The family of an infant who died after contracting a bacterial infection at Geisinger Medical Center plans to sue the Danville, Pa.-based hospital, reports ABC affiliate WNEP.
Earlier this month, Geisinger confirmed the deaths of three infants who contracted Pseudomonas infections in its neonatal intensive care unit. Five other infants are recovering from the infection.
Luis Cepeda and Zuleyka Rodriguez said their son Abel died from a Pseudomonas infection Sept. 30, just six days after he was born prematurely. Matt Casey, a founding partner at Ross Feller Casey, is representing the family and said he plans to file a suit against the hospital in the coming days.
"Geisinger officials have made it painfully clear that they knew as early as this past August that their NICU was extraordinarily dangerous," he said in a news release. "Yet they did nothing to warn their healthcare customers or otherwise mitigate the catastrophic risks to which they knowingly exposed their most vulnerable patients."
Geisinger has worked closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and CDC to take immediate measures that "are above and beyond their best practice guidelines" since identifying the Pseudomonas infections in September, the health system said in a statement emailed to Becker's.
"We express our deepest sympathies and provide our full support to the families and loved ones who have been affected," Geisinger said. "We will continue our meticulous and comprehensive infection control practices at Geisinger Medical Center to reduce the risk of any infection in any infant, and we remain committed to providing the highest level of family-centered neonatal care for our families and babies."