The trial concerning the death of Stephen Nolte, a 71-year-old Navy veteran, is currently taking place in Wyandotte County District Court. Nolte underwent an aortic valve replacement on March 6, 2019, at The University of Kansas Hospital, where he later contracted a Mycobacterium chimaera infection from a contaminated heater-cooler device, according to his family. He passed away on July 8, 2020. The University of Kansas Hospital Authority reached a confidential settlement prior to the trial, denying any liability. The medical device manufacturer, LivaNova USA Inc., contends that the hospital staff did not properly disinfect the devices as per the manufacturer's instructions. Nolte's case is among more than two dozen lawsuits filed in the district, with eleven patients having died from similar infections. During the trial, Nolte's wife, Christine, testified about a warning letter regarding the infection that arrived in April 2020, stating that doctors initially dismissed the infection's role in her husband's decline. LivaNova's expert witness, Dr. Edward Dominguez, testified that Nolte had multiple underlying health conditions and did not believe the infection contributed to his death, although he admitted to never having treated a patient with disseminated M. chimaera.