Carmen Barbieri, the 71-year-old Argentine television host, was hospitalized at Clínica Zabala in Buenos Aires’ Belgrano neighborhood with a urinary tract infection and a new positive COVID-19 test, her son Federico Bal told Teleshow, adding that doctors expect to discharge her within days.
Bal, speaking from Costa Rica, first told Teleshow that his mother had a urinary tract infection and remained under the clinic’s care, and he ruled out COVID-19 as the reason for the hospitalization. He then corrected that account after Barbieri told him she had received a new positive coronavirus result. “She also had it a week ago,” Bal said. “She’s been through a rough patch, poor thing.”
According to Bal, doctors are monitoring her and he estimated that “in a few days they’ll discharge her.”
October Brought Three Illnesses at Once
The new hospitalization follows a difficult October for the star of “Con Carmen” on El Nueve, when she suffered bronchospasm, meningitis and COVID-19 simultaneously. During those days she also ran a fever of up to 40 degrees Celsius and had to suspend her work commitments.
After a few days of rest she tried to return to work but suffered another decompensation before reaching the channel. Her assistant, Gaby, was waiting with the car to drive her to El Nueve, but Barbieri decided not to travel after feeling ill when leaving her home.
In a message to Pampito she described the episode: “I’m weak, with low blood pressure. I was about to get in the car and I got dizzy, I got so dizzy that everything went blurry.”
Barbieri Testified in the Lotocki Trial
The physical setbacks came after an emotionally heavy week. On Wednesday, November 4, Barbieri testified as a witness in the trial of former surgeon Aníbal Lotocki, who is accused of causing serious injuries to several patients, before Criminal Oral Court No. 17 in Buenos Aires.
Her testimony focused on what happened to her friend Sandra Domínguez. “I didn’t come to testify against Lotocki. I came to talk about what happened to Sandra,” she said afterward, in comments to Puro Show on El Trece.
Barbieri recalled receiving Domínguez at her home after the woman left the clinic with heavy bleeding, and said the lack of attention that night worsened the situation: “And she almost died in my house. That night was hellish.”
She also mentioned Silvina Luna, whom she had worked with before Luna underwent procedures by Lotocki: “She died before she passed away. What she had in her body was killing her little by little.”
Leaving the courthouse, Barbieri admitted: “I ended up crying, I don’t know why.” Domínguez later told her which words had moved her: “You said my life hangs by a thread. That’s what you said and you broke down.”
Lotocki had already received an eight-year sentence in a previous case, confirmed by Argentina’s Supreme Court.
Discharge Expected Within Days
While she remains hospitalized in Belgrano, Barbieri continues under medical supervision for the urinary tract infection and COVID-19. According to Bal, the expectation is that she can be discharged in the coming days, once the clinic’s professionals consider she is fit to return home.
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