TB Victim, Family File Claims Against Schools, County : Health: They allege negligence in officials’ handling of disease outbreak at Garden Grove district’s La Quinta High. The action could be a first step toward litigation.

A student who lost part of a lung to tuberculosis and her family have filed claims against the Garden Grove Unified School District and the county for alleged negligence in their handling of a TB outbreak at La Quinta High School.

Debi French and her father, mother and older sister are seeking unspecified damages from the two agencies for injuries they claim to have suffered. While 18-year-old Debi was the only one to contract the disease, other family members tested positive in October for the TB bacteria and were given drugs to reduce the possibility that they might become ill in the future.

The four separate claims, which could be the first steps toward litigation, contend that “these agencies failed and refused to take any affirmative steps to inform students, parents and the local community” about a TB outbreak at La Quinta after it was discovered last year.

The claims refer to a report by investigators from the Centers for Disease Control, which concluded that county health officials could have prevented the outbreak by more aggressively monitoring the treatment of the first La Quinta student in whom tuberculosis was diagnosed. The report also faulted the student’s private physician for initially misdiagnosing her illness.

Officials of the Orange County Health Care Agency and Garden Grove Unified School District refused to comment on the claims, which were filed last Thursday.

French family members acknowledge in the filings that they missed separate legal deadlines to file the claims. The family contends that the filings were delayed by Debi French’s illness and late recognition that she caught the disease from the first La Quinta student in whom it was diagnosed, back in 1991.

Dennis Bunker, the county’s claims manager, said the county will decide within two weeks whether to waive the deadline. If the county refuses, he said, the French family could appeal to a court to exempt them from the deadline.

“Eventually we will look into the validity of the claim,” Bunker said. “That usually takes 30 to 45 days. If we deny the claim, they have six months to file a lawsuit.”

When the TB outbreak peaked at La Quinta last year, the disease had been diagnosed in 17 students. Officials believe the disease developed by 12 of those students can be traced to the female student who was initially misdiagnosed in 1991. She is believed to have been contagious for two years.

The girl has developed a drug-resistant and contagious strain of the disease.

French, who was originally diagnosed with the disease in June, 1993, but responded well to medication, experienced a relapse sometime between December, 1993, and February of this year. When first-line medications failed to cure her, she went to the National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine in Denver for specialized care.

In May, French had a third of her lung surgically removed to combat the disease. She said Wednesday that she feels fine and hopes to make up lost classes at La Quinta next fall.

During schoolwide testing last September, 175 other staff and students at La Quinta tested positive for the TB bacteria, 10 of whom were found to have the disease. In the wake of French’s relapse, county officials initiated a new round of testing at La Quinta and since February have turned up as many as 126 more students and staff who have tested positive for the bacteria that causes the disease.

County, state and federal investigators are in the process of determining which of these infections can be traced to French or other former TB carriers at the school.