Lawsuit: St. ph's Hospital mold killed three children

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Lawsuit: St. ph's Hospital mold killed three children

By Colleen , Times Staff Writer

In Print: Wednesday, February 4, 2009

 

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/article973023.ece

 

TAMPA — Last spring, three young cancer patients died within a month of one

another after stays at St. ph'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.

ph's spokeswoman 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.

ph'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 Gliddon, expressed concerns to St.

ph'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. ph'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. ph'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. 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. ph'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.

, the hospital spokeswoman, said St. ph'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 contributed to this report. Colleen can be

reached at cjenkins@... 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 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 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