Cancer charity accuses parents of using son’s illness for personal financial gain

Children's cancer charity Puttinu Cares Foundation has denied reports by the parents of a patient who alleged that the NGO was hiving off donations or soliciting funds at the expense of patients not cared for by the NGO.

The foundation, a registered NGO, said it  "categorically rejected" claims that it had misappropriated funds that were raised for a family. "Puttinu Cares keeps a detailed record of all funds received and all expenses. These are annually audited and forwarded to the Commissioner of NGOs for public view," president Dr Victor Calvagna, said in a statement.

In a letter to the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, Calvagna accused the Cutajar family of having deliberately lied to the chief executive of Mater Dei Hospital about staff in the Rainbow Ward who are volunteers to the Puttinu Cares Foundation.

The allegations were reportedly made to the police, the Medical Council, the Council for Nurses and Midwives, and the Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations, on malpractice at the Rainbow Ward paediatric cancer unit.

In a report presented under oath to Mater Dei Hospital's legal counsel and chief executive Joseph Caruana, parents Anthony Catania and Marion Cutajar said nurses and a consultant oncologist - respectively members and the chairman of the Puttinu Cares Foundation - were responsible for clinical malpractice at the expense of their son.

Dr Victoria Calvagna is the chairman of the foundation, while Angele Cuschieri, is the Rainbow Ward's deputy nursing officer, and assistant treasurer Mary Rose Bugeja and PRO Rennie Zerafa are also nurses at the ward: according to the Catanias - whose son Kyle was in hospital for chemotherapy for 17 days - the nurses in question approached them soliciting their services, claiming that other nurses unaffiliated with the foundation did not carry out their duties properly.

The parents claim that a fund-raising initiative for their son was shunned by the Puttinu Cares Foundation, because they suggested that money donated to their son should have also been donated to another child in need of a bone marrow transplant in London.

According to the Catanias, nurse Rennie Zerafa asked that the family close down the Facebook page that promoted the fund-raiser, ostensibly because this was harming the efforts of Puttinu Cares and other patients. When the parents met Zerafa and other members of the foundation to carry out a joint fund-raiser, the same foundation members suggested that they donate €6,000 to another family whose son was also receiving treatment for cancer.

Oncologist claims parents lied

In a letter to the Commissioner for Voluntary Oragnisations, Calvagna claimed that the Catanias had "purposely misinterpreted certain clinical situations" and "lied so as to jeopardise the livelihood of honest persons working in Rainbow Ward."

"In my twelve years as a consultant dealing with parents and children with cancer this is the first family that has complained to the authorities about the care that their child has had under my care. All the other families are more then pleased with the individualised and expert care that their child received," Calvagna said.

The consultant denied that their son Kyle Cutajar had not being given the right treatment for his Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.

"All the chemotherapy and supportive treatment he was given was correct and according to what was required at the time. It is true that he had some uncomfortable complications from his chemotherapy but these were never life-threatening and they were treated appropriately by Rainbow Ward staff.

"I think that Mr Catania and Ms Cutajar should be thankful for the care that their son has received and is still receiving on Rainbow Ward. Our best efforts to cure their son have been repaid by letters to the police and other authorities together with writings on their Facebook page."

Calvagna said he did not agree with a fund-raising initiative for the young boy because he felt that the Catanias did not need to collect any money for their son's treatment, since it was given locally for free.

"If Kyle needed to go aboard for a bone marrow transplant the medical costs would have been covered by the reciprocal health agreement between the Malta government and the UK health authorities. All the other costs including the accommodation in London would have been borne by Puttinu Cares and the Community Chest Fund," Calvagna said.

The consultant also claimed that people who read their Aid for Kyle Facebook page were confused as to why the boy wasn't entitled to help from Puttinu Cares and the CCF. "To promote their campaign they were using a letter that I had written to the employers of Kyle's parents so that they would be able to apply for compassionate leave in case they needed to travel abroad. I also honestly thought that they were using their child's illness for their personal financial gain."

Calvagna added that he personally attended the Aid for Kyle initiative in Safi where he publicly thanked the participants for their solidarity with Kyle.

He however confirmed that members of the Puttinu Cares committee members met with the Catanias and organisers of the Aid for Kyle event, to come to an "amicable agreement" to donate the money collected to anotherchild who was most probably going to have a bone marrow transplant in London.

"Kyle's parents refused to help this family and that was that. In the end they contributed the sum of €2,300 from the total sum collected - about €30,000 if I'm not mistaken - to Puttinu Cares out of their own free will.

"Nobody coerced them to make a donation. As fate would have it neither Kyle and nor the other child needed a bone marrow transplant. They are both having their treatment here in Malta free of charge and at the taxpayers' expense. In spite of this Kyle's parents have continued to ask people for money for their son and they have continued to use my letter as a justification for their request."

Calvagna also claimed that the parents "initiated a hate campaign against Puttinu Cares on their own personal Facebook page and on the Aid for Kyle Facebook page" by targeting nurses on the Rainbow Ward who are volunteers of Puttinu Cares.

"As a consequence of their actions Mr Catania and Ms Cutajar have created unnecessary tensions on the ward and many of the families and patients that come for treatment to Rainbow Ward don't feel comfortable in the presence of Kyle and his family," Calvagna said.

The consultant also claimed that other children are not comfortable in the presence of Kyle "because he is quite a difficult child to get along with. In fact he is prone to noisy tantrums and it is not the first time that he has tried to hurt others for no reason whatsoever. No wonder some of the children are afraid of him. In my opinion he is undisciplined and does not know how to behave in the presence of others. His parents never correct him and they definitely send the wrong messages when he is misbehaving.

"Once I was in clinic with a foreign consultant who was explaining Kyle's treatment to his mother. For no reason whatsoever and quite deliberately Kyle spilt a cup of water on the table almost ruining his case notes and the consultant's clothes and his mother hardly corrected him. I think this is the main reason Kyle hasn't got a lot of friends on the ward."