Widow’s pain after third man dies after contracting fungus infection, this time at the RBWH

A major Brisbane hospital has defended its transplant protocols in the wake of the death of a 57-year-old man who contracted a rare fungus infection.

• Editor’s view: Queenslanders deserve answers

A major Queensland hospital has declared it is “very confident” in its bone marrow transplant protocols after a patient died from a fungal infection.

A third case of a transplant patient dying after contracting a fungal infection has been revealed, this time at Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital.

The widow of Jurgen Zoller has demanded an urgent overhaul of transplant safety protocol following the death of her husband in April.

The 57-year-old contracted a rare fungus infection.

Metro North Health says it is yet to identify a likely source at the RBWH or cases related to Mr Zoller.

This week it was uncovered that a second heart transplant patient died at the Prince Charles Hospital following a fungus cluster. Five patients were infected.

Dani Zoller-Bellette has claimed her husband, who was diagnosed with but overcame cancer 20 years ago, felt healthy. But a routine blood test during a check up found he had a low blood count, with doctors recommending he have a bone-marrow transplant, she claims.

Jurgen Zoller was a transplant patient who died at RBWH after contracting a fungal infection. Photo: Supplied.

She said following the transplant he was encouraged by staff daily to sit out on the hospital’s garden veranda.

The Redlands woman claims the helicopters at the RBWH would fly overhead and sometimes create a whirlwind.

“We often sat out there with him and other transplant patients. It is on the fifth floor and there is a bit of a wind tunnel. We would sit out there without masks,” Mrs Zoller-Bellette claimed.

“We had no idea of the dangers of fungal infections. Jurgen was a medical professional and he didn’t know of the dangers.

“There were plants out there and there was always grit and dust blowing around, he even got grit in his eye at one time.”

Mrs Zoller-Bellette has questioned why staff encouraged patients to use the area given patient and visitor restrictions in the hospital.

Dani Zoller-Bellette’s husband Jurgen died after contracting a fungal infection at the RBWH. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“There is a long list of safety rules for patients and visitors for Ward 5C which is the Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit,” she said.

“There is no mention of fungus infections from outdoor plants, soil, dust or grit.

“Rules inside the ward are strict. No flowers, no hugging, sitting on the bed, masks at all times. Yet patients are sitting outside in this wind tunnel with no masks on. It doesn’t make sense.”

Mr Zoller was a senior radiographer, father of four and grandfather to two little girls.

“My feet felt like they were stuck in concrete and I was frozen with shock when I heard the news that two patients had died at the Prince Charles Hospital where there had been a fungus cluster,” she said.

“I listened to the family’s heartache and it took me back to the day Jurgen died in April.”

Mrs Zoller-Bellette has written to Metro North Health executives calling for patients and visitors to be made very aware of the dangers of fungus infections as well as a redesign of the outdoor sitting area at ward 5C.

Jurgen Zoller died after contracting a fungal infection.

Mr Zoller’s daughter Chloe, who donated bone marrow to her father, told The Courier- Mail she couldn’t understand why the most vulnerable of patients, like those who have had transplants, are not wrapped in a bubble.

“I was told that it was not healthy for a patient’s mental health. That doesn’t make any sense if people are going to die,” she said.

RBWH cancer care services executive director Glen Kennedy reaffirmed the hospital was in no way connected to the outbreak at the Prince Charles, that his unit was not dealing with a cluster, and no patient had an active fungal infection.

Dr Kennedy said the RBWH was one of only a handful of hospitals in Australia and New Zealand internationally accredited—by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy-- to undertake bone marrow transplants in adults.

The unit is also accredited at a national level, with the unit adhering to strict management and reporting protocols.

It’s understood the unit’s post transplant survivability rate at five years after the initial operation was 60 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 55 per cent.

“We are independently assessed by outside bodies for our transplant service, including our protocols, our outcomes, and our various management, including infection control, education, and infection prevention pathways,” Dr Kennedy said.

Dr Kennedy declined to comment specifically on Mr Zoller’s death but confirmed a clinical review had been completed several weeks ago and that no “hospital source” for the fungal infection had been identified.

It’s understood the fungus in Mr Zoller’s case was from the fusarium group of fungi, which is largely present in soil and plants.

Mr Zoller had been a patient at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Picture David Clark

Dr Kennedy stressed bone marrow transplantation and transplantation in Queensland was safe in a bid to quell fears and anxieties among patients amid stories of fungal infection deaths.

“Id really like to put the message out to both our patients coming in for transplant and going through transplant now that their care is safe, and that the best possible care and best possible outcomes and the most up to date evidence is applied to these protocols,” he said.

Shine Lawyers are investigating Jurgen Zoller’s case.

“It seems incongruous that the ward would have such strict health and hygiene protocols in place and yet Jurgen and other patients were urged to spend time outside in an area rife with potentially hazardous soil and plant matter,” Shine Lawyers’ Medical Law Practice Leader Wendy Nixson said.

“Each of these cases has caused immeasurable trauma and pain for the families involved, and it’s clear there needs to be improvements across a number of hospitals.

“Patients and their loved ones are often the first to sense when something is wrong and their concerns need to be heard and taken seriously by health care practitioners. The ward Jurgen was on cares for an incredibly fragile cohort of patients, and I’m at a loss to understand why staff would encourage them to spend time outdoors.”

Mr Zoller’s widow said she was speaking out to help warn vulnerable patients.

“I don’t want Jurgen just to be a number,” Mrs Zoller-Bellette said. “I don’t want anyone else to feel like I’m feeling. Jurgen was a healthy, working man. He wasn’t sick when he went into the RBWH for transplant.

“His low blood count was found in a blood test and it was recommended he have the transplant when he was relatively young and healthy.

“He was to go back to work. My future has been taken away … and everything has changed forever for our family.”

Mr Zoller was admitted to the RBWH in February.

By the first week in April he was dead.

He began deteriorating around March 14 when his toe had swollen and become painful to touch. He began getting open sores on his legs, followed by his chin, face and back of the head. A lesion on his cheek led to his eye getting infected and by March 28 he lost sight in that eye and finally a biopsy was done. Eventually his liver failed.

Dani Zoller-Belletteher with her children Jacob Zoller-Bellette, Jess Zoller-Bellette and Chloe Mander. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

A Metro North Health spokesman said that the HHS expressed its sincere condolences to the family “during what is an unbearably painful time”.

“We can confirm the fungus linked to Mr Zoller is in no way related to the fungus linked to the TPCH patients. Fungi is typically found and contracted in the community and is very uncommonly linked to hospital-acquired infection,” he said.

“RBWH has extensive safety and infection control protocols. Protocols are routinely reviewed and updated to ensure patient safety. The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Cancer Care Unit has had a six-foot glass screen protecting the outdoor veranda area for many years, with plants external to this screen.

“RBWH Cancer Care has been in a redesign process for the veranda for some time to enhance the patient experience.”

Metro North Health has been in contact with the family and invited them to be part of the redesign process.

“All patients are encouraged and educated on infection mitigation strategies as part of infection control and their ongoing care.

“We have not identified a likely source of this rare fungus at RBWH or related cases,” the spokesperson said.