BOLZANO. «I had signed all the documents for the surgery. The next morning, as scheduled, they fasted me and I was ready to enter the operating room. But time passed. Two doctors only came in at 11am, after four hours of waiting, telling me that the operation could no longer be done.
“We give priority to regional patients” they repeated to me. An hour later I was out of the “San Maurizio” hospital with nine broken ribs and a dislocated collarbone fracture.” It is the surreal story of the Venetian architect Salvatore Pandolfo who today – a week after a terrible fall while skiing – is at home, battered, waiting for the visit to the Treviso hospital which should finally put him in the hands of a surgeon.
It all starts on January 3rd. Salvatore Pandolfo is located on the slopes of Caress together with his wife when he loses his balance and slips on a sheet of ice.
«I hadn’t fallen for twenty years – he jokes – but I immediately realized that I had hurt myself a lot. I hit the ground with my left shoulder, head and face, causing several bruises.” Rescue was immediate, from his wife obviously, but also from the tourists present there. He was transported by snowmobile to the departure area of the cable car and subsequently boarded an ambulance headed to Bolzano hospital.
He was immediately subjected to checks which revealed multiple rib fractures and three fractures of the left clavicle. In the afternoon he was placed under observation before being transferred, on the morning of January 4, to the thoracic vascular surgery department for lung tests.
«At that point they tell me that I need to wait two or three days to make a decision and see how the situation evolves», recalls Pandolfo. The wait is confirmed to be in the order of 72 hours. The first news arrives on Tuesday 7 January.
«After days of pain, here are finally two doctors from the orthopedics department who propose that I undergo an operation on my collarbone. I think about it for a moment initially. I wanted to wait for my wife and understand the developments. Then I decided without hesitation to go under the knife, also because there was a risk that the collarbone would get worse. They then confirmed to me, together with the head physician, their availability for the following morning. So much so that a few minutes later another doctor arrives to make me sign all the documents they submit to patients before an operation. I put my heart at rest: they will operate on me tomorrow morning.”
The next day he is not served breakfast – the surgery must be carried out on an empty stomach – confirming that everything is going according to plan.
«The doctors in the vascular surgery department who act as intermediaries continue to reassure me, but time passed. 7, 8, 9, 10. At 11 they come into the room, telling me flat out that the operation couldn’t proceed.
And that the operation could not be rescheduled any time soon: neither this nor next week, perhaps the week after that.” Salvatore Pandolfo and his wife are obviously taken aback and go to the orthopedics department to ask for further explanations: «The head of the department at that point tells me that they give priority to regional patients and that they have too many to take care of. They recognize they made a mistake, but they can’t go back.”
He was discharged from “San Maurizio” without an indication for another facility where the operation could be performed, which was considered urgent by the doctors themselves.
«We started calling various hospitals. On Monday – concludes Salvatore Pandolfo – I have the surgical visit scheduled in Treviso where I hope to put an end to this nightmare”. AL.BO