Death of Raffaele Miele at the Molinette
On 1 October 2026, Raffaele Miele, 36, originally from San Paolo Bel Sito, in the Naples area, dies at Turin's Molinette hospital after undergoing a heart transplant. The man had been on the transplant waiting list for about three years and suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy.[1][2]
The operation and the clinical course
According to the family, on 24 September Miele had been contacted by the Molinette hospital after a compatible heart was found; having passed the checks, the following morning he entered the operating room for an operation lasting about twelve hours. Afterwards, doctors reportedly said the operation had been surgically successful, but that the heart was struggling to maintain its rhythm and that Ecmo support had been necessary. The patient is then said to have suffered severe bleeding and to have been taken back into the operating room; in the following days his condition reportedly worsened progressively, leading to a further operation to reposition the cannulas and to his death on 1 October.[1]
The prosecutor's investigation
The Turin prosecutor's office has ordered non-repeatable technical assessments to establish the cause of death, opening an investigation against persons unknown on suspicion of manslaughter, coordinated by prosecutor Giorgio Nicola. The appointment of technical consultants Matteo Attisani and Alessandro Cicchini was set for the following Wednesday.[1][2]
The decision came after a formal complaint filed by Miele's family, assisted by lawyer Francesco Petruzzi of the Naples Bar, who are asking for any responsibility for the death to be established, in particular whether the transplanted heart was in suitable condition and whether there were elements of negligence, malpractice or errors in treatment. The family objected to an autopsy being carried out as an internal diagnostic assessment by the hospital, asking instead for the judiciary to intervene, and stated that they would not consent to any examination of the body without prior notice to the family.[1][2]
According to lawyer Petruzzi, the family filed the complaint because they believe there were inconsistencies between the statements repeatedly given by the medical staff. Petruzzi had in the past challenged the appointment of the head of the Cardiac Surgery U complex unit of the Molinette hospital, Professor Mauro Rinaldi, when he had been named as a consultant in the case of the death of a two-year-old child who died at the Monaldi hospital in Naples after a heart transplant.[1][2]
Related articles: Inchiesta sulla morte di Raffaele Miele dopo un trapianto di cuore alle Molinette (ottobre 2026), Turin Prosecutor's Office Investigation into the Death of Raffaele Miele After a Heart Transplant (October 2026)
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Sources
- la Repubblica Torino — 5 October 2026
- ANSA Piemonte — 5 October 2026