I know. “Did ECH Health Expand Its Empire On the Graves of D**d Patients?” is a strong title; a very strong title. It is also quite an unnerving and down right scary thought to ponder. But under the circumstances, I feel like it is a fair question to ask – even in a title. Here’s why:
My daughter, Keisha Marie White, was a patient at ECU Health Medical Center in May 2014. Back then the hospital was named Vidant Medical Center. Some of you may already know that Keisha died from lack of oxygen after being deliberately deprived of oxygen for at least 11 hours prior to code blue being called. That’s right. The nurse on duty, Linda Leathers Brixon, completely ignored doctor’s orders, symptoms, and everything else designed to help Keisha. Then to top it off, Brixon strapped Keisha to the bed with a vest and wrist restraints. This is just a little of the backstory to get new readers caught up. Read other posts for more of the story. Anyway…
NON-COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL LAWS
Because doctors had not given up on Keisha and expected her condition to improve, along with the fact that she coded while in restraints, ECU Health was required to perform an internal investigation. They did, I believe over the next 2 weeks. But here is where it gets more wicked…
After I filed a complaint with North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) they investigated the hospital in October. DHHS determined that ECU Health was in violation of 6 federal healthcare laws created by CMS. Did you hear me? I said SIX. ECU Health was in violation of these in May 2014 and still non-compliant in October.
Seriously? ECU Health has a risk management department. Isn’t this the department responsible for evaluating “risks?” I mean, shouldn’t they have identified at least ONE of these issues in May so it could be corrected? Or was the risk manager more concerned with covering up the killing of Keisha? 👀 Because, that is exactly what happened. They actively took steps to obstruct justice and conspire with others to cover up Keisha’s death. And today they still seek secrecy as they attempt to hide behind affirmative defenses to have my civil rights suit against them dismissed.
NO NURSING MANAGER ON THE NIGHT SHIFT
Among the 6 violations, one in particular, stands way out for this conversation. ECU Health failed to staff a nurse manager on the 7pm-7am shift in May 2014, and still did not have one in October 2014. This tells me that this failure was a financial decision and not a scheduling issue. How long were they non-compliant with federal regulations before Keisha died on May 10? How many patients suffered and/or died needlessly prior to May though October while the facility saved money on staffing? Do you understand what I am asking you?
THEY REFUSED TO CORRECT ANY ISSUES UNTIL THEY WERE THREATENED WITH LOSING FUNDING
CMS threatened to take away ECU Health’s funding for Medicare and Medicaid patients before the hospital would correct the deficiency. Do you hear me? CMS was planning to publish an announcement in the local newspaper to alert the public of the situation prior to the November 1, 2014, termination date.
That is not all, y’all. ECU Health was non-compliant with the SAME SIX federal regulations AGAIN in 2015… and AGAIN in 2020.
We’re talking about federal healthcare laws. Their violations in 2015 are especially troubling, because it seems like as soon as they were no longer being monitored by CMS, they went right back to the system of non-compliance that allowed Keisha to be abused and neglected to death.
What’s worse is we do not know how frequently this system has been in place. Many patients and families do not know they can file a complaint with DHHS to find out exactly what went wrong in their situation. Therefore, we can never really know how many patients have suffered as a result of ECU Health’s failures.
What seems apparent is that their staff will abuse a patient, ignore healthcare needs, and chain these sick helpless individuals to a bed as an easy form of control when they don’t want to do their jobs. At least, that is what Linda Brixon did.
I’m going to leave you with something to chew on as you await Part 2 of this post: A hospital that breaks laws creates an environment where its employees can break laws. Read that again!
Most people never hear about these details. So, if you know someone who should, send this their way. Thank you!! ❤️
Thanks for taking the time to comment! 🙂