UPMC, Paris Cleaners settle with 6 families of fungal infection victims | TribLIVE.com
TribLive Logo
| Back | Text Size:
https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/upmc-and-paris-cleaners-settle-with-6-families-of-fungal-infection-victims/

UPMC, Paris Cleaners settle with 6 families of fungal infection victims

Jamie Martines
| Wednesday, February 12, 2020 4:22 p.m.
The UPMC sign sits atop the U.S. Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh.

UPMC and its linen supplier, Paris Cleaners Inc., have finalized a settlement agreement with six plaintiffs in a yearslong lawsuit in connection with a fatal mold crisis in 2014 and 2015 that prompted a federal investigation.

Documents filed with the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Tuesday indicate that the plaintiffs — who represent the estates of deceased UPMC patients Che DuVall, Daniel L. Krieg, John R. Haines, Katherine E. Landman, Lyle C. Dearth and Marita Madsen — reached a settlement with UPMC and Paris Cleaners. Documents containing details of the settlement were filed under seal and are not available to the public.

Attorney Brendan Lupetin of the Downtown Pittsburgh-based firm Meyers, Evans, Lupetin & Unatin, which is representing the families of the deceased, declined to comment Wednesday.

UPMC and Paris Cleaners did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

The lawsuits accused UPMC and Paris Cleaners of negligence, medical malpractice and wrongful death in the cases of several organ transplant and cancer patients who contracted fungal infections during their stays at UPMC Montefiore, Presbyterian and Shadyside hospitals.

Two other lawsuits filed on behalf of transplant patients who died after contracting fungal infections were settled for $1.35 million each in 2016.

One patient was Shelby Slagle, 27, of Groveport, Ohio, who died June 26, 2015, at Presby after undergoing a heart transplant.

The other patient, Tracy Fischer, 47, of Erie, also had a heart transplant at Presby and contracted a fungal infection while hospitalized. She died Oct. 1, 2014, at Presby.

In September 2015, after inquiries from the Tribune-Review, officials revealed UPMC Presby briefly closed its cardiothoracic unit because of the sickened lung transplant patient and the discovery of mold behind a wall and in and around toilets. Later, UPMC revealed that two patients with fungal infections had died in the ICU. A third patient who had a liver transplant died Sept. 17 in Montefiore, which eventually led to the temporary suspension of UPMC’s transplant program.

Attorneys for families suing UPMC added Paris Cleaners as a defendant in January 2017 after an internal UPMC report surfaced indicating samples taken from hospital bed linens contained the same type of mold that infected patients.

Prior to Paris being brought into the lawsuit, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found there was “no single source” of fungal infections linked to the first three deaths that were made public.


Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)