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Parents sue hospital after baby dies of legionnaire's disease

The death of a child in Baltimore is always a tragedy, but especially so when it occurs as the result of the negligence of another human being, especially one who has been entrusted to care for the health and wellbeing of the child. A couple who recently lost their 7-and-a-half-month-old son knows this all too well.

The baby was diagnosed with Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome last February and required a bone marrow transplant. He went into the hospital in April where he received chemotherapy for 12 days before the bone marrow transplant surgery on May 1. The transplant was an apparent success, but within a couple weeks of the surgery, the little boy began to show signs of distress. He eventually died after his organs failed on May 16.

The baby’s parents agreed to have an autopsy performed which revealed that he died of legionnaire’s disease, a disease that is particularly harmful to children and to those who are immunosuppressed, like this baby. The parents filed a lawsuit against the hospital in which they blame the medical center for failing to take proper precautions to prevent infection from the bacteria that causes the disease. They say that although they were required to be screened by medical personnel and undergo other sanitization methods before entering the floor where their son was treated, they were told that their son’s shower had “a bug” and that they should not use it.

The parents did the right thing by hiring a lawyer to fight for their right to compensation for their baby’s death. Because of the hospital negligence in failing to contain a bacteria that they knew was present in their water system, the little boy lost his life

Source: Lake County News, “Family sues over son’s legionnaire’s disease death at UCSF Medical Center; UC Regents deny allegations,” Elizabeth Larson, Dec. 12, 2013

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