Lawyer says 1 of LA superbug victims is teenage student

Published 7:42 pm Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles building is seen in Los Angeles, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015. A "superbug" outbreak suspected in the deaths of two patients at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles has raised questions about the adequacy of the procedures for disinfecting a medical instrument used on more than a half-million people in the U.S. every year. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The lawyer for one of the people infected by a “superbug” bacterial outbreak at a Los Angeles hospital says his client is an 18-year-old student who remains hospitalized in grave condition.

Attorney Kevin Boyle says the teenager visited Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center last year for a procedure that involved using an endoscope to examine his pancreas.



The lawyer says his client was treated and released but soon became gravely ill and was hospitalized for 83 days. He was eventually sent home but relapsed and was readmitted. Boyle declined to release the teen’s name or say what school he attends.

He says doctors linked the illness to an endoscope contaminated with the drug-resistant, potentially fatal CRE bacteria.

UCLA says at least seven people have been infected and two have died.

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