NYC Legionnaires outbreak may have killed up to 20, or nearly three times official count: lawyers

Up to 20 people — or nearly three times the official count — may have died in the city’s latest Legionnaires outbreak because of misdiagnoses, according to the lawyer for four fatal victims who filed notices of claims over the mess Tuesday.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and lawyer Ben Crump, who now represent a total of 35 surviving victims and the families of those who die in the Harlem saga, said many of those stricken were told by doctors they were suffering from pneumonia, not Legionnaires.

“This outbreak has claimed lives, and we believe deaths are being undercounted,” said Crump, claiming as many as 20 people may have died from the disease, or greatly more than the official seven noted by the state.

“They continue to come up with ways to try to sweep it under the rug,” he said of officials.

Many victims were allegedly denied proper diagnostic testing, despite showing clear symptoms.

“If they can get away with it here, they can get away with it elsewhere,” Sharpton said. “How many people did they not test for Legionnaires’ disease that could have been saved?”

Nearly 20 people have now filed notices of claims against the city totaling a potential $210 million lawsuit liability because of the outbreaks at four construction sites owned by Gotham’s government, lawyeres said.  

At least four wrongful-death suits are in the works against the city, too. Crump said he expects more.

One of those four deaths was dad and husband Bruce Scott, whose loss has been “devastating” for his wife Lakisha Plowden and their 6-year-old daughter, Brooke, who loved spending time with her dad, the family said.

“He walked out the door into the ambulance — and never came back,” Plowden said of her husband.

“The next thing I knew, I’m looking at him with a tube down his throat.

“He was a good man,” Plowden said. “He was a great dad.” 

The city took a month to tell her that her husband actually died of Legionnaires’ — after doctors and his death certificate blamed pneumonia. 

“She needs justice,” Plowden said of her child. “My daughter needs to understand why her dad is not here.”

Nikia Bryant lost her aunt Rachel Tew, 80, in early August, but it took the city a week to inform her the death was from Legionnaires.

Gloria Cooley said her mom, June, suffered for two weeks in a hospital room before doctors agreed to test for Legionnaires.

“I had to fight and fight and fight to get my mom tested,” Cooley said, battling doctors insisting it was pneumonia.

“They were looking at me, dismissing me,” Cooley said, “but I was persistent, because I said something ain’t right.” 

As of Tuesday, a third lawsuit has been filed against the contractor for the city projects, Skanska USA, by a worker who says he got ill while working at the New York City Public Health Laboratory site adjacent to Harlem Hospital.

Lawyer Jarred Scotto said the city and its contractor failed to check and maintain its cooling towers and that Skanska failed to register a newly installed tower at Harlem Hospital.

Since it was allegedly never registered, the city never inspected it, allowing the disease to flourish.

“Legionellas is a predictable and foreseeable harm if those cooling towers aren’t tested and cleaned on a regular basis,” Scotto said. “We really want to know what else wasn’t done.”

A Skanska rep siad, “Our hearts go out to all the families who have been impacted in this recent Legionnaires outbreak.”

The representative declined to comment further on pending litigation.

Sharpton also called on the mayoral candidates to take the issue seriously and to make it part of their campaign.

“They all come here asking for support,” Sharpton said. “I’m asking for support for these families.”