Brisbane man’s ‘horrific’ death after alleged contamination of antibiotics

A Brisbane man who died after consuming allegedly contaminated antibiotics obtained from a major Qld hospital is at the centre of a lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

William Patrick who died allegedly after consuming "contaminated" antibiotic manufactured by Pfizer. Photo: Supplied.

A young man who allegedly died a “horrific” death after consuming allegedly contaminated antibiotics he bought at a Queensland hospital pharmacy is at the centre of a lawsuit against pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

IT consultant William Patrick died aged 36, three days before Christmas in 2022, after taking the allegedly contaminated antibiotic gentamicin – made from “inadequately stored fish” in China – he got from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital pharmacy.

The drug was prescribed by his doctor to treat regular chest infections he suffered due to an inherited disorder which weakened his immune system called X-linked agammaglobulinemia.

His mother Gladys Patrick is suing Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd and Pfizer (Perth) Pty Ltd in the Supreme Court in Brisbane after they sold the allegedly contaminated drug to RBWH.

It was allegedly contaminated because it “contained higher levels of histamine than it should have, had it been properly prepared”, the claim dated May this year, states.

Outside of court, those closest to Mr Patrick told The Sunday Mail the loss of their loved one in such a horrific way was devastating.

“It has been hard for us, but what William went through before he died is truly a horror story.”

“We were very, very close, we’re still having nightmares and flashbacks,” they said.

“He was innocent, funny, wouldn’t hurt a fly a good kid, hardworking a true fighter when it came to medical issues and just wanted to be well.”

Mr Patrick, from Spring Hill in Brisbane’s inner city, first became sick in January 2017 with rashes and swelling on his truck, neck, hands and feet, and was admitted to hospital, according to his affidavit filed in court.

Outside court his close friends and family said Mr Patrick was nearly three weeks in hospital after he was rushed there after he turned “blue” and had difficulty breathing.

William Patrick with his mother Gladys and brother Allan. Picture: Facebook

Throughout 2017 his condition worsened and he lost a lot of weight and suffered chest infections, rashes, hives, stomach aches, cramps and swelling of his whole body.

He was forced to give up his two full time jobs as an IT contractor until 2018 when he returned to one job with Fujitsu who contracted him out to the Gold Coast City Council.

Mr Patrick took the gentamicin through a nebuliser to “clear up chest infections or congestion”, he stated in his affidavit.
In total he was dispensed 360 vials over a period of years, and he told the court he did not suffer any ill effects from regularly taking the drug from 2013 to 2015.

Gentamicin is commonly used to treat the blood infection sepsis by injection, Mr Patrick states in his affidavit.

In October 2017 the RBWH contacted Mrs Patrick and told her that the medicines regulator the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration had recalled ten batches of gentamicin, stating it “may have higher than expected amounts of histamine” and she called her son who was overseas and told him to stop taking the drug.

When he returned to Australia he saw his immunologist Daman Langguth in January 2018 and Dr Langguth told him the cause of his itchy welts and severe allergic reaction was “a contaminated batch of gentamicin”.

“This was recalled when it was revealed by the drug company that it might have high levels of histamine,” Dr Langguth’s letter stated.

“Mr Patrick noticed that within two weeks of ceasing the inhaled gentamicin that all of his symptoms resolved”.

In his affidavit Mr Patrick said that in 2018 he “hoped to get better and did not realise that my illness would cause permanent disability”.

Ultimately he suffered gangrene, sepsis and cancer.

“My instructions to my lawyers have been to sue whoever was responsible for the recalled Gentamicin making me sick in 2017,” Patrick wrote in an affidavit.

He later did a test to prove he was not allergic to gentamicin, but did react to histamine.

The claim filed in court in 2022 alleges that Pfizer imported powder into Australia from China between 2015 and 2017 which was contaminated with histamine up to 73 parts per million due to a failure of factory workers to store a fish protein used to make the antibiotic at the correct temperature.

The contaminated powder purchased from Fujian Fukang Pharmacutical Co Ltd (FFP) was then allegedly turned into a liquid form of the drug at Pfizer’s factory in Perth, the 2024 claim states.

Mr Patrick first sued Pfizer in 2020, but the case has progressed slowly due to the filing of new pleadings, a change of lawyers and Mr Patrick’s declining health.

In their defence filed in court Pfizer admits supplying gentamicin to RBWH but denies negligence and “specifically does not admit” that Mr Patrick’s “loss and damage” was caused by the drug.

It also pleads that if the court finds it liable for Mr Patrick’s loss or damage, then it will argue he was negligent for consuming the drug “off label” in a nebuliser at home, when it was “only to be given by intramuscular injection” or intravenously.

Pfizer also submits that Mr Patrick’s doctor and the RBWH pharmacist should have warned him not to inhale the antibiotic through a nebuliser.

It also denies to breached consumer law, submitting that gentamicin supplied was “of an acceptable quality”, and it was entitled to rely on contractual guarantees given by Chinese supplier FFP.

An expert report filed in court by Professor Paul Groundwater stated that “the gentamicin active ingredient manufacture supplier FFP used peptones from adequately stored fish during the period 2014 -2017”.

“The bacterial-catalysed degradation of the amino acid histidine present in the peptone led to significant and well documented increases in the levels of histamine in these samples, which necessitated their recall,” he wrote.

An expert report by immunologist Dennis Wakefield found that “it was more likely than not” that Mr Patrick’s illness was “an adverse reaction” to the gentamicin he inhaled.

On November 18, a court registrar ordered Mrs Patrick to file an amended statement of claim

By 17 January and Pfizer to file their defence by 21 February.

Mrs Patrick must file a reply by 7 March.

The case is set to return to the Supreme Court in Brisbane on March 12.

Pfizer’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Originally published as Brisbane man’s ‘horrific’ death after alleged contamination of antibiotics