Patient deaths, government investigations and a new lawsuit. What's happening at Saint Vincent Hospital?

Boston Globe

a day ago

Advertisement
Yet, at the time of the podcast, what LeBlanc didn't know was that an investigation by federal and state health care agencies had essentially confirmed that staff shortages were seriously affecting the quality of care.
Now, LeBlanc has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Saint Vincent in Worcester Superior Court, alleging she was wrongfully fired for speaking out. And, she cited the government investigations in her lawsuit to bolster her contentions about conditions at the hospital.
Just days before LeBlanc appeared on the podcast, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified the hospital that inadequate
nurse staffing was putting patients at serious risk of harm. The federal agency found lapses in care affected five patients, three of whom died, according to public records.
'Tenet had a choice at that time with Carla,' said Marlena Pellegrino, a Massachusetts Nurses Association representative and nurse at Saint Vincent for more than 30 years. 'They made the wrong choice. They made a really bad choice. They showed exactly who they are.'
Advertisement
The hospital and its parent company declined to comment.
The lawsuit is but one of a number of battles over staffing that nurses at Saint Vincent have been waging with hospital management and the corporate owner, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare. Eight other nurses alleged staffing levels were dangerously low in a similar whistleblower suit against Saint Vincent and Tenet in early 2024. That case is still pending.
And, in 2021, the hospital was the target of
In 2021, Saint Vincent Hospital was the target of the longest nurses strike in state history.
Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff
Saint Vincent had 333 beds and reported 15,151 inpatient discharges and $417.5 million in operating revenue in fiscal 2023,
The Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents about 600 nurses at Saint Vincent, estimates there are about 160 nurse vacancies at the hospital.
In December, the union filed its sixth complaint with state and federal officials,
A hospital spokesman at the time denied
those claims and called them a 'false narrative.'
Massachusetts health officials launched an investigation in January, selecting a sample of 21 patients. Investigators
interviewed staff and reviewed medical records going back several months.
Investigators found that in September, a patient did not receive potentially life-sustaining continuous dialysis treatment her doctor had ordered.
The patient, who was intubated, sedated, and critically ill in the ICU,
eventually received a different type of dialysis treatment, but it had to be stopped while nurses responded to an emergency, and the patient later died. Doctors and nurses said they were unable to administer the continuous dialysis treatment because not enough nurses were working that night, according to federal records.
Advertisement
Another death occurred in October, according to records. Investigators found the heart rate and rhythm of a 91-year-old woman
was not monitored, as ordered, during a transfer between the emergency department and the telemetry unit, where patients are continuously monitored for vital signs.
The woman, who was under do-not-resuscitate or intubate orders, experienced decreased respirations and a low heart rate for an unknown period of time because of the lack of monitoring.
She died within hours of the transfer.
In an incident in December, investigators found that a very sick patient's heart rate and rhythm were not continuously monitored by staff as ordered because not enough nurses were working.
The patient, an 84-year-old Charlton resident, was later discovered to have a heart rate under 40 beats per minute — far below the normal range of 60 to 100 — and his blood pressure was too low to be recorded. He died about two hours later.
Weeks later, records show, another patient was not monitored as ordered and was later discovered to have low oxygen levels and a heart rate of about 150 beats per minute. The investigators tied this incident to understaffing as well.
Also in December, according to investigators, a patient suffered bedsores because too few nurses were working to reposition bedridden patients and check them for wounds in a timely manner.
Advertisement
A sign advertising career opportunities at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester late last year.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Such injuries shouldn't occur in an adequately staffed hospital, health care experts say. Studies support the link between staffing levels and the frequency of bedsores in hospitals.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified the hospital on Feb. 4 the deficiencies in staffing and care had led to a finding of 'immediate jeopardy,' a designation reserved for situations that put patients at risk of serious injury or death.
Such a finding puts a facility on track to lose Medicare and Medicaid funding unless the deficiencies are quickly addressed.
At Saint Vincent, Medicare and Medicaid account for almost 70 percent of revenue from patient services,
The threat of losing those funds was removed Feb. 12, when the state approved the hospital's detailed report of the changes it had made and planned to make.
At the same time, Saint Vincent underwent a leadership shakeup: both chief executive Carolyn Jackson and chief nursing officer Denise Kvapil
In unannounced follow-up visit
in March, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health found the deficiencies had been corrected, according to the records.
But nurses say they haven't seen meaningful change. In a new complaint filed in May, the union alleged that low staffing levels resulted in delayed care, patients not being monitored as required, and falls that were preventable. The complaint listed
multiple heart monitoring issues and occasions in which bonuses were not offered as promised by the hospital to incentivize nurses to take extra shifts, among other allegations.
DPH surveyors returned to the hospital for another investigation in June, which a DPH spokesperson confirmed is ongoing. The spokesperson said the investigation began after DPH received a complaint, but declined to comment further.
Advertisement
LeBlanc also declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. She remains a regional director at the nurses' union and works at another hospital, which she declined to disclose, according to the union.
A view of Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Stella Tannenbaum can be reached at