Whistleblower says he's facing retaliation for speaking out about hospital management
Vložit
- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- A neurosurgeon says executives at the Florida hospital he works for are retaliating against him after he spoke out about management cutting corners. NBC’s Cynthia McFadden reports on how this isn't the first time a staff member has made these allegations at hospitals owned by HCA, the biggest for-profit hospital in the U.S.
» Subscribe to NBC News: nbcnews.to/Subs...
» Watch more NBC video: bit.ly/MoreNBCNews
NBC News Digital is a collection of innovative and powerful news brands that deliver compelling, diverse and engaging news stories. NBC News Digital features NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, TODAY.com, Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline, and the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective properties. We deliver the best in breaking news, live video coverage, original journalism and segments from your favorite NBC News Shows.
Connect with NBC News Online!
NBC News App: smart.link/5d0...
Breaking News Alerts: link.nbcnews.c...
Visit NBCNews.Com: nbcnews.to/ReadNBC
Find NBC News on Facebook: nbcnews.to/LikeNBC
Follow NBC News on Twitter: nbcnews.to/Foll...
Get more of NBC News delivered to your inbox: nbcnews.com/newsletters
#NBCNews #Whistleblower #Hospital
His bravery speaks volumes. We must hold healthcare organizations accountable for unethical practices.
Right
One man that the took the “oath” and lives it .
Hold the hospital accountable,
I'm a nurse, and I agree. Once people go after the higher ups and hold them responsible, things will change.
Bless that man cause so many, especially at his level, usually stay quiet.
This gentleman isn’t a “Whistleblower”….he’s a lifesaver!
👏
He’s simply doing his job ❤
Do you even know the meaning of whistle-blower stupid? Naturally, most of them protest against life-threatening problems.
He's both
No.. he’s a Dr that has that privilege. They still won’t do anything even after this. It’s not just HCA it’s every facility, anc it’s not nursing shortage, there’s no nursing shortage. They are overtly discriminating against strait white male RNs, they are all woke and all eat their own. They fight with each other, they do not work. Any idea how many nurses got burned by trying to speak out about Managment? We’re not Drs and look what they are doing to a Neuro surgeon.
Hes extremely brave to speak out! He needs to be protected.
We got his back
Protect this Dr.💔✌️
when people the staff who actually does the work are saying something is wrong you better listen.
Ever since Nixon, it became legal to publicly trade medical, and legal to advertise medical, dramatic quality decline since then . Usa ranks #48 in the world out of 200+ countries for life-expectancy , yet the total spending is beyond the imagination (tuition, donations, grants , premiums, co-pay …)
@Jeffrey S exactly. People love to act like this is news. Everyone knows they just choose to blindly ignore it.
“I’m a neurosurgeon, I will survive”.
What a truly humbling man. He knows he’ll be well off no matter what, but not the patients.
This doctor is 100% right. My grandpa was in HCA for a week for a stroke and I literally had to fight to see a doctor. Never saw a neurologist but finally got a hospitalist after 4 days. The nurses were so beyond understaffed. My grandpa had incontinence from his stroke
and multiple times we would push the call button and no one came. He would have accidents and then the nurses were rude to him. I’ll never forget the one nurse and now she treated my family. I HATE this hospital and felt so relieved to see this story.
The vaccine mandates made a lot of people leave the field
I was one of those understaffed, stressed nurses & I treated my patients with respect. I also continually apologised to my patients for failing them. I never blamed "management." although they were indeed to blame.
Palestine,OH is probably safer than an HCA hospital right now.
@@catmom1322 I agree there are good people working there. This is definitely a leadership issue.
It is understaffed because the nurses are treated like trash. They are doing the work of the doctors while the doctors and hire ups get 6 figure salaries. I’ve seen it. Nurses Working day and night. The hire ups are the problem. They do nothing but collect money.
As a former RN of one of HCA owned for-profits hospitals in San Jose, CA, I can attest that HCA hired “yes-man and ma’am” people to run their management teams. They don’t care about their patients or nurses, they only care about making money and profits by admitting as many patients as they can and pushing their staff, especially nurses, to the point of burn-out. They will overwork their nurses.
