The patient’s death earlier this year from a fungal infection, a Queensland hospital has defended its clinical practises.
Radiographer Jurgen Zoller passed away at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) in March after getting Fusarium Solani after receiving a bone marrow transplant.
It comes after two different patient fatalities at Prince Charles Hospital that might have been caused by an unrelated illness cluster.
Matron Dani Zoller-Bellette has insisted that the hospital immediately revise its transplant safety procedures.
“I find it difficult to express the struggles we face. It’s terrible,” she exclaimed.
“We need to stop other patients from dying, other families from going through what we’re going through.”
The transplant for the 57-year-old was performed on March 7. According to his family, he developed sores and blisters while he was recuperating in the hospital, and on March 26, he finally lost his vision.
After testing, his family was informed late on April 1 that he had a fungal infection. April 3 was his death date. His wife feels the hospital acted slowly when her husband’s condition worsened and that they were never told about the dangers of fungal infections.
“We were given roughly 30-something hours to get our head around the fact that Jurgen was going to die and they couldn’t do anything about it,” said Zoller-Bellette.
The situation of Zoller is being looked into by Shine Lawyers. Wendy Nixson, the Medical Law Practise Leader at Shine Lawyers, stated, “We also need to investigate when results were known and treatment implemented, whether that was done fast enough and correctly.”
Glen Kennedy, executive director of RBWH Cancer Care Services, stated that Metro North Health had not found the source of Zoller’s illness within the hospital. He claimed that he was not a member of any ‘cluster’ and that there is no connection whatsoever between the fungus and the five transplant patients who had fungal infections at Prince Charles Hospital.
Kennedy declared, “We are very confident in our protocols.” “The source of this fungal infection in hospitals has not been found.”
“Transplanting bone marrow and other organs is safe in Queensland. Their care is safe, and the protocols are followed to provide the finest care and results possible.”
