Contact 13 Investigation: Mold Inside The Health District

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Contact 13 Investigation: Mold Inside The Health District

KTNV Las Vegas - Las Vegas,NV*

Posted: July 17, 2008

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Protecting and promoting the health, environment and well-being of

County residents and visitors.

That is the Southern Nevada Health District's mission.

A federal lawsuit says they failed to protect their own employees in

their own building and as a result, a man is dead.

Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears exposes why one family

says the Health District's failure to practice what they preach was

fatal.

This story begins at the end, the end of Dan uk's life.

" It is July 17, 2007, 12 noon and Dan was just pronounced dead, "

explained Dr. uk.

" I am so angry. It is hard. It is really hard every day, " explained

Chrissy uk.

What happened to Dan is hard for most people to comprehend.

He was literally eaten alive from the inside out by toxic mold,

aspergillus and stachybotrys.

He was exposed to it inside the Health District's main building on

Shadow Lane.

Dan's wife Dr. uk documented Dan's decline.

" This is the paper towel that was wrapped around my leg last night.

My leg is draining and itching and driving me nuts. I cannot sleep

well and my foot is so swollen that you cannot see my ankle bone, "

said Dan.

" I am very exhausted and cannot think well, I do not remember things

and just kind of feel hopeless, " said Dan.

" The sores on my side itch like crazy and they are becoming bigger.

I feel like when I close my eyes I stop breathing, " said Dan.

The long time health inspector and environmental health specialist

was just 57 - years - old when he died.

According to his death certificate, he died from mixed mold

micotoxicosis, a complicated medical term for mold poisoning.

It was the end of a long battle both he and his doctors fought with

the Health District.

The events leading up to Dan's death are played out in pictures.

They show repeated water leaks over his desk and in the Health

District's main auditorium where parts of the ceiling collapsed.

" But the water leaks never got fixed, " explained Dan.

They did spend tons of tax dollars trying to fix the roof, but

employees say it did not work.

A fancy new design has alternating curved and flat sections.

" Basically what that did was it channeled water back into the

existing roof which was never repaired, " said Dan.

" I can tell you that every time it rained, the roof leaked and we

had water all over the place and it was not just a drip. It was more

like a waterfall, " said Larue Scull, a retired Health District

supervisor.

The Health District would not show Contact 13 the repairs or even

talk about what they have done.

They declined repeated requests to comment on anything for this

story because of the uk family's ongoing lawsuit.

In paperwork year after year dating back to 1998, the Health

District's own studies show the presence of mold in the building and

the need for remediation.

" There is no allowable limit, " explained May, an EPA and OSHA

certified mild expert.

May is an OSHA and EPA accredited expert on toxic mold.

" The regulations state that you will vacate the building, remove all

occupants and then relocate them to another building and that no one

will go back in that building without a full respirator and a moon

suit and it will be cleaned up according to EPA standards, " said

.

That did not happen.

Although the Health District may shut down entire businesses where

they find mold, they would not move one man out of their own

facility.

" Their conduct is egregious in terms of their just conscious

disregard, conscious indifference to the health and safety of other

people over a period of years. This was not just one exposure, " said

Cliff Mareck, the uk family attorney.

Internal health district e-mails show Dan's continued struggle to

move away from the mold.

In 2004, his supervisor asked that he be relocated away from the

building until the concerns regarding mold are addressed.

Dan was not moved.

Nine months later an e-mail between supervisors notes another roof

leak with water damage over Dan's desk, making it an unpleasant and

unhealthful place to work.

Dan was not moved.

His doctor sent letters stressing the importance of moving him from

the building, saying his illness " is a natural conclusion of his

exposure to the toxic mold found present at his workplace. "

Dan still was not moved.

" I am mad. I am mad as hell. The Health District ruined my life!

They ruined my family's life, " said Dan.

The Health District knew Dan was not the only one suffering.

" It was a sick building. Many of the employees felt that it was

unhealthy to work at the Health Department, " said Larue Scull.

The Health District recently failed in its effort to get the

uk's federal lawsuit thrown out of court.

One question that will be raised as that case proceeds is why Dan

did not just quit his job.

There are three reasons, according to his family.

One, because he needed the health insurance, two because his

superiors told him he could not pursue a workers comp claim if he

left and three because doctors did not tie his illness directly to

the building until shortly before he became permanently disabled.

Thursday was the one year anniversary of Dan's death.

Family, friends and former Health District employees marked his

memory in multiple ways.

Thursday morning they marched in front of the Health District and

they held a candlelight vigil to ensure no one would forget what Dan

went through and why.

Tune into Action News Live @ 11 Friday for part two of this Contact

13 investigation.

Contact 13 will expose how the mold that made Dan sick also sickened

others outside the Health District's walls.

Stay tuned to Action News as we monitor developing news around the

Valley.