Oil and gas refineries and chemical plants are scattered across the Texas Gulf Coast, the nation’s petrochemical corridor. These structures are a big source of revenue for industry companies, but they have also been a source of danger, chronic health problems, and constant worry for the people who live near them.

A woman in Port Arthur told the Associated Press that she has developed respiratory problems since moving to the area in 2017, and blames the emissions for her son’s asthma flare-ups. Another woman says the polluted air is responsible for the asthma-related pneumonia that killed her son at 27 and for giving her and her 4-year-old granddaughter asthma.

It is mostly African Americans and Latinos who live close to the refineries and chemical plants, and those groups also seem to be affected by emissions of pollutants the most. In 2017, a study found that black children in Houston had asthma at almost twice the frequency as white children.

Activist Hilton Kelley recalls growing up in the area, “always hearing about someone dying of cancer, always smelling smells, watching babies using nebulizers.”

Protections of public health and the environment have been rolled back

Federal regulations have been in place to restrict pollutants and other health threats and require companies in the industry to monitor hazardous emissions. Still, the Trump administration has actively tried to weaken them.

“Under President Donald Trump, federal regulatory changes are slashing requirements on industry to monitor, report and reduce toxic pollutants, heavy metals and climate-damaging fossil fuel emissions, and to work transparently with communities to prevent plant disasters — such as the half-dozen major chemical fires and explosions that have killed workers and disrupted life along the Texas Gulf Coast over the past year alone,” the AP article noted.

Those explosions include an explosion and fire at Intercontinental Terminals Co.’s Deer Park facility in March 2019 that billowed black smoke into the air for days. In July 2019, there was an explosion at an ExxonMobil plant in Baytown. And in November 2019, there were two explosions and a fire at the Port Neches chemical plant in Houston.

These and other fires and explosions in the area sent petrochemicals, such as xylene and benzene, into the air. Both are known carcinogens, and residents reported feeling nauseous during the incidents.
The most recent assessment from the EPA, released in 2014, found residents of predominantly minority Houston neighborhoods faced at least three times the cancer risks of Americans overall.

Take steps to protect your rights

These incidents and concerns do not seem to have altered the Trump Administration’s approach. On March 26th, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a temporary waiver of enforcement of legally mandated public health and environmental protections during the coronavirus pandemic. It is unclear how long that is to remain in effect.

Community activists have led their neighborhoods, setting up air monitors to measure refinery and plant emissions.

“We have to defend ourselves,” Juan Flores of Manchester told the AP. “Because the federal government isn’t going to do it.”

You must talk to a lawyer to protect your rights if you or a loved one was injured due to a fire, explosion, or leak from an oil or gas refinery or chemical plant. The Texas attorneys at Tracey Fox King & Walters have the experience and industry knowledge you need to pursue legal action. Contact us to schedule a free consultation.

A Houston medical malpractice attorney responds to the recent news investigation

HOUSTON – The survival rate among heart transplant recipients at Houston’s Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center is below the national average, according to a recent in-depth news investigation. The investigation also highlights several disturbing cases which never should have happened and raise concerns about possible medical malpractice at the legendary hospital revered for its pioneering heart transplant research.

The Houston Chronicle and ProPublica conducted the in-depth investigation of Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center’s heart transplant program. According to their investigation, St. Luke’s heart transplant survival rate for patients who lived at least one year and received a transplanted heart between the summer of 2014 and the end of 2016 was 85 percent. The national survival rate during the same period was 91.4 percent. In other words, nearly twice as many St. Luke’s patients died compared to the national average.

Another notable statistic: hospital stays for heart transplant patients at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center were significantly longer compared to other hospitals nationwide, “a sign of slow recovery or possible complications,” the news article notes. The average hospital stay at St. Luke’s was 27 days, compared to 16 days nationally.

As a result, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services threatened in January to cut off Medicare funding to the hospital starting this August due to “its significantly worse-than-expected outcomes,” ProPublica and the Houston Chronicle reported. The program has since submitted a correction plan and avoided losing federal funds. But concerns remain.

Legacy tarnished

Baylor St. Luke’s Hospital has a history of performing groundbreaking heart transplant surgeries. The first successful heart transplant in the United States was performed in the hospital in 1968 by Dr. Denton Cooley, according to his obituary in The New York Times in 2016. Cooley also performed the first artificial heart transplant at Baylor St. Luke’s Hospital in 1969.

Baylor St. Luke’s Hospital was also where another groundbreaking heart surgeon, Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, worked for decades. Dr. DeBakey performed some of the first successful heart transplant surgeries, according to his obituary in The New York Times in 2008.

Decades later, recent problems at Baylor St. Luke’s Hospital prompted some hospital officials to steer patients towards other hospitals, according to the ProPublica, Houston Chronicle article. “I told a couple of the patients [whom] I just loved that, ‘I want you to go to other institutions. I don’t feel good about our program.’ That’s true. And that’s a terrible thing,” said Dr. Deborah Meyers, the medical director of the heart failure program at St. Luke’s until early 2017.

Alarming injuries

Many of the concerns raised by patients and their families interviewed for the ProPublica, Houston Chronicle article focus on heart surgeries performed by lead surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Morgan. The in-depth article in particular begins with an anonymous letter sent in March 2017 to Judy Kveton, whose husband died due to a failed heart transplant two months earlier.

The anonymous letter stated that despite Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center’s storied history when it comes to heart transplants, the program now has “some of the worst heart transplant outcomes in the country.” The article stated that “other physicians had specifically voiced concerns about Morgan,” according to the anonymous letter.

The article also details other complaints by other family members of people who died or experienced severe medical problems as a result of heart surgeries performed by Morgan. These include Lazerick Eskridge, who underwent a heart transplant in 2017, suffered kidney failure and multiple infections and lost 70 pounds in three months in the hospital. Another doctor told the Eskridges that Lazerick’s medical problems may be due to mistakes made by Morgan in the operating room, including stitching up a major vein connected to the heart, “effectively pinching the vessel shut and causing blood to back up in Lazerick’s head.”

Demanding justice

Patients enter medical facilities, particularly well-known facilities such as St. Luke’s, expecting high-quality care. While positive outcomes can never be guaranteed, especially in the case of complex, high-risk procedures such as heart surgery, doctors are expected to follow established medical standards of care when performing those procedures.

That’s why it’s critical for patients and their families who suspect medical negligence to contact an experienced attorney, who can conduct a thorough, independent investigation to determine whether their rights were violated and, if so, hold the hospital accountable.

Sean Tracey the is managing partner at Tracey & Fox, a Texas law firm that handles cases involving medical malpractice and serious injuries.