Family, UPMC reach $1.35M settlement in Ohio transplant patient's death

The family of an Ohio woman who died during the UPMC mold crisis has settled a lawsuit with the health care giant for $1.35 million, according to court documents.

The wrongful death and medical negligence case involving heart transplant patient Shelby Slagle, 27, is the second known settlement to arise from the mold incidents at UPMC's Presbyterian and Montefiore hospitals.

In a previous settlement, a $1.35 million payout went to the family of Tracy Fischer, 47, of Erie, who had a heart transplant at UPMC Presbyterian and contracted a fungal infection while hospitalized. She died Oct. 1, 2014, at Presbyterian.

Slagle's husband, Ryan, agreed to the same amount as the Fischer family, according to Franklin County, Ohio, Probate Court records. Ryan Slagle is distributing some of the money to his wife's parents, Craig and Laurie Amick, the records indicate.

“We extend our sympathy to the family of Mrs. Slagle and appreciate their graciousness,” UPMC spokeswoman Allison Hydzik said in a statement Tuesday.

Slagle's attorney, Rick Brunner, declined to comment, as did Shelby Slagle's mother.

UPMC suspended its transplant program for six days in September 2015 after identifying mold in four patients at Presby and Montefiore, located in Oakland.

Slagle, of Groveport, Ohio, about 12 miles southeast of Columbus, died June 26, 2015, at Presbyterian after undergoing a heart transplant.

“The room within UPMC to which the decedent was assigned post-transplant was found to have been infested with Rhizomucor, a type of mold,” the settlement agreement reads. “An autopsy indicated that the cause of the decedent's death was bacterial and fungal infections.”

Slagle was treated in the same room of Presby's cardiothoracic intensive care unit in which transplant patients with fungal infections received treatment before dying. Fischer and Che DuVall, 70, of Perryopolis, who died in February, also stayed in that ICU room, UPMC previously confirmed.

A fourth, unnamed patient who contracted a mold infection died in September 2015 at UPMC Montefiore.

DuVall, a Vietnam War veteran, a retired glass cutter and father of three, remained in Presby from August 2015, when he underwent a double lung transplant for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, until his death. His wife, Karen, is suing UPMC in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

One of DuVall's attorneys, Jerry Meyers, said Tuesday that he has not been approached by UPMC about a possible settlement. Meyers and his Downtown law firm, Meyers Evans Lupetin & Unatin, are investigating whether to take legal action in the death of another man, Daniel Krieg, 56, who died June 9 at Montefiore. Krieg was a kidney transplant patient who contracted a fungal infection that led to the removal of a lobe of his left lung before his death. UPMC maintains that pneumonia caused his death. An autopsy stated that the removed lobe of his lung contained rhizopus mold.

Attorney Meyers expressed concern that Krieg was housed in a negative-pressure room at Montefiore, even after the CDC advised against such practices. UPMC said the negative-pressure system was not activated in Krieg's room when he was housed there.

Ben Schmitt is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-320-7991 or bschmitt@tribweb.com.