Jury awards $7.65 million in deadly KU Med infection case

Key Points:

• A Wyandotte County jury awarded $7.65 million in damages to the wife and son of Stephen Nolte, who died from a Mycobacterium chimaera infection allegedly contracted from a contaminated heater-cooler device used during his heart surgery at KU Med.
• The jury assigned 88% fault to The University of Kansas Hospital Authority and 12% to LivaNova USA Inc., the manufacturer of the heater-cooler device, with LivaNova’s share amounting to $918,000.
• The lawsuit claimed that KU Med failed to properly disinfect the devices after changing cleaning protocols in October 2018, leading to an outbreak of infections among patients, while LivaNova was accused of defective design and manufacturing contamination.
• LivaNova denied fault, arguing the hospital’s failure to follow cleaning instructions was the sole cause of the infections, and contended Nolte died with the infection, not from it, while the hospital settled confidentially before trial without admitting liability.
• Over two dozen similar lawsuits have been filed regarding M. chimaera infections linked to heater-cooler devices at KU Med, with multiple patients dying or suffering serious health issues, and many cases resulting in confidential settlements.