Surgery
Representation. Photo: Pixabay

The University of Kansas Hospital is being sued for medical malpractice after it allegedly failed to sterilise surgery equipment.

The lawsuits stem from the hospital's alleged failure to follow cleaning protocols for its open-heart surgery devices, specifically a heater-cooler unit manufactured by LivaNova USA Inc. 31 lawsuits have been filed in Wyandotte County District Court, The Kansas City Star reported.

The claims allege that 25 patients admitted by the hospital contracted infections after open-heart surgeries that 'involved a device that hadn't been properly disinfected.' 11 of those patients allegedly died as a result, while the rest have incurred 'life-altering health problems.'

Infection Causes One Patient's Preventable Death

One of the claimants, Thelma Wood, said things were going great for her husband after his aortic valve was replaced in 2019. 'It went fantastic,' she recalled. 'He felt just as good as he's felt in any day of his life ... he could really walk a long way without getting out of breath or having any kind of complications.'

Wood thought they were making headway when her husband started losing weight in 2021. But the weight loss continued, and he became so weak that he eventually needed a walker. At that point, his weight was whittled down to 27 kilograms (60 pounds).

Thelma took her husband, Ron, to multiple medical providers for diagnosis. In September 2021, it was confirmed that Ron incurred a serious infection caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium chimaera. Ron died in January 2022, at 71.

Mycobacterium chimaera multiplies slowly in soil and water. Though rare, the bacteria have been known to infect open-heart surgery patients, particularly those whose procedures involve heater-cooler devices.

Claims Want Kansas Hospital Staff Accountable

Darrell Schroll, a Vietnam War veteran, suffered and died from the same infection. His daughter, Kristy Schroll, asserted that the hospital failed to 'properly sterilize and disinfect the subject LivaNova 3T Heater-Cooler device/system before using it for Darrell Schroll's open-chest cardiac surgical procedure with cardiopulmonary bypass.'

In her legal petition, Kristy Schroll also accused 'technicians, ancillary staff, nursing staff, physicians, healthcare providers and other employees, servants and agents' of being culpable. She said they failed to inform her family about Darrell's exposure to the bacteria, which would have given them time to treat the infection.

The lawsuits name The University of Kansas Hospital Authority and LivaNova USA Inc. as defendants. Per court documents obtained by The Kansas City Star, over a dozen cases were privately settled, while one case was dismissed because it was filed after the deadline.

The Lawsuits' Defendants Respond to Allegations

Dan Peters, general counsel for The University of Kansas Health System, told the outlet that they were proactive about informing the potentially affected patients.

'The University of Kansas Health System provides care to patients with complex needs,' he stated. 'Our culture and decisions are focused on how best to meet those needs. Based on the information we had at the time, we took the steps we believed were necessary to keep patients safe, while continuing to provide life-saving surgical interventions that otherwise would not have been available without this critical medical device.'

LivaNova also addressed the issue in a statement. 'The Company stands firmly behind the 3T™ Heater-Cooler device, having worked closely with global regulators to mitigate risk and ensure continued clinician access to this critical technology for lifesaving cardiac surgery,' it asserted. 'While we do not comment on the specifics of ongoing litigation, we are vigorously defending the product and company actions in these cases.'

The first of the pending cases will be tried on 13 April.

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