Fourth patient linked to mold outbreak at Pittsburgh hospital dies

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Fourth patient linked to mold outbreak at Pittsburgh hospital dies

Reuters
10 hours ago

(Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man, who sued the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center over a deadly, mold-linked infection he and other organ transplant patients contracted at the facility, has died.

UPMC on Sunday confirmed the death of Che DuVall, 70, and extended its sympathies to his family. DuVall, who had a lung transplant, is the fourth transplant patient at the hospital system who contracted infection and died.

"We again want to reassure our patients that we have taken every possible precaution to make our hospitals as safe as is humanly possible and have followed all recommendations made by federal and state regulators," UPMC said in a statement.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a December report that the four patients at the hospital system between September 2014 and September 2015 contracted the rare and often deadly infection caused by a group of molds. Three had died by the time the report was released, it said.




Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/fourth-patient-linked-mold-outbreak-pittsburgh-hospital-dies-210131597.html

[Divernan]

1. UPMC pays CEO $6.5 Million; lays off critical care nurses

Another mis-named "non-profit". Its turned into an international chain of high-priced medical centers; closes hospitals in poor Pittsburgh neighborhoods; builds new luxury, highly priced ones in wealthy areas. Yes, what matters in health care is that every patient have a private room with a flat-screen TV and gourmet meals - even a wood-fired pizza oven.

I know some docs & other staff who work for UPMC "in the trenches", i.e., actually treat patients. My endocrinologist - rated best in Pittsburgh by other docs, has to see 70 patients a day (I got this info from her nurse). The older docs, who weren't saddled with crushing loans to go to med school, are retiring early. The younger ones are being worked to death.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2014/05/16/UPMC-salaries-compensation-Romoff/stories/201405160182

At $6.5 million, Romoff tops UPMC compensation list
May 16, 2014 11:05 AM

Newly-released tax documents show UPMC compensated 30 employees at least $1 million in the fiscal year ending June 30, including seven who were paid more than $2 million.

Heading the list was UPMC president and CEO Jeffrey Romoff, whose total compensation for the year was $6.55 million, up from $6.01 million a year earlier. If UPMC were a public company, that compensation package would rank 15th highest among executives in this region.

Others at UPMC earning above $2 million were outgoing executive vice president Elizabeth Concordia ($2.64 million), Diane Holder, president and CEO of UPMC Health Plan ($2.12 million), and physicians Ghassan Bejjani ($2.54 million), Victor Morrell ($2.21 million), James Luketich ($2.65 million) and David Farner ($2.10 million).