In 2024, nurses filed hundreds of safety concerns about two Massachusetts hospitals operated by Dallas-based Tenet Health. Most recently, a union representing these nurses alleged that understaffing caused two preventable patient deaths.
In late September, a patient's dialysis treatment "was cut 30 minutes short so that the only dialysis nurse on-call could emergently dialyze a second unstable patient," according to the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The patient who received limited treatment died, and the other patient went into cardiac arrest and died before receiving treatment, the union said.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association has raised numerous concerns about Worcester-based St. Vincent Hospital and Framingham Union Hospital for years. It said St. Vincent has "an ongoing and dire crisis," according to a complaint first reported by the Boston Globe and shared with Becker's on Dec. 30.
The complaint, dated Dec. 3, was shared with the Joint Commission, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, CMS and KePRO, a beneficiary and family centered care quality improvement organization.
In February 2024, after receiving more than 600 safety and staffing complaints, the Joint Commission found St. Vincent was noncompliant with some CMS conditions during an on-site visit. In March, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said five of the six concerns raised by the unionized nurses were "unsubstantiated."
Other safety concerns listed in the December complaint include "a deliberately punitive management culture," 96 hospital-acquired pressure ulcers from January to August, and unsafe intravenous fluid restrictions during a national shortage.
The complaint also alleges that, in December 2023, a lack of supervision in telemetry care resulted in a patient escaping the floor, jumping from the parking garage, and experiencing serious injuries that led to his death.
Here is the hospital's statement:
"Saint Vincent Hospital remains focused on providing high-quality as well as regionally and nationally recognized healthcare services for our community. We do not condone the MNA's tactics of organizing publicity stunts, spreading false rumors and intimidating our colleagues. The MNA's accusations are disrespectful to the dedicated nurses, physicians and staff at Saint Vincent Hospital who prioritize caring for our patients. There is no doubt that these unfounded attacks are related to upcoming negotiations with the union at Saint Vincent, a tactic that the union uses in connection with contract negotiations with virtually all other systems across the state. We hope the MNA will reconsider its approach, and instead collaborate with us, and other systems facing similar staffing shortages, to increase healthcare access for the communities we serve."