Mother Sues NYC, Hospital Over Son's Staph Death

Last week, the I.S. 211 in Canarsie told parents that 7th grader Omar Rivera had died from the antibiotic-resistant staph infection MRSA. Now his mother is suing the city and Kings County Hospital for $25 million over the mistreatment of the 12-year-old.

On October 11, Aileen Rivera took him to a clinic to examine a pus-filled sores on his back. The Flatlands clinic gave him Motrin and a mild antibiotic, but since it didn't clear up, she took him to Kings County Hospital, where, according to WCBS 2, "a doctor thought the child had an allergic reaction to the Motrin, and gave him the over-the-counter medication Benadryl." Omar Rivera died on October 14.

Aileen Rivera said that her son was given two Benadryl in the ER, and her lawyer Paul Weitz of the Cochran firm said, "This child should never have been released. He should have been worked up. There should have been blood work. He should have been kept there for tests." Kings County Hospital, though, said that while Omar Rivera's death was a "deeply tragic event," he was "presented with non MRSA related conditions and treated." Still, pus-filled sores should have been a sign - a classmate told the Post that Rivera's last day of school was October 9, "I told him to go see a doctor. It was bad - pus was coming down his leg."

The Health Department and Department of Education is urging students and faculty to practice good hygiene, like thorough handwashing, to prevent spreading MRSA. However, many students are having a hard time finding soap. Here's more information about MRSA from the Health Department, which proposes required MRSA reporting.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 30, 2007 5:17 PM

Comments [rss]

aydiosmio

$25 Million dollars. How completely ridiculous. Let's take another chunk out of this hospital's ability to provide care. You think $25 million dollars is going to buy you a new kid? I hope whatever's left after attorney's fees makes her feel all warm and fuzzy.

TT

Nosocomial infections- look them up. The truth is bugs like this fill hospitals. C. diffe, Pseudomonas, MRSA- they are unavoidable and impossible to get rid of when you have a building filled with sick people and healthcare staff.

Joclyn

I worked in a hospital for a couple of years. MRSA is completely common; at any given time a large handful of patients had it and were put on a very loosely enforced "isolation." We were told that most of the employees probably had it, too. This is NOT a new epidemic.

Karen

MRSA killed my grandfather, a few years ago. He was in the hospital with severe pneumonia, and contracted it. We were told, that any healthy person can be exposed to MRSA, and often are, you shrug it off easily. Its when you're sick already, that its a danger.

My question then, was, how does someone in a hospital, contract a deadly staph infection! You supposedly go to a hospital to get better! My personal doctor, when I asked her about this, said that that was why she never admitted any of her patients to that hospital, and that my family should talk to a lawyer.

Now, with healthy people coming down with it, and dying from it, it seems that something else is going on. Is it years of indiscriminate antibiotic use-as a kid, my mother took me to a pediatrician, who'd give you a shot of penicillian no matter what the reason for your visit.

matthew gannon

Insurance had nothing to do with this. I had insurance in 2006 and caught MRSA in the hospital. This is about an incorrect diagnosis and a lack of seriousness in dealing with potential public health risks.