Fourth patient linked to mold outbreak at Pittsburgh hospital dies
(Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man, who sued the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center over a deadly, mold-linked infection he and other organ transplant patients contracted at the facility, has died.
UPMC on Sunday confirmed the death of Che DuVall, 70, and extended its sympathies to his family. DuVall, who had a lung transplant, is the fourth transplant patient at the hospital system who contracted infection and died.
"We again want to reassure our patients that we have taken every possible precaution to make our hospitals as safe as is humanly possible and have followed all recommendations made by federal and state regulators," UPMC said in a statement.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a December report that the four patients at the hospital system between September 2014 and September 2015 contracted the rare and often deadly infection caused by a group of molds. Three had died by the time the report was released, it said.
"All infections were suspected to be healthcare-associated," the report said, adding an intensive care room may have been a common thread.
At the end of 2015, DuVall and his wife sued the hospital system for negligence over his infection. No monetary amount was listed in a court filing.
UPMC has not commented on the suit.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Peter Cooney)
