In a troubling case that has sparked multiple lawsuits, a Kansas hospital is under scrutiny for its alleged failure to adequately sterilize equipment used in open-heart surgeries, resulting in slow-developing M. chimaera infections and, tragically, several deaths.

Darrell Schroll, a Vietnam veteran and local business owner from Manhattan, Kansas, expressed his dire condition to his daughter, saying, “I feel like I’m dying,” as he battled an infection caused by Mycobacterium chimaera.

Describing her father’s deteriorating health, Kristy Schroll told The Kansas City Star, “He was skin and bones.” She recounted how an infectious disease specialist revealed that the infection had spread to one of his eyes, was suspected in his brain, and was present in his heart, lungs, left ventricular assist device (LVAD), and liver.

The Schroll family contends that the infection stemmed from a contaminated heater-cooler unit (HCU) used during Darrell’s open-heart surgery at the University of Kansas Hospital in 2019. In response, Kristy Schroll has filed a lawsuit in Wyandotte County against both the hospital and the device’s manufacturer, LivaNova USA Inc., alleging medical malpractice.

Her legal petition claims that the hospital staff failed to properly sterilize and disinfect the LivaNova 3T Heater-Cooler device before it was used in Darrell Schroll’s cardiac procedure involving cardiopulmonary bypass.

The petition further accuses the hospital’s technicians, ancillary staff, nurses, physicians, and other employees of failing to inform Schroll and his family about his exposure to M. chimaera. It also alleges that the hospital staff did not adequately evaluate, diagnose, or provide timely treatment for Darrell Schroll’s infection.

According to The Star, numerous people are suing or have sued the hospital and LivaNova for medical malpractice and wrongful death in connection with HCUs that were used during surgeries on their loved ones and not properly cleaned, per their claims.

More than 30 lawsuits have been filed in Wyandotte County, alleging that 25 patients at the hospital contracted M. chimaera infections due to dirty HCUs. At least 11 of those patients have died and the others are living with life-altering health problems, The Star reports.

The devices have been replaced with “new versions” with changes “designed to reduce the risk of patient infections,” according to Kristy Schroll’s petition.

Thelma Wood, a widow from Olathe, claims her late husband Ron Wood contracted a deadly M. chimaera infection in 2019 during an open-heart surgery at the university hospital to replace an aortic valve. She is seeking $20 million in damages, according to court filings.

“It’s just wrecked my world,” Thelma Wood told The Star. “Nobody should hurt like this. Nobody. Just for something that could have been avoided.”

Ron Wood died in February 2021 after his M. chimaera infection slowly ate away at him, causing dramatic weight loss and constant fatigue, his wife says. He was hospitalized for seven weeks before succumbing to the infection.

“He looked up at me, and he said, ‘Call the paramedics,’” Thelma Wood recalled. “And I knew then that something was wrong, because he would not let you call them for being ill or anything.”

Describing the hospital’s alleged malpractice, Thelma Wood told The Star, “How could you not clean a machine when you’re given instructions on what to do? … I’m so disappointed that they would let something like this affect this many families. And I don’t understand why.”

Thelma Wood added, “We could have had more years together — many more years together.”

For the Schroll family, the feeling of lost time is shared.

“We feel like time was stolen,” Kristy Schroll told The Star. “[Darrell Schroll] was the kind of person that led by example. He was the rock of the family. He was the person you could call any hour for anything … And I watched him feel defeated and angry and scared. He was very proud, and he felt towards the end that he had little dignity left.”

Kristy Schroll hopes her lawsuit and others like it will ultimately make the public more aware of what she feels is “such clear negligence leading to all of these poor families and the victims of this who either have died or are now burdened with a catastrophic infection,” per The Star.

“I want KU to be held accountable,” Kristy Schroll said. “I feel like there were so many missed opportunities along the way, especially once the infections started coming, to try to investigate on their own and figure out why are these infections happening? And I am hopeful for myself, for the other families and victims of this, that there’s some sense of justice in educating the public.”

The University of Kansas Health System could not be reached for comment Sunday, but a lawyer for the hospital authority told The Star in a statement that it was “limited” in what it can share.

“The University of Kansas Health System provides care to patients with complex needs,” said general counsel Dan Peters. “Our culture and decisions are focused on how best to meet those needs. Based on the information we had at the time, we took the steps we believed were necessary to keep patients safe, while continuing to provide lifesaving surgical interventions that otherwise would not have been available without this critical medical device.”

Peters added, “When we learned about potential impacts of these devices, we proactively reached out to patients who may have been affected to support their needs. Today, the health system has all new devices with a design change that eliminated the previous condition that created the potential for infection.”

LivaNova sent The Star a statement saying, “At LivaNova, patient care and product quality remain central to everything we do. The Company stands firmly behind the 3T™ Heater-Cooler device, having worked closely with global regulators to mitigate risk and ensure continued clinician access to this critical technology for lifesaving cardiac surgery. While we do not comment on the specifics of ongoing litigation, we are vigorously defending the product and company actions in these cases.”