A new report out has found that since 2014, two University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospitals have had mold issues, including five mold-infection-related deaths. The report, which UPMC received in May of 2016, was filed with the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on January 19, 2017. Two wrongful-death lawsuits have been brought against the hospital system by the families of the deceased.
UPMC commissioned the confidential report in September 2015, after three people died.
Daniel Krieg, 56, was the fifth transplant recipient to die with a mold-related infection after a kidney transplant in June of 2016. His family, and the wife of Che DuVall, 70, who died from infection complications after a lung transplant, are suing the hospital for wrongful death.
The other two other patients who died from complications of the mold outbreak settled out of court for $1.35 million each.
The mold report
In the 16-page analysis:
evidence of mold was found at the hospitals and in almost every tested area of the Paris Healthcare Linen facility, which handled the hospitals’ linen, in Dubois, Pennsylvania.
at the hospital, tested linens from Paris Cos. were found to have “heavy fungal growth of Mucor and rhizopus”
and at the laundry facility, there was a heavy buildup of lint and mold near the vent through which unfiltered air dried linens that went to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center facilities.
(In spite of all this, the hospital system- as of May- was continuing to contract its linens from Paris Healthcare Linens, in 22 of its 25 hospitals. We cannot confirm if that is still the case.)
While the types of mold found are common and normally not problematic, they can cause serious problems for immune-suppressed individuals, like someone who has recently had a transplant.
Health care linen services have to hold to certain standards, one of which is to maintain clean laundry storage areas free of the accumulation of dust and lint. That’s clearly been a problem for them.
The Department of Health and CDC are confident there is no ongoing outbreak and have decided not to investigate further. The CDC’s final review attributed the infections to ventilation that may have allowed dust and mold spores to enter the hospital rooms, not to the mold-covered linens and the Department of Health came to the conclusion that “The facts of this investigation don’t support the conclusion that infections resulted from exposure to linens. At this time, there is no evidence of an ongoing outbreak. We continue to provide consultative support to UPMC and will investigate as warranted.”
We will update you if more information becomes available.
Source: CNN
