Mold at hospital killed 3 children, lawsuit says
By
Colleen Jenkins, Colleen Jenkins, Times Staff Writer
Published Tuesday, February 3, 2009
TAMPA, FLORIDA, Last spring, three young cancer
patients died within a month of one another after stays at St. Joseph's
Hospital. But cancer didn't kill them, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Attorney Steve Yerrid says the children were exposed
to a dangerous fungus released during a hospital construction project. Their
immune systems already weakened by disease, the children succumbed to
mold-related infections, the suit alleges.
The children's parents are suing the hospital for
negligence, contending that it failed to protect its most vulnerable
patients. Yerrid, who has a track record of winning large verdicts against
local health care providers, spoke Tuesday on behalf of the families.
"They know that the system can never bring back their
children," he said. "But they know that the system can deliver safety for
other children."
Though she could not comment specifically on the
lawsuit or the patients, St. Joseph's spokeswoman Lisa Patterson said the
hospital is careful to use barriers and filter the air around its
construction areas.
"Anytime we do any kind of construction we follow all
the necessary precautions," she said. "Obviously, patient safety is the top
priority for the children's hospital."
As part of a $1 million renovation to its children's
oncology center, St. Joseph's last year tripled the size of the outpatient
area where young cancer patients receive their chemotherapy, creating
private treatment rooms equipped with flat-screen TVs.
The children represented in Yerrid's lawsuit had been
formally admitted to the hospital, and spent many of their final days in
rooms one floor above the construction activity.
The lawsuit says the hospital did not guard those
rooms from contaminated dust and airborne particles generated by the
demolition and removal of plaster walls and ceiling tiles.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
estimates that 2 million infections from a variety of causes are acquired
each year in health care settings, resulting in 90,000 deaths.
Parallel cases
Yerrid's lawsuit details three sad and parallel fates.
Mathew Gliddon, 5, battled acute lymphoblastic
leukemia on and off for three years. The cancer attacks the body's white
blood cells, which normally fight infections.
Last March, his parents, Mathew and Karen Gliddon,
expressed concerns to St. Joseph's infection control nurse about fumes and
odors that seeped into their son's room from smokers and vehicles outside
the hospital. They also worried about children sharing the same passageways
with construction workers when they were transported to the main hospital
for services, the lawsuit states.
That month, doctors removed most of young Mathew's
nose due to an invasive nasal sinus fungal infection. He died on April 16,
3½ weeks after doctors discharged him. An autopsy showed that his death was
caused by chemotherapy and a fungi infection.
Sierra Kesler, 9, died May 3. Born with Down's
syndrome, she also was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
She was admitted to St. Joseph's several times in
early 2008 for pneumonia, sinusitis and a cancer relapse. In April, after
her cancer was back in remission, Sierra returned to the oncology ward for
treatment. After several weeks there, she experienced significant
respiratory distress and, according to the lawsuit, contracted a fatal lung
infection caused by mold.
Her autopsy listed the cause of death as fungal
pneumonia with underlying leukemia.
Kaylie Gunn-Rimes, 2, suffered from infantile acute
lymphoblastic leukemia. She spent three weeks on the first floor at St.
Joseph's Hospital in January 2008 getting treated for an allergic drug
reaction. Tests showed no recurrent cancer.
By February, she developed a lung infection caused by
mold. She died May 13 of respiratory failure.
Each child's infection was linked to aspergillus, a
common mold found virtually everywhere, including in soil, air and
construction dust. Most people breathe it in every day without harm. But the
mold can cause serious or deadly infections in people who have undergone
chemotherapy or organ transplants.
"In normal people we live with them, and they don't
cause infection in us because our bodies are able to repel them," said Dr.
Russell Vega, chief medical examiner for Sarasota, Manatee and Desoto
counties. "It's not until our bodies become compromised … that those
normally innocuous bacteria and fungi can get a foothold in the body and
cause disease."
Other incidents
Yerrid could not say whether other children had
suffered from mold infections at St. Joseph's. Similar cases of patients
dying or becoming seriously ill after being exposed to mold in hospitals
have been reported in recent years in Colorado, New York and Australia.
Patterson, the hospital spokeswoman, said St. Joseph's
has an infection control team that works to ensure a clean and healthy
environment. Hospital procedure includes preventive maintenance rounds and
measuring air quality, she said.
Yerrid, 59, says those efforts fell short.
"There are simple protocols," he said, "that should
and could have been followed."
Times researcher John Martin contributed to this
report. Colleen Jenkins can be reached at cjenkins@sptimes.com or (813)
226-3337.
He was their attorney, too
Some of Steve Yerrid's high- profile cases:
Fall 1997: Yerrid was part of the legal team
that helped the state of Florida win an $11.3 billion settlement from the
tobacco industry.
July 2000: A jury awarded $3.4 million to Sean
O'Reilly, whose surgeon fused the wrong vertebrae in his neck during an
operation. Yerrid represented the O'Reillys.
October 2006: A jury awarded Allan Navarro $117
million for economic pain and suffering, and $100.1 million in punitive
damages after an emergency room physician misdiagnosed his stroke as
sinusitis.
May 2007: Sally Lucia, a Tampa mother of three,
was awarded $30 million by a jury after she lost her fingers and feet from
complications of tummy tuck surgery.
March 2008: The family of Rebecca McKinney
reached a $1.1 million settlement with the Pinellas County School
District. McKinney was killed after exiting a school bus on a busy stretch
of McMullen-Booth Road.
Compiled from Times files by news researcher John
Martin |