‘We are sickened’: Nurses set to discuss ‘dangerous’ conditions at Mass. hospital

WORCESTER, Mass. — The Massachusetts Nurses Association on Wednesday will hold a news conference to detail alleged “dangerous conditions” at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester that have been “jeopardizing the safety of patients.”

During the 10:30 a.m. event, the MNA is expected to call for immediate intervention to “protect patients and end suffering.”

Nurses at the hospital have recently filed several official complaints with the Department of Public Health Division of Healthcare Quality, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Mass. Board of Registration in Nursing in response to a “growing and dire crisis” in the safety of care for patients admitted to the Worcester-based facility.

The complaints are based on hundreds of reports filed in real-time by nurses over the last six months that highlight “significant deficiencies” in staffing, hospital policies, allocation of technology, and a “deliberately punitive” management culture that is resulting in “dangerous delays” in the administration of needed medications and treatments, preventable patient falls, and other complications, including preventable patient deaths, according to Marlena Pellegrino, co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit with the MNA.

“We are sickened to report, but find ourselves duty bound to do so, that the conditions documented in these complaints raise serious concerns about the safety of patient care at our hospital. As these complaints show, our administration has created an environment that too often violates the dignity of our patients and compromises our ability to meet accepted standards of patient care,” Pellegrino said in a statement. “As we wrote in our complaint to these agencies, ‘In our role as legally mandated advocates for our patients we appeal to these agencies to immediately intervene, and take whatever steps are necessary to prevent the further erosion of patient care conditions and to protect our patients and our community from continued harm and unnecessary suffering.’”

The MNA claims that conditions at Saint Vincent’s have “taken a turn for the worse” since hospital CEO Carolyn Jackon installed new Chief Nursing Officer Denise Kvapil, who has allegedly “implemented a concerted campaign to cut staffing levels and increase nurses’ patient loads in blatant violation of the nurses’ union contract,” a deal that was negotiated with Tenet Healthcare to end a historic 10-month nurses strike in 2021-22.

From July through December 2023, nurses have filed more than 500 official reports of staffing/patient care conditions that jeopardized the safety of their patients, according to the MNA. An additional 102 reports have reportedly been filed in January 2024 alone.

The MNA further alleges that the hospital continues to admit patients despite inadequate staff to appropriately meet patient needs.

Saint Vincent’s and Tenet Healthcare haven’t responded to requests for comment on these new claims.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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