Food Safety Attorney Brendan Flaherty Answers Questions About Wrongful Death in Listeria Outbreak
The ongoing cantaloupe Listeria outbreak has sickened at least 100 people in 20 states, 18 of whom have died according to the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For many of these victims, life seemed to change in an instant. After the onset of symptoms, listeriosis can quickly become serious and severe, life threatening conditions including blood poisoning and meningitis can occur.
Food safety attorneys Brendan Flaherty and Fred Pritzker of PritzkerOlsen P.A., represented the family of a man who died as a result of eating food contaminated with Listeria.
Brendan Flaherty looks back on the case:
You represented the family of a man killed in the last major Listeria outbreak?
Yes, I spent over two years working almost exclusively on cases from that Listeria outbreak, including for the family of the gentlemen who died.
At the time, it was considered one of the nation’s largest and deadliest listeriosis outbreaks ever. There were 42 confirmed cases and seven deaths.
What happened to your client?
Listeria tends to infect the elderly and pregnant women. The man who died in that outbreak was 85 at the time he contracted listeriosis. His body simply could not fight off the infection. The horrible part of the case was that the man went from a robust, very active retiree and grandfather to an absolutely gaunt and infirm human being. He was hospitalized for almost 400 days before passing away. His slow and painful death was just agonizing for his family.
More than a year in the hospital?
Yes. Soon after he developed his initial symptoms, he was admitted to the hospital and doctors discovered he had listeria meningitis, a condition where the bacteria infects the brain and spinal cord. He never returned to his home or family. For the next 13 months, he was either in a hospital or nursing home. He lost neurologic function to the extent he needed a ventilator and a feeding tube. He battled dozens of complications before succumbing to the massive, lethal infection.
For people who have not been through it or seen, it is impossible to describe the everyday struggle of that length of hospital stay. There is no privacy, little true rest and a never-ending routine of tests, samples and procedures. A brutally difficult existence.
What happened with the case?
It was a complex, very difficult case to prove because, in contrast to the cantaloupe outbreak where a single producer has been implicated, that outbreak was narrowed down to two producers. We worked closely with world class Listeria experts including epidemiologists, microbiologists and infectious disease experts to pinpoint the source of our clients’ infections. We gathered and presented a huge amount of evidence and ended up winning a confidential seven figure settlement for the family.
As a result of our work on that case, we learned a great deal about Listeria and what food producers should do to prevent outbreaks. I sincerely believed that we would not see another Listeria outbreak as big as the current cantaloupe outbreak but here we are. We are again representing families who have recently lost loved ones to Listeria. It is heartbreaking to see but we will do our absolute best to get them fair compensation and to expose the problems with food production that lead to this outbreak. I really hope that the work we are doing for the families will prevent the next outbreak.
Attorney Brendan Flaherty can be reached at 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or by submitting our free consultation form. He is representing victims and families in the Listeria outbreak linked to Jensen Farms cantaloupe.
