For you or a family member to have a Legionnaires’ disease claim against a hotel, resort or cruise ship, the epidemiological and microbiological evidence has to support that claim. “If I or another attorney can link your case of Legionnaires’ disease to a hotel, resort or cruise ship, you have the right to sue for compensation, including medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, emotional distress, disability and other damages,” said Attorney Fred Pritzker, who recently won $3,000,000.00 in a Legionnaires’ disease lawsuit against a hotel.
Your doctor should have reported your Legionnaires’ disease case to a local or state health department. Because victims of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks are often residents of a number of states, health departments are supposed to report cases of Legionnaires’ disease to the CDC, specifically to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The CDC provides sample outbreak questionnaires and laboratory testing to local and state health departments. Note that CDC laboratory testing is generally only done in an outbreak investigation in which the CDC is involved; Routine laboratory submissions are not accepted by the CDC’s laboratories.
If health officials detect a possible outbreak Legionnaires’ disease cases that appear to be related, victims and/or family members are interviewed using the CDC outbreak questionnaires to determine if there was a common location visited by all or most of the victims. In about 20% of outbreaks, the common location is a hotel, resort or cruise ship.
When a common location is determined, water samples are taken from the cooling tower, pool(s), water faucets and other water sources. These are tested for the presence of Legionella bacteria, the pathogen that caused Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia sometimes referred to as Legionnaires’ or Legionnella pneumonia. The infection is also referred to as legionellosis.
Attorney Fred Pritzker and his Bad Bug Law Team represent Legionnaires’ disease victims throughout the United States. You can contact Fred for a free consultation here.