Family settles mold death suit against Pittsburgh hospital
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The family of an Ohio transplant patient who died during a mold outbreak at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has settled their lawsuit with the hospital network for over $1 million.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said it’s the second known settlement to arise from the mold outbreak.
Twenty-seven-year-old Shelby Slagle, of Groveport, Ohio, died in June 2015 after undergoing a heart transplant.
Court documents show her husband settled with the hospital network for $1.35 million.
The family of another patient, 47-year-old Tracy Fischer, of Erie, settled their lawsuit for $1.35 million in May. She died in October 2014.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said a specially ventilated room in the hospital’s cardiothoracic intensive care unit might have been the source of the mold.
UPMC suspended its transplant program for six days in September 2015.