An excellent crime, a long agony, the search for alternative treatments and more than one trial. These are the ingredients of Lead and milk, published by Bompiani, the novel from which we will draw inspiration for the next meeting (November 24, at 21 pm) at the Collegio Nuovo: the protagonist will be the author, the journalist of the “Corriere della Sera”, Luca Mastrantonio, which for a couple of years has been holding the Multimedia Storytelling Laboratory at the Nuovo as part of the “University in Colleges” project.
Lead and milk starts from one very well-known news story of 1978 which saw the involvement of Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy (left unpunished): the tragic death of the young man Dirk Hamer following a shooting on Cavallo Island. The victim's father, a German doctor Ryke Geerd HamerAfter that terrible experience, he gave impetus to the “New Germanic Medicine”, an alternative treatment for defeating tumors that opposes drug therapies, placing psychological trauma, believed to be the origin of all illness, at the center of the treatment.
The controversial treatment method has led to the deaths of many patients, due to diagnoses and therapeutic approaches lacking scientific basis or that reduce the somatic illness to the mere aspect of psychological trauma requiring treatment. Among these patients is "Angela," a fictitious name for a real-life case of a seventeen-year-old girl suffering from leukemia "treated" with cortisone and vitamins, discussed at the beginning of Mastrantonio's book. Despite Hamer's disbarment and several convictions, a trial is currently underway for a similar case: that of Francesco G., who died at age 14 in 2024 from a bone tumor "treated" by a Paduan doctor who followed the Hamer doctrine. Luca Mastrantonio is covering the trial as a reporter.
Two leading professors and doctors from the University of Pavia will be in conversation with him: the Alumna Flavia Magri e Andrea Pietrabissa.
The meeting will be held in person (Aula Magna del Collegio Nuovo, via Abbiategrasso 404, Pavia) and remotely. Registration is required by November 23th for in-person attendance; by November 24th at 6:30 PM for those wishing to join remotely.
The initiative is included, subject to confirmation by the individual interested College member of the CCUM, in the recognized training activities and is accredited as part of the IUSS extra-class training activity.
