Suit claims mold killed FL cancer patients

A Tampa, FL-based hospital is battling claims that mold released by renovations, rather than their illness, killed three young cancer patients last year.

The hospital has argued that the three children, who died within a month of one another, simply succumbed to the severity of their condition despite all efforts to save them.

A spokesperson for the facility, St. Joseph's Hospital, notes that children with weakened immune systems brought on by cancer were more susceptible to infection. The spokesperson also asserts that the hospital took all measures needed to cut infections, including barriers around construction areas, air filters and monitoring ventilation systems to cut down on airborne contaminants.

The suit, however, contends that mold released during the renovation of the ground floor of the children's oncology center led to the children's fatal infections. Attorneys have sued the hospital for negligence on behalf of the three children's families.

To learn more about this case:
- read this St. Petersburg Times item [1]

Related Articles:
PA study documents high cost of hospital infections [2]
Texas makes hospital infection rates public [3]
CA passes hospital infection control laws [4]
PA hospitals have higher blood infection rates [5]