{"id":250796,"date":"2025-09-24T05:41:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T05:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/250796\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T05:41:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T05:41:15","slug":"nyc-legionnaires-outbreak-may-have-killed-up-to-20-or-nearly-three-times-official-count-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/250796\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Legionnaires outbreak may have killed up to 20, or nearly three times official count: lawyers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Up to 20 people \u2014 or nearly three times the official count \u2014 may have died in the city\u2019s latest Legionnaires outbreak<\/a> because of misdiagnoses, according to the lawyer for four fatal victims who filed notices of claims over the mess Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Al Sharpton and lawyer Ben Crump, who now represent a total of 35 surviving victims and the families of those who die in the Harlem<\/a> saga, said many of those stricken were told by doctors they were suffering from pneumonia, not Legionnaires.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Ben Crump (left) and the Rev Al Sharpton on Tuesday said deaths from the recent Harlem Legionnaires\u2019 outbreak are likely vastly undercounted. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cThis outbreak has claimed lives, and we believe deaths are being undercounted,\u201d said Crump, claiming as many as 20 people may have died from the disease, or greatly more than the official seven noted by the state. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey continue to come up with ways to try to sweep it under the rug,\u201d he said of officials.<\/p>\n

Many victims were allegedly denied proper diagnostic testing, despite showing clear symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can get away with it here, they can get away with it elsewhere,\u201d Sharpton said. \u201cHow many people did they not test for Legionnaires\u2019 disease that could have been saved?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 20 people have now filed notices of claims against the city totaling a potential $210 million lawsuit liability because of the outbreaks at four construction sites owned by Gotham\u2019s government, lawyeres said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crump sits with Brooke Scott, age 6, and her mother, Lakeisha Plowden. Scott\u2019s father Bruce Scott, 53, passed away from Legionnaires\u2019 disease. Peter Senzamici\/NY Post<\/p>\n

At least four wrongful-death suits are in the works against the city, too. Crump said he expects more.<\/p>\n

One of those four deaths was dad and husband Bruce Scott, whose loss has been \u201cdevastating\u201d for his wife Lakisha Plowden and their 6-year-old daughter, Brooke, who loved spending time with her dad, the family said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe walked out the door into the ambulance \u2014 and never came back,\u201d Plowden said of her husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next thing I knew, I\u2019m looking at him with a tube down his throat.<\/p>\n

Crump embraces Nikia Bryant, whose aunt, Rachel Tew, died from the disease. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good man,\u201d Plowden said. \u201cHe was a great dad.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city took a month to tell her that her husband actually died of Legionnaires\u2019 \u2014 after doctors and his death certificate blamed pneumonia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe needs justice,\u201d Plowden said of her child. \u201cMy daughter needs to understand why her dad is not here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharpton looks on as Gloria Cooley shares how her mom, June, suffered for two weeks in a hospital room before doctors agreed to test for Legionnaires. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

Nikia Bryant lost her aunt Rachel Tew, 80, in early August, but it took the city a week to inform her the death was from Legionnaires.<\/p>\n

Gloria Cooley said her mom, June, suffered for two weeks in a hospital room before doctors agreed to test for Legionnaires.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to fight and fight and fight to get my mom tested,\u201d Cooley said, battling doctors insisting it was pneumonia.<\/p>\n

Legionella bacteria was found on cooling towers on top of Harlem Hospital.
Google Earth<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were looking at me, dismissing me,\u201d Cooley said, \u201cbut I was persistent, because I said something ain\u2019t right.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, a third lawsuit has been filed<\/a> against the contractor for the city projects, Skanska USA, by a worker who says he got ill while working at the New York City Public Health Laboratory site adjacent to Harlem Hospital.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Jarred Scotto said the city and its contractor failed to check and maintain its cooling towers and that Skanska failed to register a newly installed tower at Harlem Hospital.<\/p>\n

Since it was allegedly never registered, the city never inspected it, allowing the disease to flourish.<\/p>\n

Anthony Stokes said he had to demand to be tested as he lay in pain inside a hospital. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

Brooke Scott, 6, is held by her mother. Robert Miller<\/p>\n

\u201cLegionellas is a predictable and foreseeable harm if those cooling towers aren\u2019t tested and cleaned on a regular basis,\u201d Scotto said. \u201cWe really want to know what else wasn\u2019t done.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Skanska rep siad, \u201cOur hearts go out to all the families who have been impacted in this recent Legionnaires outbreak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The representative declined to comment further on pending litigation.<\/p>\n

Sharpton also called on the mayoral candidates to take the issue seriously and to make it part of their campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all come here asking for support,\u201d Sharpton said. \u201cI\u2019m asking for support for these families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Up to 20 people \u2014 or nearly three times the official count \u2014 may have died in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":250797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5416,5231,336,64166,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-250796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-deaths","10":"tag-harlem","11":"tag-lawsuits","12":"tag-legionnaires-disease","13":"tag-metro","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-city","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115257677317934383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}