Boeing whistleblower Joshua Dean dead at 45

Joshua Dean, formerly an auditor at Spirit Aerosystems and whistleblower who alleged Spirit had failed to address defects along the Boeing 737 production line, has died Tuesday after a two-week fight with an infection. He was 45 years old.

According to a Facebook post from his mother, he was hospitalized with Influenza B and MRSA that went into pneumonia. His condition quickly deteriorated and he was transferred to a hospital in Oklahoma City.

There he was put on an ECMO machine which pumps blood outside the body and circulates oxygenated blood, taking over the function of the heart and lungs and allowing other organs to heal. He was also undergoing dialysis since his kidneys and liver were not doing well. It was soon discovered after a CT scan that Dean suffered a stroke.