurt Sansone
Five years almost to the day, after the death of their seven-year-old son Andrea, the Massa family from Naxxar this week filed a civil law suit against two doctors and the hospital authorities holding them responsible for the untimely death of their boy.
Andrea Massa died on 28 February 2001 at St Luke’s Hospital after complications that arose following an appendectomy operation.
The Massa family filed the suit against consultant paediatrician Christopher Fearne, who was responsible for Andrea’s care during his stay in hospital, surgeon Maria Meilak, who performed the operation and the chief government medical officer for the various administrative shortcomings that emerged during the magisterial inquiries conducted in the case.
The criminal proceedings that had started against the paediatric consultant following the conclusions of a magisterial inquiry were stopped in 2003 after the attorney general declared the case nolle prosequi. The attorney general’s decision that there was no criminal case against the paediatric consultant flew in the face of two separate conclusions by different magistrates that there were adequate grounds to prosecute against the doctor over negligence.
The Massa family have ever since been fighting for justice to be done. But even the findings of an internal hospital inquiry ordered by the health department into Andrea’s death remain out of bounds for them. The health authorities have refused to give the family access to the report. A similar request made by MaltaToday last year to see the internal inquiry was turned down.
The Massa family are requesting the payment of damages suffered by them as a result of the death of their son.
In the application filed on Thursday in front of Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, the Massas explained that their son was admitted to hospital suffering from abdominal pains on 20 February 2001.
Andrea was kept under observation until 22 February when he was operated upon for appendicitis by Dr Marija Meilak on instructions of the consultant paediatrician.
The Massas declared that Andrea’s condition began to worsen until when, on 27 February, the boy was transferred to the intensive care unit, where he eventually died on 28 February.
In their application, the Massas declared that the consultant failed in his duties by neglecting to refer to the relative treatment charts, which clearly showed that no antibiotics were administered to Andrea after the operation even though his condition continued to worsen. The Massas insisted that no bacteriological or other medical tests were carried out, either by the consultant or the surgeon, to diagnose and determine the cause of the infection which eventually led to the boy’s death.
The civil court application also declared that the consultant failed to inform the hospital’s administration when going out on sick leave during the boy’s stay at hospital and consequently also failing to give a handover to the consultant on duty.
From the magisterial inquiry conducted into the case it transpired that the consultant on duty only got to know of Andrea’s precarious condition some three days after Dr Fearne went out on sick leave.
The court application stated that between the 24 and 27 February 2001, no consultant was effectively on duty in the paediatric department, exposing a failing in the roster system employed by St Luke’s Hospital and a breakdown in communication among the various doctors. The Massas are holding the chief government medical officer responsible for this administrative mishap.
ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt
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