The condition of a two-year-old boy who had a damaged heart transplanted into him in December has deteriorated rapidly over the last 12 hours, Naples' Monaldi hospital said on Friday.
On Wednesday a committee of experts from all over Italy decided that he should not have another transplant, even though a donor organ had become available, because his condition was too bad.
The boy, whose name is Domenico, will now receive palliative care.
A meeting took place on Friday featuring the hospital's doctors, the family's doctor, the boy's mother and her lawyer to decide on his treatment.
The hospital said the boy will not be taken off life-support but other non-necessary therapies will be stopped.
