PITTSBURGH -- The parents of a baby boy who died of AIDS, the first to have contacted the disease from an infected parent, filed a $44 million suit against a hospital, three doctors and six pharmaceutical firms that manufacture a blood product to treat hemophiliacs.
Dwight Burk was born April 11, 1984, and died 20 months later on Dec. 13, 1985. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said Burk was the first in the nation to have contacted the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome through an infected parent.
In a suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, Patrick and Lauren Burk of Cresson, Pa., claim AIDS came into their family through blood derivatives used to treat Patrick for hemophilia between 1975 and 1984.
Patrick Burk has a full-fledged case of AIDs, and his wife is in the pre-AIDS condition, said Mrs. Burk's mother, Shirley Fish of Lilly.
Mrs. Fish said her daughter and Burk are unable to work because of their condition. She said both collect disability checks.
The suit names as defendants Presbyterian-University Hospital, Drs. Margaret Ragni, Franklin Bontempo and Joe Spero of the Central Blood Bank; Pam Nimowicz, a genetic counselor for the Hemophiliac Center of Western Pennsylvania, an arm of the blood bank; Cutter Biological Laboratories, Alpha Therapeutics Corp., and Hyland Laboratories, all of California; Armour Pharmaceutical Co. of New York; Merieux Institute Inc., and Seralc Corp., both of Florida.
The pharmaceutical firms manufacture Factor VIII, a blood clotting agent made of blood plasma that is used to treat hemophiliacs.
The suit claims doctors failed to diagnosis Patrick Burk's condition until after the birth of his son and failed to warn the Burks about the danger of passing the disease to a child.
The suit also said prior to Dwight's birth, the Burks sought advice, but were never warned that their child might contract AIDS.
