Second Boeing Whistleblower Dies Unexpectedly

[daisylu]

Not suspicious at all. 


Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems who had flagged safety concerns and alleged misconduct by the aircraft manufacturer, died Tuesday after a sudden and severe infection.



Dean is the second Boeing-linked whistleblower to have died in the last two months as the company has come under heightened scrutiny.



Dean, who was 45 and lived in Wichita, Kan., was in good health before he began to experience trouble breathing about two weeks ago and went to a hospital, according to the Seattle Times, which first reported on his death. Dean’s deterioration from that point, his aunt told the newspaper, was “brutal” and “heartbreaking.”



According to a series of public social media posts by Dean’s family, by April 21, he was in “very critical condition.” Dean tested positive for influenza B and MRSA, a difficult-to-treat bacterial infection, and developed pneumonia. He was intubated and put on dialysis as well as airlifted to another hospital to be put on an ECMO machine, a form of cardiac and respiratory life support. A CT scan showed that he had also suffered a stroke. Doctors were considering amputating his hands and feet, which had turned black from lack of oxygen.




Spirit AeroSystems, a company that was spun out of Boeing in 2005 and currently faces financial woes and an uncertain future, did not respond immediately to TIME’s request for comment but said in a statement cited by other media outlets: “Our thoughts are with Josh Dean’s family. This sudden loss is stunning news here and for his loved ones.”



Dean, who worked at Spirit since 2019 though was briefly laid off during the pandemic before returning in 2021, first raised concerns about improperly drilled bulkhead holes on some 737 Max planes at Spirit’s plant in Wichita in October 2022, according to a shareholder lawsuit that accused Spirit of concealing its production issues.



While Dean had reported the problem to several managers, the complaint alleged, the company hid it from investors for months until it became public knowledge in August 2023, when Boeing and Spirit announced a delay in plane deliveries due to the defect. According to testimonies from employees at Spirit, including Dean, workers had been instructed or pressured by supervisors to downplay the defects they found.



“It is known at Spirit that if you make too much noise and cause too much trouble, you will be moved,” Dean told the Wall Street Journal in January. “It doesn’t mean you completely disregard stuff, but they don’t want you to find everything and write it up.”



Dean was fired by Spirit in April 2023, ostensibly over a separate issue he failed to identify as an internal inspector. Months later, he filed a complaint to the Federal Aviation Administration, alleging that he was made a scapegoat while Spirit did nothing to inform regulators and the public of the concerns he had flagged.



After a high-profile incident in January in which a plug door on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight, Dean’s former colleague Lance Thompson publicly backed Dean’s claims to the Seattle Times, saying that production deadlines were prioritized over safety at Spirit’s Wichita plant and that managers encouraged workers to hide defects. An audit by the FAA into Boeing and Spirit found in March that both companies failed to comply with quality-control requirements.



Dean had filed a complaint with the Department of Labor in November alleging wrongful employment termination by Spirit, a case that remained pending at the time of his death. “I think they were sending out a message to anybody else,” Dean told NPR in February: “If you are too loud, we will silence you.”



Dean’s death comes less than two months after the death of Barnett, another whistleblower who had spent years warning about lax safety standards at Boeing. Barnett was found in his truck with what authorities described as an apparent “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” in Charleston, S.C., on March 9, amid depositions he was giving related to a similar alleged retaliation dispute with Boeing. An investigation remains ongoing.





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[pulmonarymd]

Based on that report, there is nothing suspicious in his death. That was how people with Covid were dying, and people die from those infections every day in US hospitals. We need to be better than people who believe in conspiracy theories

[wvugurl26]

MRSA alone will definitely kill you. It's the chief cause of death on my grandpa's death certificate.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I saw that.  If he was hospitalized for Influenza B, it’s not surprising he picked up MRSA.  Viruses depress immune responses, secondary bacterial infection sets in and that’s even worse than the flu, especially if it’s MRSA.  

I know that when I was in the first hospital for my hip infection, I picked up MRSA there and became a carrier.  I had been tested earlier in the year and was clear.  My 11 days there were enough to pick it up.  Luckily, I wasn’t there with a virally depressed immune system.  

Interesting factoid.  During WWI when troops were being mobilized across the US, measles ran rampant.  However, many (most?) died from a secondary infection of bacterial pneumonia.  The measles virus just depressed their immunity enough that the bacteria could get a good foothold.  I think it killed more than the war.  

I read this The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett while I was hospitalized for my first orthopedic surgery.  Really interesting book, but not the best choice when you are hospitalized with a 12” incision running down your thigh!