Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has filed lawsuits against two construction companies over what he called a “completely preventable” outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that has killed five people and sickened more than 100 others in New York City.
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe pneumonia caused by a type of bacteria called Legionella, which grows in warm or hot water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An outbreak of the disease, which began on July 25, has been clustered across five zip codes in Central Harlem.
The city health department said the outbreak is linked to cooling towers, heat exchangers that use fans and water to cool down buildings. On Aug. 14, health officials confirmed that 12 cooling towers at buildings including NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem tested positive for the Legionella bacteria.
Crump and other attorneys filed complaints on behalf of two construction workers who were hospitalized with Legionnaire’s disease in July after working near the hospital in Harlem, according to a news release. Crump said the legal team has also filed a notice of claim and intend to sue the city as well.
“It is believed that the cooling towers at Harlem Hospital were filled with rainwater after several large July storms,” the release said. “The water was left untreated, which permitted bacteria to spread causing workers at the site to become sick.”
Construction companies, city accused of negligence
Crump accused Skanska USA Building, Inc., Rising Sun Construction LLC and the city of negligence at a news conference on Aug. 20, announcing the lawsuits.
The attorneys said the construction companies were put on notice about the possibility of Legionella bacteria through bulletins after the storms, but failed to take action to keep those working near the hospital safe.
“When corporations cut corners, tragedies like this happen. Preventable tragedies, unnecessary tragedies,” Crump said.
Crump said the lawsuit is seeking not only compensation for the workers but also accountability and answers about why this outbreak occurred in Harlem — a historically Black neighborhood in Upper Manhattan.
Skanska and Rising Sun did not immediately respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY. Christopher Miller, a spokesperson for NYC Health + Hospitals, said in a statement the agency has “one of the most rigorous cooling tower safety and inspection programs, exceeding City testing and cleaning requirements.”
“We inspect towers every day; further, we look for legionella weekly instead of the required every 90 days,” the statement said. “We continue to work with our cooling tower maintenance firm and the NYC Health Department to best serve our patients and the Harlem community.”
When asked about Crump’s claims about the source of the outbreak, a spokesperson for the city’s health department said the investigation is ongoing.
“Molecular testing may help us determine which cooling tower — or cooling towers — were the source of the bacteria in the Central Harlem cluster,” spokesperson Chantal Gomez said in a statement. “The Public Health Lab is still determining a match through DNA sequencing and we expect final results soon.”
Electrian describes gasping for air while hospitalized with Legionnaire’s
Nunzio Quinto, a union electrian who worked at a ground-up construction of the NewYork City Public Health Laboratory, a 10-story facility adjacent to the hospital complex, said he thought he had food poisoning when he first started feeling lethargic in late July.
Quinto said his family took him to the hospital, where he was immediately diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease. He suffered breathing problems, pain and internal bleeding during a five-day stay in the hospital, but said his coworkers weren’t notified of his illness.
“I want answers to what’s going on. I can’t have a safe place to work? This is New York City,” Quinto said at the news conference.
Contributing: Thao Nguyen
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawsuit blames Legionnaires’ disease outbreak on negligence
