Hospital Corporation of America
Inquiry Finds Unnecessary Heart Procedures Performed at Florida Hospital Chain
Two years ago, the chief ethics officer of the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), the biggest hospital chain in the U.S., received a letter written by a nurse at one of the corporation’s hospitals in Fort Pierce, Fla. The troubling nature of the letter prompted an interview with the nurse, who said that one of the doctors at the Lawnwood Regional Medical Center had been performing unnecessary heart procedures on patients. A subsequent HCA internal investigation found that the nurse was right; one of the cardiologists had been putting patients’ lives at risk by performing unneeded surgeries.