In the same week that University of California, Los Angeles, chemistry professor Patrick Harran was arraigned on charges arising from the death of lab assistant Sheri Sangji, legal action has been taken in the lab-related death of another young research worker. The family of Richard Din, who died in April 2012 at the age of 25 after becoming infected with the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis while handling it at his job as a research associate at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center, has brought a wrongful death suit "in excess of $20 million," reported the San Francisco Examineron 10 May.
An investigation by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) uncovered "three serious violations for failing to protect laboratory workers researching" the bacterium, according to a statement issued in February. "Richard Din died because the VA failed to supervise and protect these workers adequately. … Research hospitals and medical centers have the responsibility as employers to protect workers from exposure to recognized on-the-job hazards such as this," declared OSHA's San Francisco regional administrator Ken Atha in the statement. READ MORE http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2013_05_10/caredit.a1300098