Prof. Gianfranco Gualdi of the Pius XI private clinic is being investigated for his role in the diagnosis and treatment of a well-known journalist and screenwriter who died on 19 July, according to reports in the Italian media.
Andrea Purgatori was a correspondent for many years on Corriere della Sera, a daily newspaper published in Milan, dealing with terrorism, intelligence, and crime. He was also a key contributor to the 2022 Netflix documentary series, "Vatican Girl: The disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi."
Andrea Purgatori at the red-carpet opening event for the Era Ora movie held at the 17th Rome Film Festival in October 2022. Courtesy of Gennaro Leonardi / Alamy Stock PhotoImmediately after his death, Purgatori's family filed a complaint to the public prosecutor's office, requesting an investigation into the accuracy of the original diagnosis and the therapies he received, La Stampa reported on 20 July.
On the morning of Saturday 22 July, the Rome public prosecutor Giorgio Orano announced that Prof. Luigi Marsella, a medicolegal expert at the Tor Vergata institution, will have the task of ascertaining the causes of death and finding out "any other relevant circumstances" that shed light on the Purgatori case, stated an article posted by the Corriere.it news website.
The situation appears particularly complex because during Purgatori's two-month illness, a series of different opinions were given by experts, Corriere.it noted.
"The doctor who visited the journalist contradicted the first diagnosis of a tumor with brain metastases, claiming that instead there was evidence of cerebral ischemia," the article author wrote. "The questions are disconcerting: Was Purgatori subjected to an erroneous therapy? And did this affect his life expectancy?"
It's important not to jump to any conclusions before the autopsy results are released, a source told AuntMinnieEurope.com on 24 July.
"The case is still open," the source said. "My impression is that the Italian newspapers are trying to make a case out of a patient who died from cancer just because he was a journalist."
Gualdi has reportedly been a consultant Vatican radiologist since 1981. He was born in Rome on 27 July 1948, according to his biography on the casadicurapioxi.it website. He was a director of emergency radiology at the Umberto I Hospital in Rome and a full professor of emergency radiology at La Sapienza University of Rome.
Neuroradiologist Dr. Claudio Di Biasi, a member of Gualdi's team, is also being investigated, according to media reports.
