Lawsuit targets HCA over nurse staffing

A Kansas woman has filed a class action lawsuit against hospital giant HCA accusing the chain of causing her husband's death by adopting employment policies that have lead to a nationwide shortage of qualified nurses. Mildred Spires says her husband died at HCA's Wesley Medical Center in 2004 as a result of inadequate care. Her suit seeks to force the hospital chain to pay damages of $12.5 billion to patients who have been treated at its facilities over the past decade. Spires is represented by Wichita attorney Richard Williamson who argues that HCA has followed a strategy that has put revenues ahead of patient safety and employee well-being.

In a prepared statement Williamson said, "The defendant's reduction of staffing of registered nurses is the evil and the fuel that led to the revenues that has allowed the defendant to expand into all its markets."

- see this article from the Seattle Post Intelligencer