Money wasted?

Doctor operated on his own cat in a public hospital

The attempt to save his injured cat could now cost an Italian doctor dearly. He is said to have unceremoniously taken the cat to a hospital to operate on it. He is now accused of wasting public money.

The animal had previously fallen from the sixth floor, whereupon Gianluca Fanelli gave her a CT scan at the public hospital and then performed a life-saving operation. Investigation proceedings were therefore initiated against the radiologist in the city of Aosta.

Doctor now wants to reimburse costs for tomography
The public prosecutor's office accuses Fanelli of having wasted public money. The doctor replied that the CT scan was carried out at 11 p.m. when there were no patients. "I really wanted to save the life of my cat, which my children love very much. I am a radiologist. I knew that I could only save her with an urgent procedure," the doctor wrote in a letter to the management of his hospital. He agreed to reimburse the costs of the tomography.

Athena the cat fought for her life
Fanelli's cat Athena was fighting for her life after falling from a sixth-floor window. "She was more dead than alive," Fanelli told local media. He performed a lung-thorax operation on the cat, which saved her life.

The doctor received support from his wife, Nicoletta Spelgatti, a Lega senator and ex-president of Valle d'Aosta, Italy's smallest region. "My husband saved a life," she said.