Widow of Man Killed in UES Legionnaires’ Outbreak Plans Lawsuit

As a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak continues to claim lives on the Upper East Side, a widow of a local man killed by the illness on July 17 has announced plans to file a lawsuit over his death.

Ida Goldstein says that her otherwise healthy 88-year-old husband Robert, who notably served in the United States Air Force, abruptly contracted the disease and suffered in the hospital before passing away. She has since hired the lawyer Robert Kattner to determine whether negligence was at fault, which Kattner has indicated he believes is the case.

Building owners are legally required to cleanse their water systems of Legionella bacteria on a regular basis, with a special focus on the heat-venting cooling towers that sit on top of their properties.

On July 21, inspectors announced that 180 buildings located in three ZIP Codes—10028, 10128, and 10075—had tested positive for the bacteria, 33 of which had cooling towers with live (and therefore threatening) bacteria. A total of 82 people have now contracted the disease, with seven still hospitalized. Five people, including Goldstein, have died.

Goldstein and Kattner believe that further research will determine that these regulatory protocols were not followed by a certain property owner, who has not yet been identified, and are preparing to allege that they should be held responsible for Robert Goldstein’s death. A “public nuisance” charge, given that the disease infected public airways, would also be included.

Kattner has also said the lawsuit would allege that poor Legionnaires’ monitoring further resulted in the “negligent infliction of emotional distress” on Ida Goldstein, who appeared devastated by her husband’s untimely passing at a July 21 press conference.

“He worked hard all his life,” Goldstein said of Robert, calling him a “wonderful person” with a “charitable” spirit. She added that the disease had “hit him very hard,” giving him a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Goldstein then described her husband suffering “greatly” at Lenox Hill Hospital; he was reportedly on life support in the ICU for two weeks before passing away. She described the entire ordeal as a “horror story.”

Kattner didn’t rule out suing the city, either, saying that he’d consult with Goldstein and “investigate that possibility.” He noted that a new testing and treatment law authored by the New York City Council, which went into effect in May before the current outbreak ramped up, “clearly didn’t work” in time to save Robert Goldstein’s life.

Ida Goldstein had herself suffered “severe physical and emotional trauma,” Kattner said, “due to forced continuous toxic exposure in this public nuisance corridor.” Goldstein elaborated on this, saying that her daily commutes to visit her husband left her with “no choice” but to breathe in the same “lethal bacteria that was killing my husband.”

“We need accountability, and we need answers so that no other family has to live through this nightmare that I did,” she said. Throughout her remarks, she made a point of displaying a black-and-white portrait of her late life partner, bedecked in a crisp suit and smiling widely.