Doctor’s abortion objection led to Sicilian woman’s death, family says

Relatives of 32-year-old Sicilian woman have claimed that she died in a Catania hospital last week after a doctor refused to carry out an abortion on grounds of “conscientious objection”.

Although the hospital has rejected the accusations, a judicial investigation into the death of Valentina Milluzzo and her two premature babies has been opened by Catania magistrates.

Ms Milluzzo, who had conceived the two babies through in vitro fertilisation, had been admitted to Cannizzaro Hospital on September 29th, in the fifth month of her pregnancy, suffering from “premature dilation of the uterus”.

Ten days after admission, her condition deteriorated dramatically. She developed a fever, severe back pains, low blood pressure and suffered attacks of vomiting.

When an ultrasound test revealed that one of the two babies she was carrying was in serious difficulty, her husband and her parents requested that the doctor in charge abort the ailing foetus.

At that point, they claim, the doctor told them that he was a conscientious objector and would not intervene “whilst there is still a heartbeat” in the unborn baby.

Hospital statement

This version of events is strongly disputed by hospital authorities, who in a Friday news conference claimed that no doctor had dubbed himself a conscientious objector.

Furthermore, the hospital argues that following the miscarriage of the first baby, the doctor in charge actually administered medicine that provoked the abortion of the second one.

Following the two miscarriages, however, Ms Milluzzo’s condition did not improve but rather deteriorated. She died some hours later, on October 15th.

In an interview with Rome daily La Repubblica, Ms Milluzzo's husband, Francesco Castro, repeated the accusations that have prompted the judicial investigation.

“He said it to me, to me personally,” Mr Castro said of the physician. “It was about eight o’clock at night and my wife had been screaming in pain for 12 hours. When I asked the doctor to help her, to do something, he replied: ‘I am a conscientious objector and whilst there is a sign of life, I cannot intervene.’”

Ms Milluzzo’s father, Salvatore, repeated the accusations made by his son-in-law.

Howling in pain

"Certainly, he said those things to us as well," he told La Repubblica. "My daughter's blood pressure had dropped to 50, she had a temperature of 34 degrees, and she was howling in pain on her bed. The doctor told us that the heart beat of the babies was getting very weak and that she was about to lose them.

“At that point, myself and my wife asked him to hurry up, to deliver both the babies as soon as possible and to do something to end her agony. Valentina had been screaming in an inhuman way for 12 hours. The last thing she said to her mother was, ‘Mamma I am dying’.

“We asked the doctor to hurry it up but he gave us the same reply that he gave to Francesco. At no point, though, did anyone warn us that Valentina was in a life threatening situation.”

Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978, provided it is carried out in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. After 12 weeks it is permitted only if either the life of the mother is at risk or there is a problem with the foetus.

A 2013 survey claimed that 70 per cent of Italian gynaecologists refuse to carry out abortions. The proportion was even higher in Sicily, at 87 per cent.