Kings County Hsopital Center in Brooklyn Told Wrong Patients They Had HIV, Whistle-Blower Says
When I read this article, I instantly thought of the “Alarming Nights” case that we read. Instead of Chris Lee needing to make a decision as to what to do in the case we read, we have the real life experience of Lili Hutchinson who made a decision. Lili was apart of a lab that was apart of many cover ups which compromised patient safety. Patients were being told that they had HIV when they did not or they were told they did not have Hepatitis-C when they did. “The misdiagnoses and mix-up of samples prevented patients from receiving timely care, according to the lawsuit filed Nov. 4 in Brooklyn Civil Supreme.”
Lili Hutchinson decided to blow the whistle on this. Back in 2002, she informed the inspector general of what was going on. When nothing seemed to happen with that complaint, instead of let it go, she continued to press the inspector general and then informed the executive director. All the while, her life was made miserable by coworkers and administrators who transferred her to different areas, filed complaints against her, disciplined her, suspended her for two days without pay and even denied her a promotion despite being overly qualified. After years of complaints, the inspector general’s office still did nothing although it was found that her complaints did have merit.
Lili still did not stop there. She complained to the Department of Health in 2011 and finally, the hospital was slapped with violations. Lili however still did not stop there, she notified the state Health Department, the College of American Pathologists and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations of more glaring mistakes, which led to further violations against the hospital. The only reason why Lili is suing is because she fears being treated even worse, terminated.
My question is how far would you go? Many times similar in the case, there are probably “less” consequences for turning a blind eye to certain things since things will continue business as usual. The security guard and Dr. Link’s assistant did it in the case and all of Lili’s coworkers and supervisors seem to be doing it as well. What pushed Lili so far? She could have stopped at informing the Inspector General or even at the Executive Director but she chose to keep informing people and departments. Maybe her BATNA was to endure the harassment as long as Justice was served!
I personally would’ve probably changed jobs instead of going through the torment for over a decade. Once I changed jobs,, I would have probably still complained to those various departments since I would have felt safety in being semi-removed from the situation. How far would you have gone if you were Lili? What do you infer her BATNA was according to this article? How often do you think situations like this happen and people turn the blind eye?
Well I’m horrified — shoddy lab practices with serious errors that were reported over ten years ago and confirmed by the Department of Health. Could I stand the heat at the same organization for over ten years — I doubt it unless I has some serious moral support coming from somewhere. Perhaps she’s got the support she needs and is girded by the knowledge that she is right. I think you are right this is her BATNA. The best she could expect when her negotiation failed — demotion, suspension and complaints until justice is served.
If I were Lili I would have stopped at the department of health. Although, part of me would want to turn my head because my BATNA would be to leave the job and finding a job after blowing the whistle doesn’t sound like the easiest thing to do. What hospital would want to hire someone who is going to report them everywhere for every little thing they do? It is a very difficult situation to deal with and I feel you need to consider the stress and difficulty involved with reporting the hospital versus your morals and sense of judgement. To find the right balance is very hard but I feel Lili took it way too far.
I am ashamed to admit this seems more the norm than not in city hospitals. In Lilli’s case she did what would possibly allow her to sleep at night which was to alert the authorities continually. My BATNA would have me do the same even if I got fired, what if it was one of my family members. Really it involves a conscience, we all supposedly have one but some are unable to make it a priority if it will risk their livelihood or endanger their positions which in some cases they have had to go through hell to get into. I remember while working at Jacobi Medical center around the time that the PAP smear disaster occurred and I remember asking myself did I see or hear anything at the time that would have led me to believe they were operating under a cloud of suspicious behavior. If I had seen it I would have said something, I was a medical analyst at the time and had to make hard decisions everyday about telling nurses or doctors that they had done something wrong and needed to correct it immediately. Out of all the departments in the hospital they hated us but it was our job to keep the patients and employees safe and above reproach for JACHO, IPRO and private insurance companies. It really speaks to whether we allow the doctors to go against their creed “of doing no harm.” When thinking about this situation with Lilli we have to think in terms of what could happen in the future and are we a party to it or responsible for it? People die from non-treatment of Hep C and some have killed themselves over finding out they are HIV positive. Where do we draw the line on doing no harm to our patients whether it is physically, mentally or emotionally?
Personally, I’m proud of Lilli for sticking up to the Hospital and for so long. I would not have had the courage or patience to stay as long as she did working there, but she did it to correct a continuous wrong. Those patients who were wrongly informed can miss their window period for treatment. Having unqualified lab technicians mixing up tests can cost a patient their life! She endured the unfair treatment from the hospital, but i agree, her BATNA was probably to stay and endure it until justice was served. It already took over a decade and she’s probably seen so many mix ups and faulty tests.
This case really hits close to home for me for two reasons because I live 5 minutes from Kings County and have been a patient there several different times. Another reason is that I had a close friend die a Kings county due to negligence. His family is suing the hospital but will probably have to wait years to get results just as Lilli did. I am very shocked that something like that happened at a hospital I am so familiar with. If I were Lilli, i think I would have taken similar actions. I know my job would have been in jeopardy but those people deserved justice. People put a lot of trust into hospitals and doctors and that is something that should not be toyed with or disregarded.
Ironically my final case analysis is about a misdiagnosis at Kings County Hospital Center. A patient believing that she was having a heart attack went to the emergency room. Doctors in the emergency room discharged her with Motrin without communicating with doctors in the radiology department. Two years later she died of metastasized lung cancer. Another famous case was that of Esmin Green, a psych patient who died in the emergency room while waiting to be seen. Kings County hospital has paid out more than 1/3 of all medical malpractice claims against the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, that’s very high compared to other city hospitals. So I’m not surprised that something like this happened there. It seems to be the norm, culture of the hospital. Symbolically, the hospital was once nicknamed “killer county” by residents in the community. I am surprised though that Lili had to go far to be heard, I commend her for doing so, I would have stopped at the Inspector General. I believe she exhausted her BATNA, as a whistleblower, she should be protected from retaliation.