Perhaps not everyone knows that to date we have already spent over 700 thousand euros for a parliamentary commission of investigation born with the intention of clarifying the management of the Covid-19 pandemic. Too bad that the hearing auditions (in the photo Senator Claudio Borghi, among the most charismatic members) are transforming into a stage for unfounded theories, accusations without scientific bases and attempts to delegitimize the national health system and the institutional response to the crisis.

The sessions of the Commission continue to give space to narratives that follow the worst fake news circulated in recent years. Those who spread these theses deliberately ignores data, studies and official documentation, preferring to build a story that follows their perceptions.

“They hinted down doses of monoclonal antibodies in the refrigerators, they would have saved lives”

The words of one of the Auìte, Sabrina Gualini, president of the national family committee of the Covid victims, who accuses “Midazolam, Dexdor, Morfina” also in patients who were not intubated “because they were the nuisances”.

False accusations towards the health workers

The buffaloes of disproportionate use of sedatives also resumed by Elisabetta Stellabotte of the Committee Other truth: “They used Midazolam and Morfina in a reckless way to return our loved ones in a black sack” accuses. Then it relaunches: “Hero health workers? They were engaged in the corridors, in the soundtracks to make ballets”.

“People were suppressed in the most atrocious way, in the abandonment, oblivion and boats”

If we really want to learn from the pandemic, we have to start from the data, not from the hoaxes that foment one ‘j’aguse’ towards health personnel. Many of these associations present themselves as groups of citizens looking for justice, but in reality they are based on an instrumental use of pain and suffering. And they carry on a narrative in which the national health system, doctors and nurses were executioners of an alleged intentional “bad management”.

This story is deeply unfair towards those who have worked in extreme conditions, often without adequate protections and with massacred shifts, to save as many lives as possible. But let’s analyze some of the fake news that emerged in the context of the testimonies reported.

The indiscriminate use of lethal drugs

One of the most serious accusations concerns the statement that the Midazolam drug – together with Dexdor and Morfina – was intentionally used and excessively to “shorten the lives” of patients, describing these drugs as tools to “eliminate” the sick.

The reality is that Midazolam and the like are sedative drugs used in intensive care contexts to manage agitation or breathing difficulty in serious patients. Their use is generally aimed at improving patient comfort, not to cause direct damage. Even the statement that “have been administered to uncomposed patients” must be questioned, as the use of sedatives in some cases of severe respiratory failure is a standard medical practice to prevent suffering and improve the effectiveness of the treatment.

The use of oxygen as a generic remedy

Another point raised concerns the use of oxygen in a generalized way, with the accusation that this practice was inadequate and late. In reality, oxygen therapy is one of the main therapeutic methods in intensive care for patients with Covid-19 patients with respiratory failure. Oxygen is vital to prevent organ damage, especially in the acute stages of the disease.

The statement that oxygen has been used in a “hasty” way without an appropriate medical evaluation is not supported by scientific evidence. The international guidelines suggest careful monitoring of vital parameters before any administration of oxygen therapy or ventilatory therapy that are two different things.

The forced intubation that caused the death of many patients

The intubation was one of the few weapons available in the first months of the pandemic to treat patients with severe respiratory failure. It has never been “forced”, but applied in cases where the fans parameters descended to levels incompatible with life. The intubations were carried out by expert resuscitators and according to consolidated protocols.

The problem was not the intubation itself, but the fact that Covid, in its most serious forms, caused often irreversible respiratory failure, with high mortality rates despite intensive care.

Healthcare personnel practiced deliberate murders

The most disturbing criticism concerns the concept that doctors and health workers have acted with the deliberated will to cause the death of patients. The statement that the doctors have “become killers” and that they had the power to decide who to administer care and who to deny them is a very serious and foundation accusation.

During the pandemic, the doctors were faced with extremely complex and difficult situations but operated according to scientific protocols and international guidelines to manage the health crisis. Accusing the health personnel of Malafede or having made choices based on a sort of “value judgment” in bulk in bulk, is without feedback and diminishes the work of hundreds of thousands of professionals.

The creation of a “health plot”

In some cases, these statements intertwine with a conspiracy narration, suggesting that there is a conspiracy within the health system to conceal the truth and justify the inadequacy of the treatments. There is talk of “silence” and “denied treatments” without evidence in support of these theories.

In reality, during the pandemic, the scientific and health world worked transparently, constantly updating the guidelines based on new evidence from international studies and research.

The autopsies were prohibited to conceal the truth

There has never been an absolute ban on performing autopsies on the deceased for Covid. In the early stages of the pandemic, the guidelines of the WHO and the Ministry of Health recommended to limit them for safety reasons, given that the Sars-Cov-2 virus was still little known and the risk of contagion for operators was feared.

However, in Italy some autopsies have however been performed and contributed to better understand the pathogenesis of the disease, leading to improvements in the therapies.

In addition, the corpses management procedures of patients who died for Covid followed rigorous health protocols to avoid contagion. The packaging in sealed bags was not an arbitrary decision, but a security measure adopted in many countries, to protect funeral operators and family members. This does not mean that you wanted to “hide” something, but simply that it was acted according to the best practices to contain the virus.

Tachipirina, Vigilant waiting and isolation

During the various sessions of the Commission, the honorable of Fratelli d’Italia Buonguerrieri continues to talk about “Tachipirine protocol and vigilant expectation” but we know that the same idea that there is such a protocol is a distorted narrative. In the initial stages of the Sars-Cov-2 infection, the guidelines recommended to manage mild home symptoms with symptomatic therapy (such as paracetamol) and to monitor the trend of the disease, intervening with specific treatments in the event of worsening.

This strategy was not a “rigid protocol” but an approach based on the management of symptoms in the phase in which shelter was not yet necessary. The use of the word “vigilant waiting” was exploited to insinuate that patients had been abandoned, but in reality it indicated an active monitoring, with the recommendation to seek the doctor in case of aggravation. In addition, with the evolution of pandemic and knowledge on the virus, the guidelines have changed, introducing more targeted therapies also for the initial phase of the disease. In summary, the narration on the alleged “protocol” is a misleading simplification of reality, often widespread in controversy and conspiracy contexts.

The isolation of Covid patients was adopted to protect both them and the other patients and healthcare personnel. The transmission of the virus occurred quickly and the presence of visitors would have increased the risk of contagion in hospitals already at the limit of capacity. Despite the difficulties, in many departments alternative solutions have been activated, such as video calls, to allow patients to maintain contact with family members.

March 9, the anniversary of the 2020 Lockdown

The accusations and fake news circulating in the hearing auditions, unfortunately, risk distorting reality. Although understandable in the context of devastating pain, it is essential to clarify the reality of the facts. The medical practices adopted during the pandemic were in line with the scientific evidence and urgent needs, not with a malicious or negligent intent. In these cases, scientific truth and intellectual honesty must prevail to prevent error and suffering from being exploited for ideological or personal purposes.