Several medical experts told a Florida judge this week some residents who died of heat stroke at the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center could have been saved, if the nursing home had acted sooner and done more.
The facility lost air conditioning in the wake of Hurricane Irma, and 12 residents eventually died after being subjected to extreme temperatures for days.
The state has moved to strip the facility’s license. Jack Michel, M.D., the owner, is fighting that effort in court. The first week of testimony wrapped Friday. A second hearing is scheduled for March.
Thursday, Broward County pathologist Wendolyn Sneed said staff did not do anything “above and beyond their regular duties” to keep patients cool after temperatures began climbing.
“Nothing in the records like ice chips or cold compresses, normal things that medical personnel would do when there is heat to bring their temperatures down,” Sneed testified, according to the Sun-Sentinel. “They had a real opportunity to save some lives here.”
Sneed performed autopsies on five of the 12 patients who died. He testified that the nursing home staff should have evacuated earlier.
Instead, Hollywood Fire Rescue crews made that call on their fifth trip to the building on Sept. 13.
Geoffrey Smith, an attorney for the nursing home, cited the stress related to evacuating elderly patients as a risk itself. During the court hearing, Smith told a judge that the day prior to the evacuation, none of the doctors, hospice nurses or physician assistants in the building raised concerns about evacuating.
Earlier in the week, he said calls seeking help from government officials and Florida Power & Light went ignored.
A draft report examining the government’s response to Irma issued Friday called for more direct management of nursing facilities during future emergencies. Changes would include a status board to track happenings at nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, with a dedicated employee to monitor it. The report also calls for nursing homes to be moved up on Florida Power & Light’s priority list for power restoration.
In court, Lt. Jeff Devlin of the Hollywood Police Department testified that the building was hotter inside than out and police immediately took temperature readings when they arrived on the scene. Photos captured several spot coolers being used, but the investigation has in part focused on whether they were inappropriately placed and drove temperatures up instead of cooling off residents.
Paramedics and others who responded to the scene also gave dramatic testimony about what they witnessed, finding patients sweating profusely, sitting in their own feces and breathing shallowly.
