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>From houstonpress.com
Originally published by Houston Press Mar 14, 2002
�2002 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved.
Flesh-Eating Oysters
He ate seafood with bacteria that ate him. And everybody's shucking the blame.
By George Flynn
The crew at Afton Oaks Barber Shop had a gentleman's agreement with one of their
neighbors along the tiny business strip on Richmond Avenue: The barbers would cut
the hair of employees and selected friends at the Ragin' Cajun restaurant.
And the eatery, owned by noted Cajun Ray Hays, would reciprocate with food for
barbers Melvin Rodney "Mike" Matthews and Robert W. "Buddy" Pullen. The two left
the shop on a Saturday in May 2000 to take in a Ragin' Cajun lunch.
Matthews, a 59-year-old diabetic, loved the poor boys and gumbo. But he opted on
this day for something different: six oysters on the half shell. Soon he wasn't feeling
good.
By the following Monday, Matthews sought care for worsening chills and fever and
swelling of his limbs. Then strange lesions appeared on his skin. Sixteen days and
$350,000 in medical bills later, the comatose man suffered a particularly horrible
death at Hermann Hospital. Lesions had erupted into bulbous blisters, then gaping
holes in his body. Swelling had ballooned Matthews's head to almost the size of a
basketball, and his organs had finally shut down.
Doctors attributed his death to the rare onset of Vibrio vulnificus -- in common terms,
he was killed by rapid, flesh-eating bacteria.
"It is devastating," says one defense attorney, Jim Jones. "The effects of the disease
are horrendous. It literally rots the flesh off your bones. It is one of the most
virulent
pathogens on the planet."
And blame for the death has been spreading almost as fast as the bacteria.
Burgeoning legal briefs are ever expanding with defendants in probate court. "They
are 'Enronizing,' " says the Matthews family's attorney, Ray Putney. "They are
blaming everybody but the people who served up the contaminated oysters."
Matthews, as well as most of the general public, seemed totally unaware of the
ultimate consequences when those with weakened immune systems eat oysters
contaminated with the bacteria.
Oddly, Matthews's only previous exposure to contaminated oysters came six years
earlier. His wife, Jeannine Jones-Matthews, 58, said in a deposition that she downed
raw oysters at a Galveston restaurant and wound up at the University of Texas
Medical Branch for treatment.
After that, she said, they would cook oysters, usually wrapping them around
jalape�os and baking them for "oysters diablo." Matthews, twice divorced, and his
wife of seven years lived for their weekend getaways to his modest bay house in
Galveston. She is a social worker at Hermann Hospital. Matthews also had a 35-
year-old son and 32-year-old daughter.
After his death, investigators traced the supply route for the deadly oysters. They
were originally collected near the southern Louisiana town of Franklin and sold to
Bagala's Quality Oysters Inc. Bagala's resold the batch to Johnny's Oysters and
Shrimp Inc. of San Leon, Texas, which marketed them to Buddy Robbins Seafood
Inc. of Houston. Ray Hays Inc. got the oysters from Robbins. (The restaurant also
has taken over Matthews's former barbershop space.)
None of the experts was surprised that the Vibrio vulnificus turned up in the oysters,
because it's common in Gulf waters, and therefore in the shellfish found there.
Jones, attorney for the Robbins company, explains that the bacteria thrive in the
relatively warm saltwater of late spring and summer.
There is no way to eradicate it in its natural habitat, and the only effective test
for the
bacteria is useless because it destroys the oyster. "If oysters are eaten starting in
May, you can count on some number of the organisms in shellfish," Jones says. "But
the dose that kills one man may not harm another."
The difference is that those with compromised immune systems -- especially people
with chronic liver disease -- have about 200 times the risk of contracting the
potentially lethal disease. Jones says death from that is rare -- about 20 million
people eat oysters, and about 20 from the risk group die annually.
Attorneys and experts agree that most of the public is still under the impression that
bad oysters may cause temporary problems, but not fatal conditions.
Matthews had non-insulin diabetes, controlled by oral medication, and some other
health problems. But apparently he was not aware that his immune system could not
cope with contaminated oysters.
His family and estate sued the restaurant and its suppliers on a variety of grounds:
negligence, deceptive trade practices and product liability. They allege that
precautions could have been taken to avoid offering the tainted oysters.
The suit notes there are pasteurization processes to eradicate bacteria in oysters.
Jones says they are ineffective -- a 76-year-old man died after eating supposedly
treated oysters in mid-2000.
Jones disputes the claims against suppliers. They will rely on the findings of Richard
Thompson, a former 17-year head of the state health department's seafood safety
division, that the shipments were handled according to regulations.
The suppliers and Ray Hays Inc., while expressing sympathy for the family, want to
brand Matthews as an alcoholic, saying his daily intake of three or so drinks
aggravated the liver disease that caused the bacteria to kill him.
They have a nearby liquor store operator, Luke Mandola, ready to testify that the
barber bought two or three gallons of vodka or tequila a week -- although it is
uncertain how much went to entertaining friends at his home and bay house.
"Their basic defense is that it was a defective human -- not a defective oyster,"
scoffs
Putney. "They're trying to peg him as an alkie, blah, blah, blah," he says. "His
behavior doesn't reflect that at all." Matthews never missed work, had no DWIs or
drinking-related record and no other indication of alcoholism, he notes.
The Ragin' Cajun is also wrestling with a defense to not posting the state-mandated
notice of potential oyster problems for those with immune deficiencies. In one of the
more creative ploys, attorneys for the restaurant enlisted the aid of "human factors
expert" Andrew D. Le Cocq of Hurst, in the Dallas area.
The consultant argued that Matthews wouldn't have paid any attention to a sign or
menu notice anyway. Le Cocq said Matthews may not have even looked at a menu
and his "adaptation level" -- his past habit of consuming raw oysters -- would not be
swayed by such a sign. Regardless, the sign itself is vague and ineffective, the
defense consultant said, because there is no "signal word" -- such as "warning" or
"danger" -- to capture anyone's attention.
Putney's response was a motion for Probate Judge Mike Wood to ban Le Cocq's
findings as conclusions outside his realm of expertise.
Strategies in the case get far more complex. Each of the defendants, while saying
the family should get nothing, has filed cross-actions to force the other companies to
pay for any damages. Suppliers say the restaurant should have had the warning
about risks -- the Ragin' Cajun argues that it relied on the suppliers to provide
untainted oysters.
Randy Fairless, attorney for the restaurant, says owners strongly believe they have
done nothing wrong. A Ray Hays Inc. manager says the Ragin' Cajun had no prior
problems with oysters.
"They're trying to stick together," Putney says, "but ultimately my guess is they're
going to have to part ways. They have all sued each other but are still working
together against us."
Trial was scheduled to begin April 1. But then came another twist. Defendants say
they need more time to add another defendant: Matthews's own physician. Dr. Phillip
Johnson III, the defense says, should have been the one to warn his patient about
the dangers of raw oysters.
"Mike Matthews died a horrific death," Putney says. "It is time that they took
responsibility for what happened to him."
End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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