I used to work on a telemetry unit where the ratio of patient to nurse is 4:1. They admitted so many patients in one night that they did not have enough nurses to cover the patients. Many of the nurses on the Tele unit had to go out of ratios 5:1. It was extremely unsafe . For the nurse and patients. Not only that, nurses worked three days in a row without given proper lunch or any breaks on day and night shifts.
If a hospital puts profits over patients and nurse safety, it is not for me. I quit after 5 months as a new hire.
HCA in Florida goes up to 8 patients on tele floor. One day they were short and the nurses had 6 patients on the step down unit. The corporation is evil and needs to be stopped.
they gave a new grad three in icu and two of those patients were coding all night... yes man people as charge most definitely ... the charge refused to take a patient that night .. trash all around
I remember at HCA, just about every shift, med surg nurses get 6 pts and sometimes 7. So many new admissions. Techs can get more than 30 pts. And when you complain to the higher ups, they tell you other hospitals have it worse. It's very hard to help each other because everyone is so so busy. :(
@@naomily2974 As a former HCA PCA, I had to assist in the care of up to 25 patients on a day shift. It was a medsurg floor. The nurses had 7 patients each. The day shift was brutal. They had a policy where every bed had to be changed. Imagine a 12 hour shift, patients had to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then there were baths, admissions, discharges, dialysis transport, call lights, and on and on. By the time the shift was over, getting to your car was another story because the staff parking lot was quite a distance away.
100% correct. I too worked for them and won’t go back nor will I allow a family member to be treated there!
Administrators need to start being punished harshly for this type of behavior, no matter what happens they succeed while the rest of us end up bankrupted or dead.
In christian amerikkka?! Bahahaha Greed is God!
Yes big corporations always get charged fines for their crimes. We need to put these people in prison.
Admin at Casselberry FL they run a Gestapo on minorities the manager nurse Lisa treats Spanish people and Asians like dogs. Dogs !! Baker acts patients who talk back , yells at people who can't speak English lol a lot of people know in the area but HCA doesn't care
He seems like someone who got into the medical field for the right reason. Seems like you can’t say the same thing for management.
He is a brave man to speak out against a powerful FOR PROFIT organization. God bless him!
Unfortunately, many nonprofit hospitals function the same way. It is disgusting.
Waking up during BRAIN SURGERY!! that's HORRIFIC!!
I had brain surgery, luckily I don't really remember it.
I woke up during major eye surgery at a Miami hospital. (2 week recovery) They were removing my retina. I was awake for seconds. It was terrifying. A tray with tools on it was on my chest. It felt like someone was leaning on my chest. I heard the doctors & nurses talking about how they should have filmed the surgery. I didn't try to get up, but I talked.
@@maxmanx1294 OMG!! TERRIFYING!!
Greed runs this world. A doctor who actually cares about patients is becoming extremely hard to find!
Sad💔
it's difficult enough to schedule w a doctor in a timely fashion and much less have them listen and treat you adequately. Healthcare is a joke, you quite literally have to take care of yourself.
@@midnick2159 so true!
Indeed!!
He at least has enough of a conscience to care about human lives. Would be nice if he cared about crippling debt, but it's a huge leap over the psychopaths that make up the majority of the doctors, at least that I've seen.
I am a travel nurse for HCA Oak Hill hospital and my contract was just cancelled right after I brought to administration's attention the blatant disregard for safety policies and other issues I have seen in the operating room over the last few months.
I’m an OR nurse and I can’t imagine chaos that would ensue as a result of a roach in a pan… gross smh
That's probably another reason they're understaffed (next to financial cuts). They just dismiss everyone who complains.
Oh yeah. You can’t speak up at any HCA hospital.
Sadly, medicine had become a lucrative business. In this modern world empathy and compassion is rare, greed rules - not just in medicine. Scary.
