A 22-month-old girl has died after being left in a hot car for five hours.
Her father, Lucio Petrizzi, is facing a criminal investigation for the neglect but is being defended by his wife as a loving father.
Petrizzi was supposed to drop daughter Elena off at childcare, but instead went straight to work during what he describes as a “memory blackout.”
Petrizzi forgot Elena in the car and walked inside to his job as a university lecturer. At lunchtime, he realized his mistake but Elena had already slipped into a coma.
The toddler suffered kidney and brain damage due to extreme dehydration and long exposure to heat.
Doctors worked to save the young girl, but Elena passed away three days later.
Petrizzi and his wife, who are currently expecting their second child, made the decision to donate Elena’s organs on Sunday morning. Her liver has already been transplanted, saving the life of a nine-month-old boy in Turin. Her kidney will go to two other pediatric patients near Rome.
