State sends monitors to Good Sam, Morton, Saint Anne's amid reports of dangerous conditions

BOSTON — Public health officials, alarmed by staffing and supply shortages at financially troubled Steward Health Care hospitals, have sent monitors to Good Samaritan Medical Center and plan to dispatch them to Morton Hospital this week and Saint Anne's next week.

Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Robert H. Goldstein announced Wednesday that Department of Public Health watchers have been at Good Sam, Brockton's only remaining trauma center, for two weeks.

"This is a situation that is enormously challenging and unsustainable," Goldstein said.

'Dangerous conditions' in Good Sam ER

Inspection records for Good Sam document failures such as not having enough nurses to meet the needs of patients.

One such "statement of deficiency" documents that in October 2022 an elderly patient with a history of strokes was left in the emergency department for 17 hours despite showing symptoms of a possible stroke and loss of vision in one eye. Hospital administrators told inspectors that nursing staff in the emergency room had called in sick in protest after filing 15 reports of unsafe staffing levels in the four months before the incident.

"The Hospital provided no effective plan to resolve the Emergency Departments nursing staffs," the inspectors concluded, putting aside whether the staffing issues were "perceived or invalid."

Inspectors also faulted the hospital for a Nov. 9, 2022 incident in which a patient had been shot. The emergency department didn't have the correct-sized chest tube, the right kind of catheter or enough intravenous pumps to deliver blood-pressure medications.

According to the Boston Globe, inspectors also faulted Good Sam for the September 2023 death of a woman who came to the ED with chest pains, only to be told it was just anxiety. She died.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association has in the past detailed other examples of what they said were "dangerous conditions" at Good Sam.

Good Sam nurses sound alarm Good Sam ER 'dangerously overcrowded' despite Medicare investigation, nurses say

Morton Hospital in Taunton had 3 deficiencies

Inspection records from 2017 to 2023 show Taunton's Morton Hospital having three incidents where it failed patients: not completing a "fall risk" assessment, not using proper procedure in applying restraints and to make sure that suicidal patients stay closely monitored. None cited staffing or supply shortages, however.

Saint Anne's in Fall River had 5 deficiencies

At Steward's hospital in Fall River, Saint Anne's, inspectors found five "statements of deficiencies" but none involved staffing or supply shortages. Rather, they focus on improvements such as to phone systems and keeping track of insulin bottles.

State sending monitors to all 9 Steward hospitals

The Department of Public Health plans to send monitors to all nine Steward hospitals in Massachusetts by the end of next week. They are already in place at Good Sam, St. Elizabeth's in Brighton, Holy Family in Haverhill and Holy Family in Methuen. Carney in Dorchester and Morton in Taunton are to be added this week. The remaining three, including Saint Anne's, will get them next week.

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Governor frustrated with 'what Steward has done'

Gov. Maura Healey spoke directly to public health council at their monthly meeting Wednesday, Sept. 13. The first-term Democrat said the uncertainty is an urgent priority for her and her administration.

"I am frustrated with where we are as a state and what Steward has done," said Healey, who added that her administration has been in direct talks with Steward leaders.

Who is Steward Health Care?

Steward, a for-profit network based in Dallas, operates nine Bay State hospitals. Steward employs about 16,000 people in Massachusetts and is among the top taxpayers in cities where it operates, including Brockton and Taunton.

"We're approaching a public health emergency," said Dr. Edward Bernstein, a professor of emergency medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. "There's this major question of private equity companies and their place in health care."

The public health council member pointed to a recent study that found that patients in hospitals owned by private equity firms suffered 25% more "hospital-acquired adverse events" like falls or getting a blood infection.

Health center steps into the gap

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, an independent nonprofit, has expanded its services in the wake of the fire that closed Brockton Hospital and the increased pressure on Good Sam. The main clinic downtown opened its own pharmacy last year and plans to open an expanded lab on Monday. The new lab will allow more people to get their blood drawn. The health center is revamping its fifth floor, moving out administrative staff to make more room to see patients.

“Brockton Neighborhood Health Center will remain committed to providing as much healthcare access to the Brockton community at large, as we possibly can,” Deputy CEO Maria Celli said in a Wednesday statement. “Our teams have been instituting creative strategies to maximize our healthcare access internally, while also leveraging partnerships with other healthcare systems to ensure that patients access healthcare in a timely manner."

Cellia said the health center is looking forward to Brockton Hospital's expected reopening in June.

"This has shown that Brockton needs two hospitals," she said.

Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on X at @HelmsNews.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: State sends monitors to Good Sam, Morton and Saint Anne's