The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

Miami Children's Hospital lost two babies in their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) recently. That unit cares for premature babies and those born with an illness. The hospital contacted the Miami-Dade County Health Department to learn whether there had been any outbreaks in the area that might have caused these deaths.

The Health Department had no knowledge of any such outbreak. However the head physician of a neonatology group in South Florida told a local news channel, Local 10, that Miami Children's Hospital is trying to remove two or more types of deadly bacteria found in their NICU.

Hardy Pseudomonas Bacteria

They are both strands of the large bacterial group known as pseudomonas. These are often found in water and in plant seeds but are able to colonize in many environments. Some spread easily on food preparation surfaces and are found in spoiling foods. They are resistant to antibiotics and some cannot be removed from the human body by the normal immune response of phagocyte cells -- special blood cells that engulf invading bacteria or foreign bodies and carry them away for excretion.

The physician who spoke with Local 10 did not want to be identified. He stated that many children in this hospital had been moved to other areas and that he had decided not to refer any newborn babies to the hospital’s NICU, at least for now.

The hospital issued a statement of sympathy to the families of the two deceased babies and stated that it was looking further into the matter. The county medical examiner's office has not received any babies from Miami Children's Hospital in the past month, which means that the babies were not deemed to have died from any suspicious cause.

A hospital floor is said to be the dirtiest place in the world. Anything in the air will eventually descend to the floor and hospital air is filled with bacteria, viruses, and assorted pathogens. Few human beings are more vulnerable than a premature or ill newborn, so extra precautions need to be taken in any NICU. Any death in such an environment is often subjected to examination and perhaps subsequently to wrongful death litigation.

If you have lost a child or other loved one in a hospital setting, and are wondering if any negligence was responsible, please contact our experienced wrongful death lawyers for a free case evaluation.