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Originally Posted by GoodLife

According to Prof Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italy’s minister of Health

Prof Ricciardi added that Italy’s death rate may also appear high because of how doctors record fatalities.

“The way in which we code deaths in our country is very generous in the sense that all the people who die in hospitals with the coronavirus are deemed to be dying of the coronavirus.

“On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died have at least one pre-morbidity - many had two or three,” he says"

Why have so many coronavirus patients died in Italy?

I don't understand the point you are trying to make by cherry picking a piece of the article you linked. What it actually says it that only 12% of patients only had Covid and no other condition that contributed to death. The other 88% had Covid and some other risk that made Covid more lethal. Which is exactly what everyone has been told all along. Those with heart, lung, cancer, diabetic, immune problems... are more at risk of death.

And more significantly the article points out that being elderly was a major factor. Whereas the average age of Covid hospitalized patients in China was 46, it was age 67 in Italy.

Here are the paragraphs, slightly edited

According to Prof Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italy’s minister of health, the country’s mortality rate is far higher due to demographics - the nation has the second oldest population worldwide - and the manner in which hospitals record deaths. ..
This does not mean that Covid-19 did not contribute to a patient's death, rather it demonstrates that Italy's fatality toll has surged as a large proportion of patients have underlying health conditions. ..
But there are other factors that may have contributed to Italy’s fatality rates, experts say. This includes a high rate of smoking and pollution - the majority of deaths have been in the northern region Lombardy region, which is notorious for poor air quality

I would offer that I doubt, but do not know, that the air quality in Wuhan is better than Lombardy.

Now back to the original figures. If 12% of fatalities are in victims with no pre-existing conditions that is very significant. It refutes the argument that if you are healthy you're not at risk. I don't know if smoking and exposure to air pollution would have been listed at contributing factors on death certificates. Seems unlikely.