Im a RN working in NYC for 18 years. I’m looking to relocate to Houston Texas. About 2 weeks ago I had an interview with nurse recruiter at a HCA hospital. She asked about my experience and then went on to ask what would I do if I saw two employees fighting? Did I ever have an argument with a superior? Did I ever have a fight with another employee? When I heard the word “fight” I had to ask physically fighting?? Those questions made me uncomfortable and just wanted to end the interview. I believe those questions are just a reflection of what’s going on inside the hospital. They probably don’t want nurses to speak up or having any say.
You perceived correctly. Follow your instincts.. Lack of professionalism by managers was tolerated where I used to work.
As someone who did clinicals and worked at HCA, I saw 2 nurses almost get into a fist fight with each other. A lot of the nurses are nice, some not so much. HCA overworks you.
Why would you ever move to Texass? They have some of the very worst healthcare in the country, and that is only the tip of what is wrong with that state.
I went to nursing school and today in the south even nursing schools want you to vow to not disclose wrong doings...not kidding, they put it in writing, I said it wasn't legally enforceable and no one should be asked to sign such a document. Last year I found myself in the ICU from a cerebellar hemorrhage which led to severe hydrocephaly, I was surrounded by incompetent nurses, I was even sexually assaulted by a nurse who took photos of my genitals, yeah, you have to be careful around here, especially if you value competence. I did have really good doctors though, but I was 100 miles from home and they knew it was a long distance from family, so they treated me like crap.
@@doctork1708 Houston does have the Texas Medical Center. How is Texas worse than other states for healthcare? I’m not being snarky at all. I’ve always lived here in Texas, so I just don’t know. I am very curious though.
The only thing that matters to this corporate monster is profit. This mindset in regards to people's lives, people's health, needs to be outlawed. It is the ONLY way to make them stop, make their greed against the law. This doctor is a saint. When asked what he would tell people if they were planning to come to this hospital, and said go elsewhere, was an act of heroism. More medical professionals need to take this stance. Can corporations be charged with malpractice without including the physicians and other medical staff? I hope so, because the incompetent business people who own this hospital are in much need of a legal take down.
The HCA hospital I work at continues to employ a surgeon who drove recklessly through a neighborhood and hit and killed a bicyclist. So much for do no harm.
@@jimvt1959 I am sorry to hear this. I don't understand how so many people have lost their moral compass.
Most of the “other staff” cannot afford to be fired and blacklisted.
Do you REALIZE THE 'COURAGE' it took for this doctor to step up and report what's actually going on? Sir,you are a hero,Thank you for bringing this out into the open. You must be one marvelous neurosurgeon!????
Thank you NBC -Ms Cynthia for bringing this report and for having like Dr. George as a real Doctor who has a heart for the patients. Medical practicioners and patients need the real Care when we go to hospitals.
Proud of this doctor for coming forward. Most wouldn't for fear of retaliation, lawsuits, loss of any future employment in their field, etc. Today's doctors & hospitals have drastically changed since I was young. Today it's money 1st, healthcare 2nd.
As an anesthesiologist I realize how very difficult what he is doing is. It’s extremely difficult to go up against any hospital system. Much respect.
I think he’s a hero coming forward exposing the truth.
Thank you for speaking up for your patients! What an incredible doctor.
He speaks the truth! The HCA hospital in. my area actually sends ER nurses home, because the census is low! IT'S AN ER, the census can change abruptly, so unsafe!
That’s a awesome Doctor who loves his career and the safety of the patients.
There are SO MANY similar stories coming out about hospitals now. This doctor is HUGELY brave for his action but there are many other doctors and nurses doing the same thing at this time. He will pay the price but I'm sure he knew that when he decided to come forth. God Keep Him Safe!!!
HCA in the DFW metropolitan area has the worst reviews amongst nurses and this is based on word of mouth and other nurses’ experiences with heavy patient loads and unsafe assignments. I warn new graduates to never work at an HCA hospital if they value their license.
My personal doctor will not refer anyone to an HCA hospital.
I worked for the hospital in my town, which is also ran by HCA.
Money is all they are worried about.
I worked in the or inventory, where I would fill surgical carts. Items not used for surgery, would be placed in a bin in the hallway. We would pick it up, restock the item, for the next surgery. It was contaminated as soon as they touched the item in the operating room. Staff infection is common in these hospital, and I can now see why. We would also outdate items, that HCA, would resale to other hospitals. Also contaminated items.
I was told, when I started there, I needed to buy a new pair of shoes, so I would not contaminate the inventory area, but it was ok, to wear those same shoes, to click in and out for lunches and ride the elevator to the cafeteria and return in the same shoes to the inventory room..just tracked whatever germs were around in the inventory area. Made no sense.
I would never go to this hospital for anything. Cared nothing about employees.Only money
I would never let anyone I cared about have any surgeries here.
The staff wasn't very nice either.
Unhappy people. I could write more, but I think everyone has the idea, as to what HCA is about
@@carolinephillips955 that unhappiness is likely more exhaustion
Casselberry Florida they baker act patients for talking back or if they're annoying to the nurse. Lisa the night manager she does horrible things to patients. Her mental state is off....you can tell. But HCA DOESNT CARE LOL ITS CRAZY . Alot of people know about her and the emergency room
They're using all the money to line their pockets and this isn't the first hospital we've heard about doing this. Where is this doctor's protection, where is the protection for these patients
I had a neurosurgeon this wise back in 2016, but such honest forthrightness and care for patients first seems to be getting rarer. I'm in my 70's and see attitudes changing. I wish all the best for this surgeon and his patients going forward. The upper admin of this hospital should be ashamed of themselves.
This is happening everywhere. I've heard storys from patients i know. And nurses that have switched jobs.
I, as a nurse worked in many hospitals, including this one and many on the west coast of Florida. I made a promise to myself and after 3 years I kept it...NEVER AGAIN WILL WORK FOR HCA. GOD knows, the crap that happens there.
The for profit hospitals need to learn that cutting corners only gets you so far, until the mounting liabilities and lawsuits claws it all back!
THEY need to hold medical workers up to high standards just like law enforcement officers and 1st Responders. This is bullcrap. If a medical worker purposely or failed to do their job then they need to fired or arrested if their inactions got someone KILLED! NO EXCUSES!
@@coolgamers2794 Law enforcement isn't exactly held to a high standard in many jurisdictions. But that's another conversation. Medical providers should be held to a high standard, but the folks employing them should be as well. Not a lot a nurse can do when the staffing ratios are super lean and the patients are super sick. A good surgeon with a diluted team and ill maintained facility can only do so much. Just as a good anesthesia provider with a bad surgical team is also at a disadvantage.
That’s why they have insurance
@@debbieflaherty1975 Insurance doesn't fix dead or permanently damaged people -- that didn't have to be.
@@david22.61,
I 100% agree.
It’s just that they have malpractice insurance, so it’s not like it’s coming out of their pocket.
I’ve seen a lot of stories on shows like 20/20, etc. in which the doctor just changed hospitals.
I was a surgery orderly decades ago & you wouldn't believe the many of instances of flagrant malpractice I witnessed.
Crazy to think people like that are in this business,that dr is amazing 👏
Greed baby it’s greed
nursing has felt this way about this system and many many many others, it’s a pandemic in healthcare. short staff is the new normal
As a travel nurse we nurses know to run from HCA we have complained and patient care is at the lowest it’s ever been. I have told family members if you have to go in to a hospital in 2023 please run from HCA
I know they better leave him alone!! Greedy 🤬 CEOs and Corrupt money grabbers!!!
Or, what? You'd go after them?
@@TheCommunicationCoach for me to know and you to find out
@@Honeypepper. haven't heard that old thing for 40 years at least, not that I care or cared; you made a vague threat and I was j/c
@@TheCommunicationCoach promise
He can sue
Nurses have been trying to coming forward about stuff like this for yrs and get fired
As an ex-HCA employee, HCA speaks about caring for the patients, but in practice it's all about the bottom line.
I used to work for HCA. I will NEVER work for them again. They also go by the name Triad, and Columbia Healthcare. Thank you, Doctor for speaking up!!! It's about time.
Use to work at an HCA hospital for my first RN position and a lot of this is the norm for their facilities. One reason I left was because of the number of patients I had to take was no longer safe with how sick they were. It’s not safe for patients and it’s not safe for the license that I worked very hard to achieve. HCA facilities need to do better! I’m glad he took a stand as a whistleblower! 😊
Ditto
Same
Prayers for this man.
May the Lord bless him and protection for him.
There should be accountability.
Thank you for your bravery.
First year med student here, this doc is my hero. Brave, a true leader and doesn’t care what the suits tell him to do 💪🏼❤
PROTECT THIS MAN AT ALL COSTS
I’ve contracted with 2 HCA’s in the US and hear the same from many other nurses. HCA shows you at every turn that they do not care about you or the patients. They pride themselves on fast they can turn over a room with no regard for patient safety. Even in California. Worked at one where we rarely got a break and the solution was staff refrigerators in the nutrition rooms. The staff and patients deserve better!!
Thank you dr for caring about us before money 🙏
THANKU NBC , MS. McFADDAN for this story, Unfortunately it’s happening in NURSING HOMES & SCHOOL DISTRICTS too. PLEASE keep a SPOTLIGHT on these stories…🥂Dr. George
❤🙏💪🏾🙌Thank you Dr. for blowing the whistle 😮
Hospitals also don’t fire doctors for malpractice a doctor can put all of there patients at risk and the hospital will not fire the doctor they just transfer them around.
This depends on the state laws….and the state licensing board. That isn’t possible in all states.
Well Heck isn't American Corperate health care All about profit
and insurance for that matter...
If the hospital was ethical to begin with there would be no retaliation
HCA is such a garbage hospital system. As a physician, I have avoided applying to any of their openings because of their practice model being driven primarily by profits.
Don’t waste your medical talents at an HCA avoid avoid
Thank you for coming forward. True hero
Glad the doctor is speaking up for staff and patient safety. Potential lawsuits against HCA and their board with these allegations.
Worked at one here in TX. Just doing admitting in the ER. I had an earphone in at all times and could hear medical staff speak to each other. They(HCA) passed a policy that said everyone coming to the ER gets an IV. Even if you came in for your toenail. The Dr's were irritated, saying it was to bill the insurance companies, not because you may need an IV later.
Of course the hospital will retaliate, but good for him. 👍👍👏👏👏
He’s a doctor, he is living up to the oath he pledged.
This Doctor is telling the truth. I will never work for an HCA hospital ever again. People need to listen when we say “ HCA puts profits before patients”.
I'm proud of him and his bravery. I live in the area near this hospital. I will never go there. I'll go to baycare or advent health
Its always profit, profit and profit and just raking in the insurance money.
God bless this physician. anyone in healthcare knows the truths he speaks. he is just brave enough to speak them to other people
Amen!
It’s very common for patients to left on stretchers in hallways without any care or treatment, and then released while the hospital makes a lot of money. I saw that very frequently.
I truly hope this guy is protected , and never harmed as a result of speaking out . So many ppl throughout history tried speaking out and then their lives were at risk or they were no longer found. Breaks my heart man. What a brave humble guy. The fact that he said go somewhere else , wow. So much respect for him
This is why hospitals and profit should not be in the same sentence. Capitalism is indeed a double-edged sword...
This happens in so-called non-profit hospitals, too!
Horrible Hospital
Does the management also manage other states? HCA Houston overwhelms their nurses. I've heard people complain about how the nurses get overloaded with patients there.
This is happening all over the country not only at HCAs but at other hospitals across the United States. Hospitals continue to put profits over patients. As a health care professional, I’d advise everyone to advocate for their health. It might save your life.
He's a brave man. What disturbs me is that insurance companies are paying this hospital for sub par care. You cannot get good care if the hospital is broken.
HCA has a bad reputation among patients in Florida for many years. I'm glad the doctor has the integrity & commitment to medical care to speak out. We need more like him.
Floridians, avoid any HCA hospital. Horrible places
I had the WRONG surgery done a few years ago. When trying to find an attorney, they said I had to come up with $85,000 in order to start a case. They said people who have had horrible life-altering problems due to the surgeon's neglect, the odds of winning a medical malpractice case today are slim to none. Get in line...
Did they admit to doing wrong surgery and offer you some compensation?
