New York: Teacher Sues Brooklyn School

On Monday, teacher Loretta Abraham filed a lawsuit charging that Our Lady of Lourdes School in Brooklyn knowingly allowed dozens of students to become infected with tuberculosis earlier this year. The suit claims that officials opened the school even after they knew it was contaminated with TB bacteria, and that they failed to inform students and parents. Forty-five students and employees at the school tested positive for latent TB, city health officials said. The tests were administered when the Health Department was notified in mid-August that an employee had tested positive for TB. The suit, filed in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, seeks unspecified damages and lists the school, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and school officials as defendants. Abraham eventually tested positive for latent TB, said her attorney, Jonathan Vitarelli. The suit seeks class action status on behalf of all students, workers, volunteers and visitors at the school since September 2001, when Abraham began working there. "We immediately contacted health officials," said Brooklyn diocese spokesperson Frank DeRosa. "From that point on, we followed their protocol," he said. The Health Department said it could not comment on court matters.

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