Fieger Sues Snyder Administration, Flint Hospital On Behalf Of Legionnaires' Patients
FLINT (WWJ) - Attorney Geoffrey Fieger has filed a $100 million lawsuit on behalf of four Genesee County residents who contracted Legionnaires' disease.
The patients were treated at McLaren Flint Hospital during the Flint water crisis.
One of them, 58-year-old Debra Kidd, who died from Legionella pneumonia on Aug. 2, 2015, just seven days after she went to the McLaren Flint ER with a headache.
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The claim is that the hospital knew its water supply was contaminated in April of 2014, just days after the city began drawing water from the Flint River.
"A hospital won't make money if it discloses a Legionnaires' outbreak from contaminated water, and a Governor will stop hearing whispers that he's being considered for higher office if he reveals a water and Legionnaires' crisis. We know what happened here," said Fieger.
"The more I read and learn about this, the angrier I get. To save a few dollars, the Snyder Administration poisoned an entire city and thought they could get away with it because those poisoned were poor, and primarily black," he said.
State and city officials, Fieger says, admitted they failed to treat the river water piped through its distribution system with anti-corrosive chemicals as required by federal law, causing pipes to corrode, lead to leach, and bacteria like Legionella to proliferate, in the water supply.
Fieger said complaints about foul-smelling, discolored water from concerned residents were ignored, and revelations of an alleged conspiracy between state administration and McLaren to ignore a reported 87 cases of Legionnaires' disease was the last straw.
"I can no longer stand on the sidelines and watch this debacle unfold. Another Snyder investigation, which will only provide excuses for his administration's and McLaren's role in the Legionnaires' outbreak, will not be tolerated," he said. "The people of Flint need Justice and I plan to get it for them."
Fieger filed the case against the hospital and Gov. Rick Snyder's office in Genesee County Circuit Court.
