$750,000 Verdict For Hospital Operating Room Mold: On December 21, 2022, a Washington State medical malpractice jury returned its verdict against Seattle’s Children Hospital in the amount of $750,000 for the injuries suffered by a 2-year-old allegedly due to mold in the operating room during surgery. The Seattle medical malpractice jury awarded $250,000 each to the child and his parents.
Seven patients who were treated at Seattle Children’s Hospital reportedly have died from hospital-acquired mold infections since 2001, and more than a dozen others have been injured.
The family’s medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that H.K. was 2 years old when he suffered a brain aneurysm that was treated at Seattle Children’s Hospital. As part of the surgical treatment, the surgical team removed a flap of skull bone from the child’s head to provide access to his brain. The skull bone was tested after the procedure and was positive for aspergillus, which is a mold that allegedly has been a problem in Seattle Children’s Hospital’s operating rooms.
The medical malpractice defense lawyers for the hospital argued that the hospital could not be held liable for the child’s alleged injury because the skull bone that was removed and tested positive for mold was not reattached in the child’s body: “He did not have any infection. Whether he was exposed or not there was no harm done to (H.K.). There was no presence of aspergillus in his body.” The hospital’s defense argued that the child suffered from a rare aneurysm that caused his disability.
The plaintiffs’ medical malpractice lawyer argued that the injury was caused by the plastic skull segment that was implanted after the skull bone was removed.
The plaintiffs were disappointed that the jury did not hold the doctors liable for the child’s injury: “We are disappointed. We think the jury didn’t get the case right. We think the doctors made a mistake that put H.K. at risk and his aneurysm ruptured and it’s going to affect him for the rest of his life.”
The Seattle Times reported on November 18, 2019: “Seattle Children’s chief executive disclosed Monday that 14 patients have been sickened by Aspergillus mold since 2001 — six of whom died — blaming his hospital for failing to recognize a connection between the infections and the air-handling units serving its operating rooms.
Dr. Jeff Sperring, Children’s chief executive, said the hospital had believed earlier infections were isolated events but that recent cases prompted staff to take another look. “Looking back, we should have made the connection sooner,” he said at news conference. “Simply put, we failed.”
After seven infections and one death were connected to Aspergillus and problems with the air-handling system, Children’s said it looked retroactively at previous cases, and found seven more illnesses and five deaths between 2001 and 2014.”
If you or a loved one suffered a serious injury (or worse) due to a mold infection acquired in a hospital in Washington or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a hospital malpractice lawyer in Washington or a hospital malpractice lawyer in your state who may investigate your hospital infection claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a hospital medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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