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A mother and father in the State of Washington has filed a lawsuit against Seattle Children’s Hospital claiming that moldy conditions in the hospital lead to their newborn’s heart infection. This is just the latest lawsuit involving the hospital and Aspergillus mold since 2001.
The infant was only six days old when he had to undergo open-heart surgery. The family was unaware of the hospital’s problems with mold and they were not informed about it before the surgery was performed. A family member said that the parents would never have allowed the surgery if they had known about the mold.
In early 2019, the hospital closed its operating rooms after several mold infections occurred after surgeries. The mold was said to have infiltrated the operating rooms through small gaps in walls and along side air filters. After testing failed to discover any Aspergillus mold in the operating rooms, they were reopened for use.
The hospital’s chief medical officer said the health risks to patients were “incredibly low.” If that were true, why have there been 14 confirmed infections, including 6 deaths because of the mold since 2001 when the hospital first “thought” that there may be a mold problem?
Even after the infant’s mold infection, the hospital failed to detect the mold in its operating rooms for more than a month. When informed about this latest lawsuit (a different class-action lawsuit had been filed on behalf of five other children in December of 2019) the hospital pointed to a page on its website explaining what they have done in an effort to remedy the situation.
Here is their website response:
“On November 10, routine air test results revealed the presence of Aspergillus in three of our operating rooms and two procedural areas. Aspergillus is a common mold often present in the air we breathe. However, in some instances, it can cause potentially severe complications, including death.
After careful consideration and in consultation with outside experts, we decided to proceed with the immediate installation of custom in-room HEPA filtration in 10 ORs and two equipment storage rooms, and to continue with the planned installation of the new air handling system. HEPA is an extremely effective filtration system that removes more than 99% of particles from the air passing through the filter. Installing in-room HEPA filtration requires custom-building a system for each OR and we know it’s the right thing to do for our patients and families.”
Water Mold fire Restoration of Seattle, (206) 504-1613, wants you to know more about “mold often present in the air we breath”. Any time that the concentrations of any type of mold inside a building that you may be breathing reaches levels that exceed what is present naturally in the outside air, mold remediation is imperative! You don’t “filter” mold away, you have to physically remove it and use HEPA filters while you doing the physical removal.
Both the CDC and the EPA recognize that mold in indoor environments is dangerous to people’s health and wellbeing and should be removed. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you think, or know, that you may have a mold problem. We are a nationally certified mold remediation company. Our initial inspection is free and without any obligation.
