[pickledpepperRN]

Posted on Tue, Apr. 11, 2006
Lawsuit: Wesley has too few RN's
BY RON SYLVESTER
The Wichita Eagle

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/14313755.htm

A lawyer representing the widow of a Wesley Medical Center patient filed a federal lawsuit Monday, claiming the hospital's parent company, HCA, deliberately understaffs registered nurses in its Wichita hospital and 181 others…

…None of the lawsuits, however, including the one filed Monday, criticize the skill of nurses at Wesley.
Rather, the cases have contended that Wesley, and now HCA, staffs in such low numbers that it stretches nurses past the limits of their capabilities….
…The lawsuit also seeks to include millions of patients at HCA's other hospitals since 1996.
Read the complete lawsuit - http://www.kansas.com/multimedia/kan...6spireshca.pdf

[HARRN2b]

Is HCA the company owned by republican Bill Frist and family? I am not sure.

[Angie O'Plasty, RN]

The next day, Spires died in the critical care unit, and his body wasn't discovered for an hour. A doctor passing by on an unrelated issue alerted the staff.

Unbelievable! How I feel for that poor family!

[traumaprincess]

It is very sad for the family. But it is wonderful that a hospital organization may be held responsible for understaffing, rather than everything being on the nurses shoulders. Wow!

[pickledpepperRN]

The lawsuit is 22 pages:
http://www.kansas.com/multimedia/kan...6spireshca.pdf

Page 3 - "HCA is a public compant founded by the current United States Senator Bill Frist's father, Doctor Thomas Frist Sr. and his brother Dr. Thomas Frist Jr. Dr Thomas, Frist Jr. currently has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion. Bill Frist recently divested himself of any interest in HCA: a transaction under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Page 5 - "Despite the chilling dangers that understaffing can cause, the defendant has simply placed "The Dollar" over safety.
The defendants patient to RN ratio is sometimes equal to 12:1"

[pickledpepperRN]

Modern Healthcare:

Class action accuses HCA of staffing too few nurses
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/stor...5020&archive=N

HCA, Nashville, faces a federal class-action lawsuit seeking $12.25 billion in damages to compensate victims of what the lawsuit alleges is the company's systematic understaffing of its hospitals since 1996. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kan., on behalf of all patients at HCA hospitals since 1996. The lead plaintiff is the widow of a man who died at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita after an operation in April 2004....

[Judee Smudee]

Nurses here at allnurses have been sounding the alarm over bad staff for years. Yes it does kill and John Q public is starting to catch on to the situation.

[Geeg]

It's about time John Q. Public woke up. They will complain vehemently and even stop going to a restaurant, for example, when there aren't enough waitresses, but the thought doesn't cross their minds that a hospital doesn't have enough staff. Please, don't go crazy about the example. I am not comparing nurses to waitresses.

[ocankhe]

Not sure if it is JQP that is catching on but rather the trial lawyers. This is not the first time a hospital was sued over short staffing. However I believe its the largest. Both HCA and Tenet judging from the posts on this site have had staffing issues in the past.

[ICURN_NC]

On page 4 of the lawsuit, it states that the understaffing of RN's "harms no one but the patient." However, I think it really harms the nurses, nurse's aids, phlebotomy, etc- anyone involved in pt care- as well as the pt.

My heart really goes out to that family and all the nurses who have to work like this.

(As a side note, how do you die in "critical care" and not be noticed for an hour? I always thought critical care=cardiac monitor.)