Dive Brief:
- A fourth patient has died at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) from a fungal infection after having a double lung transplant at the healthcare facility.
- The patient, Che Du Vall, was diagnosed with the infection in early September 2015, a month after the surgery. The CDC said the infected patients most likely were exposed in "negative pressure" rooms reserved for those already infected.
- Mr. Du Vall and his wife sued UPMC for negligence in January, as previously reported by Healthcare Dive, claiming his infection was due to the mold outbreak.
Dive Insight:
The hospital suspended organ transplants on Sept. 21, 2015, after discovering the mold but resumed surgeries a week later after reviewing procedures and treatments. A local CBS Pittsburgh station reported last October that hundreds of tests for mold had been conducted inside and outside the hospital.
A CDC report said Du Vall had been a patient in a negative-pressure room at the hospital, as had two other infected patients. Despite the CDC's investigation of the four infected patients, it never found a single infection source, as previously reported by Healthcare Dive.
UPMC released a statement confirming Du Vall's death and that they have followed federal and state recommendations regarding the mold outbreak. "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."