SAINT BENEDICT He continued to save lives even after his death, as he had done throughout his existence. Daniela Paoloni, an esteemed doctor from the Ascoli Hospital, died on Thursday night at the age of 68 in the anesthesia and intensive care department of the Madonna del Soccorso hospital in San Benedetto, where she had been admitted last Tuesday following a serious cerebral hemorrhage.
The donation
For years, a doctor at the 118 operations center and more recently at the Mazzoni medical department, he chose his last act to be a gesture of extraordinary solidarity: organ donation.
With the consent of her husband Saverio, her son Paolo, an esteemed neurologist, and her daughter-in-law Lucia Florio, a particularly complex multi-organ harvest was performed: lungs – which represents a rare procedure – liver, kidneys and corneas.
After brain death was confirmed, the operation mobilized a large network of professionals from Ascoli’s AST, the Marche regional transplant center and specialists from Pavia.
The procedure, coordinated by the complex operational unit of Anesthesia and Resuscitation directed by Tiziana Principi together with the procurement coordinator Paola Verdenelli, involved the teams of Neurology, Pneumology, Radiodiagnostics, Pathological Anatomy, Molecular Biology, Ophthalmology as well as the operating theater and forensic medicine. The surgeons of the transplant center of Ancona removed the liver and kidneys, those of Pavia the lungs, while the ophthalmologists of Ast performed the removal of the corneas.
«All the organs – states the head of Rianimation Principi – are already destined for very young patients between Ancona, Brescia and Pavia. I thank the professionals involved and especially Daniela’s family for the sensitivity and generosity shown in such a painful moment.” The general director of AST, Antonello Maraldo, also expressed gratitude: «Organ donation is a gesture that goes beyond one’s life. It is an act of enormous human value that involves the donor and his loved ones. I applaud the teams who worked with professionalism and great humanity.”
The burning camera
The funeral home is set up in the morgue of the San Benedetto del Tronto hospital. The news of her sudden death has caused deep dismay among those who knew Dr. Paoloni and appreciated and esteemed her for both her human and professional qualities. The funeral will be held today at 3pm in the church of San Pietro Martire in Ascoli.
Organ donation is a serious and complex issue that deserves some moments of reflection, at least once in the course of one’s life. Out of solidarity and a sense of civic duty, many have given their consent to organ donation, be it a donation during life or following death as Dr. Paoloni did. In recent years many people have reflected on the issue and have decided, of their own free will, to say yes to organ donation.