The media coverage of the Flint water scandal has slowed quite a bit.
But this may be reason to crank it up again.
Chad Livengood of the Detroit News reports that attorneys for McLaren Flint Hospital allege that state health department workers engaged in a “cover-up” of a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in 2014 and 2015 in Genesee County that is suspected of being linked to Flint’s water crisis. In 18 months, the Flint area reported 91 Legionnaire's cases, 12 of which resulted in death.
The attorneys for the Flint hospital are asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to uphold a Genesee County judge’s order that bars the Michigan Department and Health and Human Services employees from being involved in investigations of new and old cases of Legionnaires’ while a criminal probe remains underway, the Detroit News writes.
“Upon further investigation of materials related to the Flint water crisis, McLaren-Flint firmly believes the institution was a victim of numerous crimes and cover-ups by state employees including the MDHHS employees” investigating the bacterial outbreak, McLaren’s attorneys wrote in a legal brief filed Friday, the News reports.
The state is denying the allegations, the News reports.
“MDHHS could not disagree more strongly with McLaren’s accusations about the department’s employees,” health department spokeswoman Jennifer Eisner said in an email. to the News. “It is unacceptable for a local hospital to take any action that potentially threatens the public health and that a public health department would be barred from investigating such activity.”
Legionellosis disease is a respiratory disease caused by Legionella bacteria, according to the Center for Disease Control. Sometimes the bacteria can cause a serious type of pneumonia called Legionnaires' disease. The bacteria can also cause a less serious infection called Pontiac fever that has symptoms similar to a mild case of the flu.
