Becker's ASC Review

45 HEALTHCARE NEWS Cyberattack on Alabama hospital linked to 1st alleged ransomware death By Hannah Mitchell A lawsuit is alleging that a 2019 ransomware attack on Mobile, Ala.- based Springhill Medical Center resulted in a baby's death, according to a Sept. 30 report by e Wall Street Journal. In July 2019, the hospital said it was operating without the full function of its computer systems. e facility shut down its network for nearly eight days because of a ransomware attack. Patient records were inaccessible, medical staff were cut off from equipment used to monitor fetal heartbeats, and more. e attack is now allegedly linked to the first hospital death caused by a ransomware attack, if the suit holds up in court. When Teiranni Kidd went to the hospital to deliver her baby, she said she had no idea the hospital was in the middle of a ransomware attack, the Journal reported. Her daughter was born at the hospital with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. e baby suffered severe brain damage due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around her neck and she died nine months later. Katelyn Parnell, MD, attending OB-GYN at the hospital, texted the nurse manager that she would have delivered the baby by cesar- ean section had she seen the monitor readout. "I need u to help me understand why I was not notified," Dr. Parnell said in text mes- sages obtained by the Journal. Dr. Parnell said in another text: "is was preventable." Ms. Kidd is suing the hospital, claiming the ransomware attack prevented Dr. Parnell from learning about the baby's condition, the Journal reported. e suit alleges the ransomware attack disrupted how the nurses could monitor the baby's heart rate at the nurses' station, the Journal reported. e hospital has denied any wrongdoing. Jeffery St. Clair, CEO of the hospital, told the Journal, "We stayed open and our dedicated healthcare workers continued to care for our patients because the patients needed us and we, along with the inde- pendent treating physicians who exercised their privileges at the hospital, concluded it was safe to do so." Dr. Parnell said in court filings she had been aware of the ransomware attack, but she believed it was safe for Ms. Kidd to deliver her baby at the hospital, the Journal reported. e hospital claimed in a motion that any obligation to inform Ms. Kidd about the hack fell on Dr. Parnell, who has not yet responded to that motion. e lawsuit reveals that some employees are claiming they were initially in the dark about the attack, the Journal reported. Computers had notes taped on them saying EHRs were down until further notice. One physician wrote in a message submitted as evidence, "I heard it was ransomware." Amid the attack, a hospital spokesperson told WPMI that no patient information or patient care was affected by the cybersecu- rity incident. n Florida physician in surgery center death illegally performed cosmetic procedure, complaint says By Marcus Robertson C hristopher Walker, MD, founder of Orlando, Fla.- based Beja Body Med Spa, allegedly illegally per- formed cosmetic procedures at his office surgery center in 2020, according to an August complaint filed by the Florida Board of Medicine. While out on bond awaiting sentencing for federal fraud and witness tampering charges stemming from a 2019 lawsuit, Dr. Walker performed a cosmetic procedure on a patient Jan. 15, despite allegedly being unqualified to do the procedure. That night, the patient, 38-year-old Ulesha Ortiz, died of internal bleeding from several abdominal organ and blood vessel punctures. Phone calls placed to Beja Body Med Spa's listed phone number now route to UroGyn Specialists of Florida, ac- cording to the Miami Herald. Dr. Walker is the only provider listed on UroGyn's website. In federal court in December 2019, Dr. Walker was charged with and pleaded guilty to fraud and witness tampering in a transvaginal mesh scheme that took place from June 2013 to March 2016. Transvaginal mesh implants were banned by the FDA in 2019 after problems with the devices led to lawsuits against manufacturers. The charges against Dr. Walker were that he found women who might need TVM removal surgery, implied that they couldn't use their own doctors and lied to them about the ability of their health insurance to cover the procedures. "Certain [agreements] ... included provisions in which the women agreed to repay the costs of the removal surgery plus interest, which accrued at exorbitant rates, if the wom- en ultimately received a settlement or favorable judgment against the mesh manufacturer," the indictment claimed. "In certain funding arrangements, the victims were responsible for the medical bills associated with the removal surgeries even if they did not receive a settlement." Dr. Walker is set to be sentenced Jan. 22, 2022, for the TVM scheme, which could put him in prison for up to 10 years. He faces a separate lawsuit filed by Daniel Ortiz, Ms. Ortiz's surviving husband, over her death. n

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