#Careggi #case #drugs #block #puberty #minister #Ensure #safety #Corriere.it
The Minister of Health wants to get to the bottom of the matter regarding the center for dysphoric minors at Careggi in Florence. Last week Orazio Schillaci sent inspectors to the hospital and he also did so with an “urgent” nature, as he specified in a letter to Annamaria Bernardini de Pace. The lawyer, an expert in family and minors’ law, had sent the minister an appeal: “Let’s save the children”, she had written to him. The lawyer’s fear is that their health could be in danger in the Careggi department where a drug blocks healthy puberty in children who have just started puberty.
The documents requested from the health management
«I fully agree with his words: prudence and patient safety must be guaranteed», the minister wrote to Bernardini de Pace». And he added: «We are waiting for documents requested from the health management of the Aou (university hospital, ed.) Careggi of Florence. Only then will I be able to answer his legitimate questions.” In his statement, the lawyer cross-referenced data, provided elements, verified documents: «The minister – he stated – understood well that the problem is very serious and he is carrying out targeted and detailed investigations». In the meantime, you have presented a complaint to the Florence prosecutor’s office and will present others to the juvenile courts of Florence, Rome and Milan: «It is precious to have a minister who responds so quickly and shows not only competence but also real attention and parental responsibility ».
The questions raised in the complaint
There are many doubts raised in the complaint about the Careggi department where the endocrinologist Alessandra Fisher and the psychologist Jiska Ristori work. All aimed at answering one question: do they operate by the rules? The drug that blocks puberty (triptorelin) was authorized off label by the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) in 2019, after the favorable opinion of the National Bioethics Committee. It is distributed at the expense of the National Health System and requires that before the administration of triptorelin there must be a diagnosis confirmed by a multidisciplinary team whose psychological, psychotherapeutic and psychiatric assistance has not been conclusive. Bernardini de Pace also attached to his complaint an audio in which the two doctors speak. We are now examining the response of the Region and Careggi to two questions (a parliamentary one by Maurizio Gasparri and a regional one by Marco Stella, both from Forza Italia) which, according to what filters through the ministry, contain contradictions. Schillaci has also decided to put an end to the “Wild West” that exists in Italy on this issue: the minister wants to draw up “guidelines that can be scientific, guaranteeing and supportive of dysphoria centers”.
The doctors’ hearing was rejected
In Florence the health councilor, PD Simone Bezzini, did not show up at the hearing at the Regional Council and the chamber rejected Marco Stella’s motion who wanted to bring the department’s doctors to the hearing. “The Democratic Party voted against, but here the last thing to do is to put such a delicate matter on an ideological level”, commented the councilor. Then there is another appeal to Minister Schillaci: it comes from Arcilesbica and is signed by 80 feminists. “We are against the use of the drug and ask for a timely control of all the structures operating in the field.”
