Problems continue to mount at the HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital in Hudson, Fla., according to a published report.
Back in 2021, surgeons gathered to voice their concerns: unsanitary surgical instruments, inadequate monitoring of ICU patients, an overflowing emergency department and even anesthesiology errors that resulted in patients waking up while in surgery reported.
Hospital administrators previously assured surgeons that the problems would be addressed. But over a year later, docs say that little has been done to address the issues.
HCA Healthcare Inc., owner of Bayonet Point, is America’s largest hospital company. Last year, HCA earned $5.6 billion, and its stock is considered an investor favorite.
But part of the profitability may come from cutting corners, according to doctors.
Four physicians at Bayonet Point told that quality of care has significantly declined since 2021, when HCA started cutting staff.
Recent photos of the facility provided by doctors showed ceiling leaks, oxygen equipment held together with tape, bloody and backed-up sinks, wires dangling from a hole in the wall and cockroaches in the operating room.
Neurosurgeon Dr. George Giannakopoulos, 65, claimed that in just one month, there were 18 “near misses” among patients about to undergo surgery. One such “near miss” occurred, he said, when the wrong side of a patient was prepped for surgery — anesthetizing a left hip that should have been the right.
“To drive Bayonet Point down to the ground because of money, because of profits ahead of patient care, it is not acceptable,” said Giannakopoulos.
Regina Temple, chief executive officer of Bayonet Point, said in a statement issued. “As a learning hospital, we are continually looking for ways to improve patient safety and quality of care. We apply those learnings, including reports by both federal and state regulators, to ensure best practices for quality care are in place. HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital is appropriately staffed to ensure the safe care of our patients. We rely on feedback from our physicians, and when issues are validated we take necessary action.”