Italian police detained the famous and controversial gynecologist and embryologist – Severino Antinori. The doctor is suspected of collecting eggs without the patient’s knowledge and consent. How did it come about?
Dr. Antinori became known – not only in Italy – in 1994, when Rossana Della Corte, who treated him for infertility, became pregnant and gave birth to a child at the age of 63, becoming the oldest mother in the world. This undeniable medical success was overshadowed by the later controversy caused by Antinori’s endorsement of the embryo cloning technology.
A few days ago, now 70-year-old Antinori was arrested at a Roman airport after a 24-year-old Spanish nurse accused him of tricky retrieving and stealing her eggs.
According to the prosecution, Antinori met the woman by accident and offered her a job at his clinic in Milan. A few weeks later, he urged her to undergo an examination and, after the examination, informed the nurse that he had found an ovarian cyst. However, this was only to persuade the patient to undergo further procedures. According to the victim, the doctor gave her sedatives and collected eggs without her consent. Additionally, Antinori answered the woman’s phone, but it did not stop her from informing the police shortly after the incident.
Investigators assume that the case of the 24-year-old Spanish woman was not the first action of this type by Antinori. A doctor who has been temporarily suspended from practicing for a year is currently under house arrest.
According to commentators, the case of Antinori should be treated very seriously – it can only be the tip of the iceberg and testifies to the existence of an “underground” market for illegally obtained eggs in Italian women.
The illustration of the article comes from: https://www.facebook.com/Dr-Severino-Antinori-74351825736/?fref=ts