H1N1 Virus: The First Legal Action Targets a Pig Farm

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By Bryan Walsh

In an initial step toward what could be the first wrongful-death suit of its kind, Texas resident Steven Trunnell has filed a petition against Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, based in Virginia, and the owner of a massive pig farm in Perote, Mexico, near the village of La Gloria, where the earliest cases of the new H1N1 flu were detected. Trunnell filed the petition in his home state on behalf of his late wife, Judy Dominguez Trunnell, the 33-year-old special-education teacher who on May 4 became the first U.S. resident to die of H1N1 flu.

In late April, Dominguez Trunnell, who was eight months pregnant, became ill with what would eventually be confirmed as H1N1 flu. While the vast majority of victims of the virus — there have been more than 4,700 probable and confirmed cases in the U.S. — have recovered without complications, Dominguez Trunnell grew sicker, eventually being placed on a ventilator. Early this month Dominguez Trunnell passed away, weeks after her baby daughter was delivered via cesarean section. "She was a fun and caring person," Trunnell tells TIME. "She didn't deserve this."

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,...1898977,00.html

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By Bryan Walsh

In an initial step toward what could be the first wrongful-death suit of its kind, Texas resident Steven Trunnell has filed a petition against Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, based in Virginia, and the owner of a massive pig farm in Perote, Mexico, near the village of La Gloria, where the earliest cases of the new H1N1 flu were detected. Trunnell filed the petition in his home state on behalf of his late wife, Judy Dominguez Trunnell, the 33-year-old special-education teacher who on May 4 became the first U.S. resident to die of H1N1 flu.

In late April, Dominguez Trunnell, who was eight months pregnant, became ill with what would eventually be confirmed as H1N1 flu. While the vast majority of victims of the virus — there have been more than 4,700 probable and confirmed cases in the U.S. — have recovered without complications, Dominguez Trunnell grew sicker, eventually being placed on a ventilator. Early this month Dominguez Trunnell passed away, weeks after her baby daughter was delivered via cesarean section. "She was a fun and caring person," Trunnell tells TIME. "She didn't deserve this."

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,...1898977,00.html

RIP