Editoriale

5/2000

On the mass media every day they issue articles about a sole matter: the bad health. Often it concerns organization or administrative malfunctions, wherein the physician tasks have no incidence, but almost always, in the community mind, everything is related to health is linked to the figure of the physician.

Press plays an important role in order to increase this equivocal, since the research of scandal scoops to achieve a greater spread turns into a priority to detriment of correctness in information; if then facts are grounded, it's go on for days and days, months and years. Then there are also rare exceptions where after giving the news, there's the news' blackout, notwithstanding how scandalous it was. This case we refer to the really disgraceful and disgusting case of the Villa Rosa clinic, in Rome, whose owners were the members of the Spallone family. In this clinic - and it seems it was well-known - they carried out abortions beyond the time allowed by law, even at the sixth month of pregnancy. Even giving the accused persons the benefit of the doubt, till the sentence will be pronounced, we wonder how so serious accusations on so deep ethical matter ended into silence so soon, while other cases (for example the one regarding Poggi Longostrevi) still today are riding high. Maybe because it concerns only the illegal financing and not real infanticides, anyhow for profit. Who knows...some doubts arise from this silence, but it is better leave them to the pen; nevertheless we cannot keep indifferent and not wonder which measures, beside the judicial ones, have been taken, in detail by the Order of Physicians in front of facts that, if they are true, bring disrepute to all the registered physicians that work with dedication and honesty.

Let's change themes. Going off the Bindi by the moment (policy is at matter you cannot be ever sure), it has been named Professor Umberto Veronesi as Minister of Health. We wish him success in policy as he had in profession, even if by now entering policy and manage the Ministry of Health means going on a mined way, and we are convinced that the decision margins for the new Minister are very narrows, almost inexistent. Indeed, at the first declaration, there was the first protest by who has bad tolerated the loss of the Ministry of Health. They say that you see the day from the morning, but maybe it is only a little cloud that has crossed the horizon and the rainstorm is far.

From Peru they got at Palermo the Siamese twins to be operated. This intervention sets some ethic and moral questions, and two opposite choices. This themes - that have been dealt with in a wrong way - will be deepened by us in the section devoted to the bioethics, trying to give clear answers about what is permitted and right, without being influenced by goodness or intransigence, but wondering about the value of principles.