Bridge Magazine just won its second straight “Newspaper of the Year” award. Dogged reporting like that shown in uncovering some mysterious pneumonia deaths near Flint is one reason why.
Pneumonia was blamed for 177 deaths over two years. Experts say Legionnaires’ was likely the culprit in some of the deaths, but patients were never tested. The county is now requiring such testing.
Bertie Marble’s death certificate points to pneumonia. But an attorney for her family, and her own medical records, raise questions about whether she was an uncounted victim of Legionnaires’ disease. Experts say toll may be far larger.
Bertie Marble’s 2015 death coincided with a trio of emergencies in Genesee County: the Flint water crisis, an increase in pneumonia and flu deaths, and a deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak