Brookdale Hospital Accused of Endangering Patients

Wall Street Journal

Brookdale Hospital

Health authorities have grown alarmed at mounting signs of disorder and danger to patients at a Brooklyn hospital already reeling from major financial problems and allegations of political corruption.

On two separate occasions this year, Brookdale Hospital Medical Center—a once-venerable institution that serves some of the city’s most impoverished patients—has been threatened with expulsion from public-health insurance programs after flunking multiple government safety inspections. The hospital relies heavily on Medicaid and Medicare for financial support.

State inspections have turned up a host of deficiencies at the East New York institution, from mishandling of blood specimens to poor oversight of medical interns. Federal regulators have identified more serious complaints at Brookdale than at any other hospital in the state, authorities said.

The hospital’s patient safety record spilled into public view in October when a baby boy died, the New York City medical examiner’s office said, from a medication error. The death triggered a probes by the state and a national health care accrediting group.

While it’s not unusual for a hospital to run afoul of compliance codes, New York State Department of Health officials said the scope and severity of Brookdale’s infractions stand out in a troubled industry.

“The Department of Health has aggressively monitored Brookdale Hospital, reported our findings to the federal government and strongly advised the hospital leadership of the need to improve its stewardship of the hospital,” said Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Gordon.

Michael Hinck, a spokesman for MediSys, a $1 billion nonprofit that runs Brookdale and also Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, said in a statement: “Brookdale continues to work cooperatively with DOH and other agencies for the best outcomes for our patients. Through our skilled staff, Brookdale provides quality services and a continued commitment to meet the health-care needs of our community.”

The hospital’s compliance problems follow months of uncertainty over its future. A recent state report faulted Brookdale—along with two other Brooklyn hospitals—for “excess borrowing, wasteful spending, and mismanagement” and recommended that it be taken over by Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center. Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s administration is considering the plan.

In September, David Rosen, the former chief executive of Brookdale’s parent company, MediSys, was convicted of bribing state lawmakers.

Patient safety advocates said they fear the hospital has more serious problems than administrative and ethical issues.

“While people are talking about the future of Brooklyn hospitals, are patients being put in harms way because of institutional problems these hospitals face?” said Arthur Levin, director of the Center for Medical Consumers, a patient-rights group. “You can’t talk about all of this just in terms of the future. There may be an immediate risk to patients.”

Complaints against hospitals are registered in a federal database. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which administers Medicare and oversees state Medicaid programs, elevates the most serious of them to “federal allegation” status. Since Jan. 1, according to the state, health facilities in New York have been the subject of 83 federal allegations. Brookdale, alone, accounted for 10 of those cases—more than any other hospital in the state.

Brookdale’s regulatory troubles escalated in July after a state inspection uncovered safety violations that were serious enough to raise flags with CMS, which ordered a complete inspection of the hospital.

That month, authorities threatened to expel Brookdale from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The hospital got a reprieve after submitting a correction plan.

But the expulsion threat was renewed in the wake of the death of six-month-old Amaan Ahmmad, the son of a young Bangladeshi couple from the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn. Unless the hospital rapidly returns to compliance, it will be banished from Medicare and Medicaid, the subsidized health-insurance programs in which more than 80% of its patients are enrolled.

Officials said it was rare for a hospital actually lose its eligibility for government programs.

The infant’s death was also ruled a “sentinel event”—the medical term for an unexpected death or serious injury—triggering a formal investigation by the Joint Commission, a national accrediting agency that monitors hospital safety standards. A spokeswoman said the commission is “working with Brookdale” on issues related to the death.

Amaan was declared dead on Oct. 24, after Ummay Sultana, a first-time mother, brought him to the hospital with a fever on the morning of Oct. 21. By the early afternoon, the boy was diagnosed with pneumonia and was hooked up to an intravenous drip of an antibiotic called azithromycin, Ms Sultana told The Wall Street Journal.

Ms. Sultana said she called for help when saw that her baby’s lips had turned blue. A nurse, she said, assured her the baby was fine. Minutes later, she said, she cried out that her baby was dying. That’s when, she said, the hospital removed the drip and rushed her son to an adjacent operating room. Three days later, the boy was declared brain dead.

An autopsy blamed an overdose of the antibiotic.

Ms. Sultana and her husband say hospital administrators resisted handing over records. They said a doctor told them they’d get the papers in a week. The hospital turned over the documents after her husband protested to a vice president for patient care, they said. The parents are considering legal action.

The records, a copy of which was obtained by the Journal, conflict with the parents’ description of events. The papers say that when the antibiotic drip “was stopped,” the child “appeared well” and alert.

In the weeks leading up to the death, state inspectors cited Brookdale for a variety of health and patient-rights violations.

One inspection in September found that three-quarters of Brookdale’s operating rooms didn’t have the air pressure adjusted correctly to prevent airborne infections. More than two dozen smoke detectors hadn’t been tested. Some weren’t operating.

Inspectors also found problems with Brookdale’s discharge planning. One example involved a pair of three-month-old twins transported to the hospital after they were found crying in a dirty apartment with no food. Their teenage mother was arrested. The hospital released the babies to a social worker without confirming they ended up in safe hands.

The inspections also found dozens of “identification errors” involving blood specimens. Most “occurred in the emergency department and were committed by medical students who weren’t being properly supervised by the residents,” according to internal hospital reports. While the mislabeled specimen were discarded before they reached the wrong patients, the errors were described as “near-misses.”

9 Comments

  • DS

    Not surprised. My mother-in- law was there several years ago – and the food cart was put in the middle of the room, where she couldn’t possibly reach it. My husband had to to in every day to feed her. Otherwise she would have starved! I’m not exagerating.

  • not so concerned

    I use Dr Rosenblum and gave birth there 4 years ago I have only good things to say about the way I was treated.
    I am not sure how things may have changed, But I would go there again.

  • never use brookdale

    my wife waited 6 hours for pain killer after a c-section, and saw a roach on her bed in the delivery room

  • Sheina Prus

    i gave birth 9 month ago there with D.Rosebblum and it was fine.The nurses were nice i got privet room.It was a little too quite besides it everything was fine.Got kosher food 3 times.

  • Sorohle

    I used Dr Rosenblum for many years and I would use him again for both myself and my daughter.

  • Sss

    I uses dr rosenblum 2 years ago and 6 weeks ago for the birth of my twins.
    Everything was very good.