Another family sues Seattle Children's for mold exposure and injury


SEATTLE -- Another family has filed a lawsuit against Seattle Children’s after their child suffered permanent injuries due to “toxic mold” exposure.

More than a dozen families have come forward in the last several months claiming the hospital did not protect their loved ones in the operating rooms.

That now includes Hayley Seymour, a mom to a 7-month-old boy who was born was hypoplastic left heart syndrome and required surgery at just 6 days old.

“The fact that we’ve had 12 days at home when we should’ve had a lot more,” said Seymour, who has been by her son’s hospital bedside since last October. “We’re not sure when he’ll get to go home. He’ll have at least one more open heart surgery before he goes home.”

Seymour said her son was exposed to Aspergillus mold during his open heart surgery last October. She said her son started having trouble breathing at home.

“He was starting to turn very like gray and dusky and then they found the fungus in his heart,” said Seymour. “Back in November he got pneumonia and he coded, and they did eight minutes of compression. He’s definitely been through more in his seven months of life than I’ve been through my whole life. He’s definitely shown us how much of a fighter he is.”

Now Seymour is fighting back with a lawsuit again Seattle Children’s, claiming their son has permanent injuries from mold infection and treatment.

The family lawyer claims the hospital knew about the health risks when they allowed the open heart surgery.

“That’s a big problem,” said Sim Osborn. “No reasonable parent is ever going to say, yes I’ll let my child go into the operating suite with mold.”

The Seymour family has spent months away from their home, which was even burglarized and damaged in their absence.

The hospital has also felt more traumatic with Covid-19 restrictions.

“My husband and I can’t be up there with our son together at the same time. His brother can’t go see him, and he used to see him everyday,” said Seymour.

Q13 News reached out to Seattle Children’s for comment and received this statement in an email:

“We are incredibly sorry for the impact this situation has had on our patients and families. We are working diligently to resolve these issues, including the claims that have been brought against Seattle Children’s related to past surgical site infections.”

Back in November 2019, the CEO of Seattle Children’s apologized and said they let families down.

The hospital closed 10 operating rooms in December to install a new rooftop air handling system and a HEPA filtration system.

“I think we’ll start to heal once he’s home and we can actually be together as a family,” said Seymour.

The family lawyer said there are now 14 families that have come forward and seven children who have died in connection to the mold issue at Seattle Children’s.

A spokesperson said Seattle Children’s reports every confirmed case of Aspergillus surgical site infection to Seattle and King County Public Health.