Last Updated

16 Nov 2002

Source: Washington Post, March 27, 2002

Anthrax Victim's Family Sues Md. Medical Center

By Manny Fernandez and Ruben Castaneda, Washington Post Staff Writers

Attorneys for the family of Thomas L. Morris Jr. (case 15), the D.C. postal worker who died last year of inhalation anthrax, filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit yesterday accusing a Maryland medical center of misdiagnosing his symptoms three days before his death.

The lawsuit said Morris, who worked at the Brentwood Road NE mail facility and lived in Suitland, went to the Kaiser Permanente Marlow Heights Medical Center on Oct. 18 because he was having trouble breathing and was suffering anthrax-exposure symptoms.

The suit said Morris told nurse practitioner Alan Korff that he thought he had anthrax, but Korff and physician supervisors told Morris he only had a virus. They told Morris to take Tylenol for his aches and pains and sent him home, the suit and lawyers said.

Morris died Oct. 21. He "died needlessly because of the negligence" at the Prince George's County facility, said Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., part of the family's high-powered legal team that includes Upper Marlboro lawyer Jimmy A. Bell.

At a Washington news conference, lawyers appeared with Morris's wife, Mary, and his son, Thomas L. Morris III. The suit, filed in Prince George's County Circuit Court, names Mary Morris, Thomas L. Morris III and the Morris estate as plaintiffs.

The suit alleges medical malpractice, wrongful death, negligence and other claims. It names Korff and the Kaiser health plan that owns the medical center.

Kaiser Permanente defended its staff and physicians. Spokeswoman Susan Whyte Simon said the nurse had called Maryland health authorities about Morris and followed their recommendations. A Kaiser statement said Morris "died because someone put anthrax into an envelope, and sent it through the mail," adding that Kaiser would "provide a response through the court system" and not debate the case in the media.

Morris, 55, worked as a Brentwood distribution clerk, and lawyers said he came into contact with anthrax spores Oct. 13. Postal officials said a letter containing the bacteria went through the postal facility on its way to Capitol Hill.

Cochran said two postal workers (case 14 and case 17) were treated for anthrax at another hospital around the same time as Morris and are alive today. "The law does not provide the return of a loved one," he said. "All we can do is pursue this in the courts and seek some sort of justice."

A previous lawsuit against Kaiser was withdrawn after it was filed in November, Bell said.