Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1311160
15 PATIENT SAFETY South Carolina hospital fires back at physicians claiming 'abysmal' care By Ayla Ellison P hysicians claiming patient safety issues at Prisma Health's Baptist Hos- pital are motivated by money more than patient care, leaders of the Columbia, S.C.-based system said in early October, according to e State. e health system made the allegations in response to an August court filing by South Carolina OB-GYN Associates that cited "abysmal" care and "astonishing lapses in pa- tient care, cleanliness and unsafe" conditions at Baptist Hospital in Columbia. The legal filing came after Prisma sued the medical group in July for breaking a 10-year lease at the hospital and moving to a rival hospital, Lexington Medical Center in Columbia. "(T)he doctors not only benefited from the sale of their practice to Lexington Medical Center, but their current status as employees of Lexington Medical Center provides the doctors financial stability, less risk and few, if any, administrative tasks that accompany business ownership," Prisma claimed in a court filing, according to the report. Prisma alleged the nine physicians in the medical group were motivated by "personal financial gain" to split with its hospital. "e SC OB-GYN doctors chose to relocate their practice [from] the preeminent labor and delivery hospital in the Midlands to the campus of a lower-ranked competitor hospital for one simple reason — MONEY," Prisma Health said in the court filing, according to the report. e hospital further claimed that it was not informed of several of the complaints cited in the physicians' complaint, and that some of the complaints were exaggerated. n 3 healthcare workers charged in patient death at Colorado nursing home By Gabrielle Masson A nurse and two certified nursing assistants were charged with negligence in relation to a patient death at a Colorado nursing home, according to CBS affiliate KKTV. Police were called Feb. 3 to Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Union Printers Home after the body of 90-year-old Margarita Sam was found on a bench outside. A coroner determined that Ms. Sam had died of hypothermia. The resident had wandered outside in 23- to 30-degree temperatures, police wrote in an Oct. 15 news release cited by KKTV. Nurse Rosalie Warren, 52, was charged with a felony related to negligent death and a class 1 misdemeanor. CNAs Asia Murray, 35, and Taquenis Eldridge, 31, were each charged with neglect of an at-risk person, a class 1 misdemeanor. All three had preliminary court dates scheduled in November. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environ- ment suspended Union Printers' license in February and began transferring residents to other centers. "There have been numerous complaints and subsequent investigations at this facility in the past few years, most nota- bly after a recent resident death," the department said in a statement sent to KKTV Feb. 12. "Findings from those inves- tigations demonstrate that Union Printers does not have the ability to provide consistently safe care to its residents." n Surgeon sues Cincinnati Children's, alleges retaliation for reporting peer's practices By Ayla Ellison A surgeon at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center filed a lawsuit against the hospital Oct. 16 for alleged retaliation, according to The Enquirer. Charles Mehlman, DO, alleged he was targeted by hos- pital leadership after raising concerns about Abubaker Atiq Durrani, MD, who fled to Pakistan in 2013 to avoid federal charges. Dr. Durrani has been sued by hun- dreds of people over alleged medically unnecessary surgeries he performed, according to the report. Dr. Mehlman said he began raising concerns about Dr. Durrani in 2006 but was ignored by hospital leadership. "Defendants were willing to sacrifice patients' lives and limbs at the altar of money," the lawsuit stated, accord- ing to the report. The lawsuit alleged Dr. Durrani's total billing at the hospi- tal grew from $1.5 million in 2005 to $3.6 million in 2008. Dr. Mehlman alleged there have been many instanc- es of retaliation against him since he first began raising concerns about Dr. Durrani. For example, Dr. Mehlman was suspended for 14 days in September, according to the report. Cincinnati Children's told The Enquirer it does not com- ment on pending litigation. n