(3 Jul 2017) WHEN FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP VISITED POPE FRANCIS IN MAY SHE TOOK THE TIME TO VISIT BAMBINO GESU..."BABY JESUS" IN ENGLISH... A PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL OWNED BY THE VATICAN.
THE HOSPITAL IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE BEST IN ALL OF ITALY. THOUSANDS OF PATIENTS ARE TREATED SUCCESSFULLY AT WHAT'S KNOW AS THE "POPE'S HOSPITAL."
BUT IT WASN'T ALWAYS LIKE THAT.
LAST CHRISTMAS POPE FRANCIS URGED CAREGIVERS AT THE HOSPITAL NOT TO FALL PREY TO CORRUPTION.
SOUNDBITE (Italian) Pope Francis
"Bambino Gesu has had a history that hasn't always been good. Many times good, but sometimes not so good. It's the temptation towards uniformity, to transform a good thing like a children's hospital into a business, and make a business where doctors become businessmen and nurses become businessmen,everyone's a businessman!" (audience clapping)
IN 2014, COLEEN McMAHON WAS PART OF A VATICAN-AUTHORIZED TASK FORCE...WHICH ALSO INCLUDED BAMBINO GESU DOCTORS, NURSES AND ADMINISTRATORS.
THEY CONDUCTED A SECRET, MONTHS LONG INVESTIGATION AND FOUND THAT THE HOSPITAL HAD BECOME MORE FOCUSED ON MAKING MONEY THAN CARING FOR CHILDREN.
SOUNDBITE (English) Coleen McMahon, Pediatric Nurse
"It was more of a profit centered approach versus a patient centered approach."
THE TASK FORCE FOUND THAT TO SPEED UP THE SURGERY SCHEDULE - AND THEREFORE INCREASE THE RATE OF OPERATIONS - DOCTORS SOMETIMES BROUGHT CHILDREN OUT OF ANESTHESIA EARLY...CAUSING THEM TO MOVE AND TEAR UP...AND THEN WHEELED IN MORE PATIENTS FROM A PRE-OP ROOM LINED WITH GURNEYS.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ALSO CONDUCTED ITS OWN INVESTIGATION BASED ON HUNDREDS OF HOURS OF INTERVIEWS, CIVIL LAWSUITS, UNION COMPLAINTS AND REVIEWS OF INTERNAL VATICAN AND HOSPITAL EMAILS.
IN RESPONSE TO THE AP, THE HOSPITAL FLATLY DENIED THE PROFIT-OVER-PATIENT FINDINGS AND SAID THE INFORMATION PROVIDED TO THE VATICAN AND AP WAS "EITHER FALSE, SERIOUSLY UNFOUNDED AND OUT OF DATE BY TWO YEARS, CLINICALLY IMPLAUSIBLE AND DEFAMATORY ON A MORAL AND ETHICAL LEVEL.
THE VATICAN LATER ORDERED A SECOND INVESTIGATION...WHICH TOOK JUST THREE DAYS COMPARED TO THE INITAL MONTHS-LONG ONE.
IT WAS LED BY SISTER CAROL KEEHAN OF THE CATHOLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION AND FOUND THERE WAS LITTLE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE CONTINUED ACCUSATIONS OF MEDICAL WRONGDOING
SOUNDBITE: (English) Carol Keehan, CEO - Catholic Health Association
"Can I say they've never made a mistake? Absolutely not. Can I say that they're absolutely perfect? No I can't say that. But can I say that that is a hospital that gives exceptional care to children? Absolutely and positively yes."
BUT THERE WERE OTHER WORRYING ISSUES. EIGHT CHILDREN DIED DURING A NEARLY TWO-YEAR OUTBREAK OF A DRUG- RESISTANT BACTERIA IN THE CANCER WARD.
AND OVERCROWDING WAS A PROBLEM WHEN FEDERICA BIANCHI BROUGHT HER INFANT SON TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM WITH BREATHING PROBLEMS...TWO DAYS LATER HE CAME DOWN WITH AN INFECTIOUS VIRUS CALLED ROTAVIRUS ... WHICH HE LATER GAVE TO HIS TWIN BROTHER.
SOUNDBITE (Italian) Federica Bianchi, mother
"All the rooms where the children were treated were overcrowded. I saw lots of people waiting in the corridors, in short I found a non-ideal situation. I saw a hospital in difficulty but I didn't pay too much attention to this because it had such a good reputation."
SOUNDBITE (English) Polly Roy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
"If a child is infected that should be that that child has to be separated, isolated in a way that other children do not come into contact and are not contaminated, or not use the same facilities."
SOUNDBITE (Italian) Florinda Galasso, former patient
SOUNDBITE (Italian) Pope Francis
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