Thank you. This is a widespread problem in healthcare. What a brave man.
I have a friend who works at one of the HCAs ICU, they were so short staffed its 3/4 patients per one ratio.
Get this. At an HCA OR they have sewage back-ups on a regular basis.
This is America. There is no Healthcare in America. I commend Dr. Giannakopolous for his courage and for confirming what we all know that the dollar is more important than human lives in America. You are nothing but just another statistic. What is the meaning of a for-profit hospital? How do you profit from the misery of others?
HCA is not the only one. All hospitals are doing the same thing.
Preach Dr. Giannakoupolos Sir! God bless you
The profit is all that matters, we have hundreds of millions of patients to come into the hospitals indefinitely, so they don't care how many die as long as they can still bill for it...money is the the most important thing...
one of the major issue in our healthcare system! profiteers dictates who lives and who dies!
This is the best reason I can think of for socialized medicine.
Thank you sir for speaking up, for having a heart. Your many blessings are on the way.
Thank you Dr. for speaking up.
This is what integrity looks like.
There are things that should not be profit driven. Healthcare is #1 on that list.
I, my friends, our pets - have all been butchered by surgeons, poisoned by doctors, and have been kicked to the wayside by the doctors and their bosses. Hospitals and insurance companies protect these monsters at all cost. So what if you can never walk, or breathe well, or live a decent life due to their atrocities? Money matters, we don't.
What’s terrifying is that these corporations are putting the squeeze on workers across every industry. The people running them never had to start from the bottom. Something’s got to give.
It's not all HCA hospitals! I have nothing but good to say about HCA west side; however HCA East Fort Lauderdale put me through the worst experience of my life! Ruptured my gallbladder (woke up in the worst burning pain that would not let up) and was told they took a different (wrong organ) and accidentally ruptured my gallbladder and had to remove that as well! Even though I was in surgery for a gallbladder removal!
I'm so glad I moved back to Connecticut and would never have surgery in Florida and especially at any HCA hospitals again!!!
Hospitals in the north east are better! Better everything, doctors, nurses, residents, healthcare -Florida sucks and HCA is the worst
A family member of mine was recently at HCA Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, FL. Now I’ll preface this by saying I understand this hospital was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian. Ok.. My loved one was there for almost a week in an ER bed, waiting for a bed in the ICU since the 2nd day. She ended up getting downgraded from ICU 4 days later never having set foot in ICU. The nurses in ER and on the floor my loved one was finally transferred to after 5 days were amazing, insanely understaffed and overworked but amazing. On the upper floor, they had to use a mobile computer station cos the bedside one had a note “waiting for IT” that had been dated 2 weeks prior. Disgusting management HCA!! Incredibly disappointing and had anything happened to my loved one, I had A LIST of complaints and pictures to boot I was bringing to my attorney. I still might. DO BETTER!!
This is the exact reason why I quit nursing after practising for 4 years
Such a brave doctor. Good for you, for speaking out, and raising awareness, and helping to save lives
So proud of him🙏
I will not be going to this hospital and or any hospital owned by them, and I'm glad he came forward. There needs to be an state investigation and lawsuit.
WOW!!!! Bravo, Doctor!!!
Thank You for being a person of integrity in a timely manner.
I admire him so much for coming out and speaking up! You can tell he truly cares about patient safety.
Last of a dying breed Let’s Go fund this Honorable Dr a 24hr armed body guard. Thank you for your service 🇺🇸
This is scary and shameful! This doc is courageous!
Bless you sir
As an ex Floridian born and raised I can confirm that Florida is CURSED
How about this Sewage backups on a regular basis. In an Operating Room no less,
I’m from the North east and totally dislike visiting Florida to see my grandma. She travels back to Northeast where I am for her healthcare. The doctors and hospitals here are much better. I do NOT like it down there vibes were off
I love this man. What an excellent doctor
What a brave Dr. Wish more would come forward
Good for this physician for standing up for his patients.
Thank you for speaking out and thinking of patients first
PROTECT THIS MAN WITH EVERYTHING
Thank you doctor for your service ❤👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