Mass. public health leader says care at St. Vincent Hospital is safe. Not everyone agrees.

WORCESTER — Despite hundreds of complaints from nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital that claim unsafe conditions for patients at the hospital, the state's top public health official said Saint Vincent provides "safe, quality care."

That quote is included in an op-ed penned by state Sen. Michael Moore, D-Millbury, and state Rep. James O’Day, D-West Boylston, that the pair submitted to the Telegram & Gazette. The lawmakers said state Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein shared his assessment of safe, quality care at Saint Vincent with them during a meeting in April.

The state Department of Public Health said it backs the lawmakers attributing the quote to Goldstein.

Moore and O’Day mentioned in their op-ed they were told by the state DPH that only one of the 600 complaints from nurses was substantiated by state investigators — a shortage of telemetry boxes for cardiac patients that investigators said the hospital has corrected.

Documents made available by a public records request show the Massachusetts Nurses Association reported alleged violations of intensive care unit and mandatory overtime laws from March to December 2023. In addition, reports of unsafe staffing levels from nurses and health care professionals were received daily by the nurses' association.

An investigation by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concluded the sole violation was the shortage of telemetry boxes, according to the documents.

The state DPH started its investigation of the complaints on Jan. 31, and that investigation is finished, said the state agency. However, nurses have filed more complaints that the state says are in various stages of review and investigation. Moore said the additional complaints number 300, but he has no information on the status of the investigations.

Complaint sent to national accrediting body

Meanwhile, the state DPH forwarded a complaint against Saint Vincent Hospital to the Joint Commission that accredits hospitals nationwide. It came from a family that reported inadequate "quality of care" for an incident that allegedly happened at Saint Vincent in February, according to a document provided by the state DPH.

The Joint Commission didn't provide details about the complaint, saying in an email that complaints it receives are kept confidential to protect patient privacy and to allow for a full investigation.

In separate interviews, Moore and O'Day said they were not told about a complaint forwarded to the Joint Commission when they met with Goldstein. Their op-ed said beyond the telemetry issue, the rest of the complaints were dismissed. "We were pleased to hear that DPH considered the vast majority of the complaints to be baseless," said the op-ed.

That's not the case, according to the MNA.

"We have not received any information that the DPH dismissed the complaints," said David Schildmeier, a nurses' association spokesman. "Regardless of that, nurses on a daily basis are experiencing similar or worse conditions, and nurses are committed to reporting to all agencies all deficiencies they're seeing on daily basis until Saint Vincent is held accountable for the damage they're doing to quality patient care at the hospital."

Details of injured patient

Meanwhile, an incident report provided by the state DPH indicated a patient at Saint Vincent fell over a garage wall in December, and an investigation determined the "event was likely not preventable."

The heavily redacted report said the patient transferred in from another hospital, walked out of a unit inside Saint Vincent, and refused attempts by staff and security to stop.

"Staff had to back away for their own personal safety," reads the document. After falling over the wall, the patient was taken to the emergency room and transferred to a location not identified due to redactions for further care, evaluation and treatment. Injuries suffered, said the report, included bruise/hematoma, fracture, laceration, and surgery was performed.

"A thorough investigation of this event was completed and it was determined that the event was likely not preventable," said the document. To reduce the risk of patients leaving units in the future, the report said Saint Vincent will continuously assess patients with at-risk behaviors and implement interventions. It was mentioned the hospital updated its paging system that notifies a team to immediately respond to a missing patient or one that leaves a unit.

Fact-finding mission

The op-ed said Moore and O'Day asked for the meeting with Goldstein because in light of the hundreds of complaints, the lawmakers wanted to know if the concerns were warranted.

"We wanted to find fact from fiction," said O'Day. The op-ed noted Goldstein's assessment should reassure patients they will receive quality care at the hospital.

"Dr. Goldstein’s assessment reinforces our view that Saint Vincent is a valuable member ofthe community from both a public health and economic point of view, providing great care,employment and tax revenue to the city and region," said the op-ed. Saint Vincent is the third-highest taxpayer in Worcester with $4.1 million paid in the 2024 fiscal year that ended June 30.

Moore disclosed that Dewey Square Group, a political consultant that represents Tenet Healthcare Corp., the for-profit based in Dallas that owns Saint Vincent, has kept him and O'Day up to speed on what is happening at the hospital during the slew of complaints. A Dewey Square official joined Moore and O'Day when they met recently with Carolyn Jackson, chief executive officer at Saint Vincent, said Moore, to discuss the hospital's state of affairs. He also said Dewey Square provided some of the information in the op-ed.

It's standard practice for hospitals and other prominent organizations to have consultants, said Moore, adding there's nothing wrong with a Dewey official attending the meeting with Jackson. What's important, he said, is the quality of care at the hospital and that only one complaint was substantiated by regulators.

Not about taking sides

Moore also noted the op-ed isn't about lawmakers choosing whether to back the hospital or nurses, and that he and O'Day are not taking sides. The op-ed supports the quality of care at Saint Vincent, said Moore, and that includes support for the work done by nurses.

Moore also wonders why nurses keep filing complaints when regulators have found a miniscule number of infractions.

"By the DPH investigating all these complaints and the outcomes, the public should know there are two quality hospitals" in Worcester, said Moore. "If the 300 new complaints show there's an issue with the care provided, then we need to know that. We can't just keep having complaints filed, and the general perception is care is bad when there is no indication from the state regulatory entities that is the case."

Slow going with DPH

What O'Day finds most frustrating is the slow process of working with the state DPH, including the waiting period to get a meeting with Goldstein.

"It takes many calls to get any kind of reasonable feedback from the DPH. I’ve been disappointed," said O'Day, adding he's still waiting on the agency to give him information about the additional 300 complaints from nurses. He's also reached out to Gov. Maura Healey's office for information on that front.

"I've put in a call to the secretary (Kate Walsh) at Health and Human Services. They owe me a call back," said O'Day.

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram .

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Mass. public health leader says care at St. Vincent Hospital is safe. Not everyone agrees.