Medical malpractice turns to corporate fraud allegations at Seattle Children’s: ‘the more we learn, the more upsetting it becomes’
By Frank Sumrall
Jul 8, 2022
Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) shocked the public in November 2019 when the CEO admitted the hospital had been contaminated with Aspergillus mold since 2001, which was the cause of death for six patients.
Nearly three years later, Attorney Karen Koehler, representing H.K., a child infected with the mold during surgery treating a brain aneurysm, called it a case of corporate fraud during a hearing Friday.
“The problem was not created by the doctors or the medical team,” Koehler said. “The problem was the premises as managed by the corporation.”
Koehler stated Seattle Children’s Hospital knew about the air-system problem for years.
Seattle Children’s Attorney Brad Fisher is asking for those charges to be dismissed from the case, because it’s been determined medical negligence caused the child’s side effects, not the mold.
“This claim should not be a part of the case. We’ve accepted responsibility for the contamination and whatever damages were approximately caused by that.”
Initially, the case of H.K. was included in the class action suit because his surgically-removed skull piece was contaminated with Aspergillus in the operating room. Upon further investigation, it was determined that his profound brain injury was the result of medical negligence. In March 2021, a separate lawsuit was filed against SCH and the University of Washington.
According to Koehler, the medical negligence relates to the delay in care of H.K.’s brain aneurysm, which eventually burst.
Koehler’s case for corporate fraud breaks into six parts:
First, SCH, through its decades-long conduct, mismanaged its air handling systems resulting in Aspergillus contamination.
Second, the hospital used an operating room even though it knew there was an ongoing Aspergillus problem which it had not disclosed.
Third, the hospital contaminated one-third of the toddler’s skull in the operating room with the mold.
Fourth, the hospital hid the positive findings of Aspergillus contamination from the parents for one month.
Fifth, the hospital did not use its infectious disease program to begin care of the child to make sure he was not contaminated during that one-month delay period.
Sixth, the hospital destroyed the skull piece without telling the parents.
“The more we learn, the more upsetting it becomes, in terms of facts about this case,” Koehler said. “When Aspergillus was found, and it was found on both sides of the [skull] flap, meaning the outside and the inside. So there could be Aspergillus on it, on the child’s brain. The normal course of action is to call infectious disease, assess the child, and probably, at a minimum, begin prophylaxis care. This is standard. This is medical treatment.