Contaminated alcohol prep products, often used in hospitals, are the root of the cause of a toddler’s death and, the heart of a wrongful death lawsuit, as reported by MSNBC.
Harrison Kothari, the two year-old son of Sandra and Shanoop Kothari, died on December 1, 2010, from a severe infection that resulted in massive organ failure.
The boy had been recovering as expected after having a benign cyst removed near his brain and spinal cord a week earlier.
Bacillus cereus – a bacteria that is usually found in rare food poisonings and not in hospital settings – was the cause. Cultures taken showed that he died as a result of contracting the acute bacterial meningitis.
Sandra Kothari, 37, the boy’s mother said, “They had no explanation as to how he contracted it, they know it’s rare in the hospital.”
On January 5, while the family had no idea how Harrison had contracted the meningitis, a family member alerted them to an online notice put up by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Tens of millions of alcohol wipes carried a potential contamination of Bacillus cereus. The Triad Group of Wisconsin that manufactured and supplied the swabs and pads were now recalling them.
Shanoop Kothari, the boy’s father, said, “These wipes were used in his care every single day, multiple times a day.”
Jim Purdue Jr., the attorney for the Kothari’s, confirmed that officials from Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston used Triad wipes. Samples have since been removed from the hospital room that the boy had stayed in.
Mr. Kothari said, “We’re confident that that’s the cause, there was no other explanation that made any sort of sense. He contracted a very rare bacteria. These swatches were tainted with that bacteria.”
Triad Group of Harland, Wisconsin, is named in the suit filed by the Kothari family for gross negligence and for damages in the loss of their son. The suit is filed in U.S. District Court in Houston.
Besides his parents, Harrison leaves behind a sister as well, 7 year-old Hannah. Mr. Kothari said of the family’s loss, “Our emotional response over this has been horrible, we’ve been devastated. We’ve been absolutely crushed.”
Though Triad has yet to respond to the press in regards to the lawsuit, FDA spokesman, Christopher Kelly, has stated that Triad had done “everything correctly” in having their product recalled.
Though Triad doesn’t give an exact number of the possible contaminations, the company’s notice read that any use could, “lead to life-threatening infections, especially in at risk populations, including immune suppressed and surgical patients.”
Dr Aaron Glatt, the spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said of the resistant infection, “It can be a pretty bad bug.”
Mrs. Kothari concluded, “People buy alcohol pads and they last a long time in your bathroom. They’re sitting there now, I wouldn't want any other mother to go what I’ve gone through.”
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