Two patients at Phoebe Richland Health Center in Richlandtown, PA were recently diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease. One of them has died.
Bucks County Health Department has taken water samples for testing. It will be several weeks before results are ready. The hospital says it has hired an outside vendor to test the water and has performed a water treatment process.
The patients had been transferred to Phoebe Richland from two area hospitals. Both of them were diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease during the first week of the new year. One of them on January 2, 2019, and one of them on January 5, 2019.
Contact a Pritzker Hageman Legionnaires’ Disease Lawyer
How do you get Legionnaires’ Disease?
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia that develops when water droplets contaminated with Legionella bacteria are inhaled. It is not spread through person-to-person contact. Legionella bacteria flourish in warm water and are frequently found in large, complex water systems.
Symptoms of an infection are flu-like including headache, high fever, cough, muscle aches and shortness of breath. Usually, they develop within 10 days of exposure and last about a week. Most people with Legionnaires’ disease need hospitalization. Each year, about 6,100 Americans are diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease and for about 610 of them the infection proves fatal.
Those at elevated risk are people who smoke, people who have chronic lung disease, people with weakened immune systems and people over the age of 50.
Legionnaires’ Disease Lawyers
Fred Pritzker and Eric Hageman are the leaders of the Pritzker Hageman Legionnaires’ Disease Team. They represent clients nationwide who have been sickened and the families who have experienced the wrongful death of lost loved ones in Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks. For a free consultation about a Legionnaires’ disease lawsuit, you can contact them with this online form. Or, call 1(888) 377-8900 toll-free.
