In June 2005, at least 10 cases of Legionnaires' disease (Legionella pneumophilia) were diagnosed among patients and visitors at a San Antonio's North Central Baptist Hospital. Three (3) number of those diagnosed in San Antonio died from the disease. The incident was biazrre, and made national headlines.
A lawsuit was eventually filed against the hospital, and several contractors and suppliers. The suit alleged that the hospital's water system was full of bacteria related to a combination of flaws in the facility's water system and construction that was occurring there at the same time. One of the allegations was that the legionella bacteria may have entered the system when a contractor broke a water main on the property in April 2006.
Apparently, outbreaks of disease (sometimes called Legionella) due to hospital water systems are more common than one would think. One treatise from 2001 calls the outbreak of Legionella in the hospital water supply a "global public health issue."
I hadn't heard anything about the San Antonio-based water suit recently, so I decided to do a little research:
According to internet reports, the lawsuit was settled for $5.2 million last October. However, one of the Plaintiffs died after the lawsuit was settled.
If you or someone you love has conr\tracted a water-borne illness or disease, you should immediately contact a lawyer knowledgeable in water law who has a history of litigating water-related cases.
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