Italian father


A Italian toddler died after her father forgot to drop her off at day-care and left her in his hot car for five hours.

Doctors at Ancona's Salesi pediatric hospital on the Adriatic coast declared the 22-month-old brain dead late on Saturday, three days after her father returned from his university teaching job to find her barely breathing.

The child, identified only as Elena, had surgery to relieve swelling on the brain, but doctors said it was too extensive to save her. An autopsy is planned for Tuesday.

Francesca De Pace, coordinator for transplants in the Ancona area, expressed gratitude to the parents for giving permission for Elena's heart, liver and kidneys to be transplanted. Officials said a 2-year-old boy in a Bergamo hospital received Elena's heart on Sunday, while the liver recipient was a young boy in Turin.

The kidneys were being checked to see if they were suitable for transplant. Prosecutors will decide whether to charge the father, Lucio Petrizzi, with manslaughter. The distraught Petrizzi has told investigators his memory went blank and that he inexplicably thought he had dropped the child off at day-care on his way to his job.