State settles Pinecrest TB lawsuit

Mannix Porterfield
Register-Herald Reporter

November 25, 2008 10:16 pm

— Four years after Russ Weeks warned that Pinecrest Hospital’s negative air flow was compromised by an air conditioning unit, the state is near a formal settlement with 11 people exposed to tuberculosis at the state-run facility in Beckley.
Formal papers haven’t been signed, but Charlie Jones, executive director of the state Board of Risk and Insurance Management, which insures state agencies, confirmed Tuesday a settlement is in the offing.
Jones declined to spell out the amount involved, but told The Register-Herald the figure possibly would be available in two weeks, provided all parties agree to the settlement.
Lewisburg attorney Barry Bruce handled the litigation on behalf of 10 original plaintiffs and an 11th who joined the case once it was begun. One of the plaintiffs died before the suit was resolved, but Bruce emphasized the death wasn’t attributed to TB.
“They all tested positive,” he said of his clients. “That means that you have the disease. It’s in the latent effect and may never become positive. It’s dormant. You can take a six-month treatment, which basically takes that latent or dormant infection and encapsulates it so it never spreads. It doesn’t do away with it, but that is the so-called cure for TB.”
Seven of his clients were employees of Pinecrest and the other four were either patients or visitors at a time a through-the-wall air conditioner compromised the negative air flow designed to safeguard against TB exposure.
Weeks, a former state senator, raised the issue when Bob Wise was still governor, saying the spoiled negative air flow could have set the stage for an epidemic of the disease.
Apprised of the pending settlement, Weeks hadn’t change his mind about the perils he perceives to yet be at stake.
“It’s not a matter of vindication,” he said. “I still have two questions that I’ve had since August of 2004 when I found out about this — what have we done and how are we going to correct it? They raised all manner of hell over one person getting on an airplane with TB. Remember that? You’ve got 10 people here and there are more than that. Many more, believe me. I’ve talked to them. And the state is denying that anything is going on.”
With others exposed to the disorder, Weeks said, the potential exists for a massive health crisis.
“That is what I’ve been saying for years and I can’t get anyone to listen to me,” he said.
Weeks plans to meet after the Thanksgiving break with Gov. Joe Manchin, the man he failed to defeat in this month’s election, to discuss Pinecrest and other issues.
Two of Bruce’s clients were diagnosed with compromised livers and were unable to undergo the TB treatment, the attorney said.
“That made their cases more serious than others,” he said.
“But overall, everyone was pleased. The problem with cases like that is, you have people who look absolutely healthy and have no signs of any disease, and once you have treatment, you’re basically healed. It’s not going to expand and that treatment doesn’t cost a whole bunch of money, if you can take it.”
Bruce said the suit taught him that without a properly functioning negative air flow, anyone with TB who sneezes or breathes in a room discharges infected particles that remain suspended in the air. In a room where the flow is regulated, they merely fall to the floor.
“The negative air pressure was put in so you do not have to put a mask on every time you went into the room and do all that kind of procedural stuff,” he said.
Had the matter gone to trial, Bruce was prepared to use an expert from the University of Virginia to testify about the effects of compromising the negative air flow.
“You’re stigmatized by having TB,” the attorney said. “It’s not as bad as saying you have AIDS, but you’re still stigmatized by the fact and that would probably affect your ability in getting life insurance at any discount rates.”
Weeks said the Centers for Disease Control needs to dispatch an epidemiological team to Beckley to assess the TB situation at Pinecrest.
“TB kills people,” he said. “We’re in the second generation of this stuff now. This is a very significant event.”
— E-mail:
mannix@register-herald.com