Scammer
Banned
[video]http://www.wisn.com/r/25638319/detail.html[/video]
MILWAUKEE -- A Milwaukee hospital is accused of cost cutting that resulted in an increase in invasive infections.
Five women, who have sued Columbia St. Mary's, got sick after undergoing surgery in 2007 and 2008. They claim the hospital cut its infection control staff while building its new $400 million hospital overlooking Lake Michigan, and they paid the price.
A wheelchair is Joan Sinclair's seat of choice. She said she hasn't been able to sit on her sofa for two years.
"It's too low, I can't get out of it," Sinclair said.
Sinclair is disabled after a 2008 hip replacement nearly killed her.
"My kidneys failed. I also had heart problems, and I was on oxygen," Sinclair said.
Sinclair was a social worker for Columbia St. Mary's. Doctors told her she had a staph infection.
"Did you ever think you'd get sick at the hospital?" 12 News reporter Colleen Henry asked.
"No," Sinclair said.
Sinclair is one of five women suing Columbia-St. Mary's after contracting invasive infections during surgery at the Columbia campus. Invasive staph infections, including the super bug MRSA, plague hospitals because they're immune to most common antibiotics.
Historically, hospital infection lawsuits have been tough to win, but the plaintiffs have an unusual ally on their side.
"What can you tell us about these lawsuits?" Henry asks Dr. James Stoll, an orthopedic surgeon who worked at Columbia St. Mary's for more than 20 years.
"Unfortunately, I am under a judicial order not to speak about these events," Stoll said. "You'll just have to work through the public records."
The public records include a letter in which Columbia St. Mary's threatens to sue Stoll because he warned a patient about high infection rates at Columbia. It reads: "Those who are aware of health care services review information are obligated to keep it confidential and not disclose it to anyone."
In court records, Stoll said (Columbia) the hospital faced lawsuits over infections back in the 1990s, too, and stepped up infection control. But in 2004, Columbia St. Mary's began its $400 million lakefront development, and, "undertook a cost cutting program that resulted in the elimination of full time employees" in the infection control department.
"This is about patient safety," said Jeanine Thomas of the MRSA Survivors Network.
Thomas founded the MRSA Survivors Network.
"There is that culture within hospitals to bury your mistakes," Thomas said.
After a failed attempt to change federal legislation, Thomas is now fighting to change state laws. Her home state of Illinois was the first to require hospitals to screen and report MRSA rates.
"You can find out from your state health department what restaurants have had breakouts of E. coli. Why can't you find out how many infections your hospital has had?" Thomas asked.
Columbia St. Mary's told 12 News that patient privacy laws prevent it from commenting on the lawsuits. But its infection control director wrote:
"There is not a hospital in this country that can claim it has not had hospital acquired infections. People come to hospitals because they are ill. In some cases, that puts them at a higher risk for infection...We adhere to all national standards for infection control."
Administrators at Columbia St. Mary's refused to release the hospitals' infection rates to 12 News, and its lawyers convinced judges handling the lawsuits to keep them secret.
"Because they're not reported doesn't mean that good efforts to prevent them aren't going on," said Gwen Borlaug of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Wisconsin's infection control expert said there's no evidence that publicizing infection rates reduces infections.
"But if everybody is required to report, everybody is going to be under the same pressure to have a low infection rate?" Henry asked.
"We don't want to tie up resources in simply reporting when it's not an issue in a particular hospital," Borlaug said.
"It's been a nightmare for the last two years," Sinclair said.
Sinclair believes it's time to tell the public about the infections inside their hospitals. Hers left her disabled and unemployed. She said Columbia St. Mary's fired her when she couldn't return to work after three months.
"The fact that I was let go after I could not return because I had an infection that they gave me," Sinclair said.
WISN 12 News has repeatedly asked Columbia St. Mary's to talk on camera about the lawsuits. The hospital declined until it saw promotions on television for the story.
That prompted a response from Leo Brideau, the hospital's president:
"In no way has there been any cost cutting that has impacted patient care at Columbia St. Mary's. Any inference to the contrary is completely erroneous and unfounded."
The lawsuits are still working their way through court, so there have been no legal findings yet as to the cause of the women's infections.
WISN 12 News asked all the major Milwaukee-area hospital groups for their infection rates. They all declined to release them. They referred questions to their lobbying organization.
The Wisconsin Hospital Association said there's no standardized method for hospitals to measure tally those infections, so releasing individual rates could mislead the public.
Columbia Hospital will close by the end of this year. That's part of Columbia St. Mary's plan to merge its two east-side campuses at its new lakefront facility.
MILWAUKEE -- A Milwaukee hospital is accused of cost cutting that resulted in an increase in invasive infections.
Five women, who have sued Columbia St. Mary's, got sick after undergoing surgery in 2007 and 2008. They claim the hospital cut its infection control staff while building its new $400 million hospital overlooking Lake Michigan, and they paid the price.
A wheelchair is Joan Sinclair's seat of choice. She said she hasn't been able to sit on her sofa for two years.
"It's too low, I can't get out of it," Sinclair said.
Sinclair is disabled after a 2008 hip replacement nearly killed her.
"My kidneys failed. I also had heart problems, and I was on oxygen," Sinclair said.
Sinclair was a social worker for Columbia St. Mary's. Doctors told her she had a staph infection.
"Did you ever think you'd get sick at the hospital?" 12 News reporter Colleen Henry asked.
"No," Sinclair said.
Sinclair is one of five women suing Columbia-St. Mary's after contracting invasive infections during surgery at the Columbia campus. Invasive staph infections, including the super bug MRSA, plague hospitals because they're immune to most common antibiotics.
Historically, hospital infection lawsuits have been tough to win, but the plaintiffs have an unusual ally on their side.
"What can you tell us about these lawsuits?" Henry asks Dr. James Stoll, an orthopedic surgeon who worked at Columbia St. Mary's for more than 20 years.
"Unfortunately, I am under a judicial order not to speak about these events," Stoll said. "You'll just have to work through the public records."
The public records include a letter in which Columbia St. Mary's threatens to sue Stoll because he warned a patient about high infection rates at Columbia. It reads: "Those who are aware of health care services review information are obligated to keep it confidential and not disclose it to anyone."
In court records, Stoll said (Columbia) the hospital faced lawsuits over infections back in the 1990s, too, and stepped up infection control. But in 2004, Columbia St. Mary's began its $400 million lakefront development, and, "undertook a cost cutting program that resulted in the elimination of full time employees" in the infection control department.
"This is about patient safety," said Jeanine Thomas of the MRSA Survivors Network.
Thomas founded the MRSA Survivors Network.
"There is that culture within hospitals to bury your mistakes," Thomas said.
After a failed attempt to change federal legislation, Thomas is now fighting to change state laws. Her home state of Illinois was the first to require hospitals to screen and report MRSA rates.
"You can find out from your state health department what restaurants have had breakouts of E. coli. Why can't you find out how many infections your hospital has had?" Thomas asked.
Columbia St. Mary's told 12 News that patient privacy laws prevent it from commenting on the lawsuits. But its infection control director wrote:
"There is not a hospital in this country that can claim it has not had hospital acquired infections. People come to hospitals because they are ill. In some cases, that puts them at a higher risk for infection...We adhere to all national standards for infection control."
Administrators at Columbia St. Mary's refused to release the hospitals' infection rates to 12 News, and its lawyers convinced judges handling the lawsuits to keep them secret.
"Because they're not reported doesn't mean that good efforts to prevent them aren't going on," said Gwen Borlaug of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Wisconsin's infection control expert said there's no evidence that publicizing infection rates reduces infections.
"But if everybody is required to report, everybody is going to be under the same pressure to have a low infection rate?" Henry asked.
"We don't want to tie up resources in simply reporting when it's not an issue in a particular hospital," Borlaug said.
"It's been a nightmare for the last two years," Sinclair said.
Sinclair believes it's time to tell the public about the infections inside their hospitals. Hers left her disabled and unemployed. She said Columbia St. Mary's fired her when she couldn't return to work after three months.
"The fact that I was let go after I could not return because I had an infection that they gave me," Sinclair said.
WISN 12 News has repeatedly asked Columbia St. Mary's to talk on camera about the lawsuits. The hospital declined until it saw promotions on television for the story.
That prompted a response from Leo Brideau, the hospital's president:
"In no way has there been any cost cutting that has impacted patient care at Columbia St. Mary's. Any inference to the contrary is completely erroneous and unfounded."
The lawsuits are still working their way through court, so there have been no legal findings yet as to the cause of the women's infections.
WISN 12 News asked all the major Milwaukee-area hospital groups for their infection rates. They all declined to release them. They referred questions to their lobbying organization.
The Wisconsin Hospital Association said there's no standardized method for hospitals to measure tally those infections, so releasing individual rates could mislead the public.
Columbia Hospital will close by the end of this year. That's part of Columbia St. Mary's plan to merge its two east-side campuses at its new lakefront facility.