World - Four healthcare workers were charged with
aggravated manslaughter in connection with the deaths of
12 people at a stifling hot Hollywood nursing"didn't do enough" to save the residents who died.
The incident took place in September 2017
after Hurricane Irma cut power to the facility's air conditioning
system.
While it's unusual for healthcare workers to face criminal charges when
their patients die in the course of receiving care, Hollywood
Police Chief Chris O'Brien said the charges were merited because the
four workers "didn't do enough" to save the residents who died.
"These four individuals neglected their duties and failed to provide
adequate care," O'Brien said at a press conference announcing the
charges.
Three of the former employees of the Rehabilitation Center at
Hollywood Hills surrendered to police on Monday, including Jorge
Carballo, the facility's administrator, and Sergo Colin, a night
shift nursing supervisor. Both men face 12 counts of aggravated
manslaughter.
Hollywood police also charged Althia Meggie, a registered nurse, and
Tamika Miller, a licensed practical nurse, with aggravated
manslaughter and tampering with or fabricating medical records.
Among those attending Tuesday's press conference were family members
of residents who died at the nursing home. Photo montages of the
residents were placed on easels in front of a stage, and a video
monitor displayed mug shots of the four workers charged with
aggravated manslaughter.
O'Brien said police met with the families on Monday night to share
information before releasing it to the public.
"The families sitting here today should not have lost their loved
ones that way," O'Brien said. "They have been living an absolute
nightmare."
He added that the investigation into the nursing home deaths
continues, and that "additional arrests are anticipated."
Jim Cobb, a Louisiana-based attorney representing Carballo, said his
client was "railroaded" with the criminal charges, and he accused
Florida regulators of conducting a "cover-up."
"They have attempted in these charges to blame healthcare workers and
caregivers who showed up to work and were at their posts in the
middle of a natural disaster emergency and did the very best they
could," Cobb said.
Residents of the nursing home began dying three days after Hurricane
Irma made landfall in South Florida in September 2017. They ranged in
age from 56 to 99.
About 150 people lived at the nursing home at the time.
Administrators did not evacuate the facility even as temperatures
rose during the three days the air conditioning system was out, and
despite the fact that Memorial Regional Hospital is located next
door.
Cobb said there's a reason the nursing home's residents were not
evacuated to Memorial Regional, one of the largest hospitals in the
state.
"Memorial Regional Hospital was slammed," he said. "They had actually
discharged several of their patients to us, to Hollywood Hills,
because they needed the beds. Their emergency room was overwhelmed.
It was a post-hurricane disaster, for crying out loud, not a slow day
at the local urgent care clinic."
When the nursing home lost power on September 10, 2017, a back-up
generator kicked in but powered only the lights, medical equipment
and appliances. A separate transformer that powered the central air
conditioning system remained out of commission.
Hollywood Hills administrators said they brought in portable air
chillers to cool the building. But the portable chillers may have
made matters worse because they weren't properly ventilated and
pushed additional heat into a confined space, according to the
testimony of an engineering expert hired by the state to evaluate the
disaster.
Inside the building, air temperatures spiked to 99 degrees - about 18
degrees higher than required by federal regulations for nursing
homes. Workers scrambled to tend to the elderly residents. Some
labored to breathe while others lay motionless and silent in their
beds, according to statements from family members.
As the nursing home sweltered, administrators said they repeatedly
called Florida Power and Light to restore power to the air
conditioning system, and dialing former Governor Rick Scott's
personal cell phone. Scott gave out the number to the nursing home's
operators during a conference call as the hurricane approached.
Scott's office released a statement at the time saying that the
nursing home's administrators never indicated there was an urgent
need.
By the third day without power at the nursing home, residents began
to give out. The nursing home called an ambulance for one resident
felled by an irregular heartbeat, and a second ambulance an hour
later for a resident who couldn't breathe.
A third ambulance was called for a resident who suffered a heart
attack and died before rescue arrived. Before paramedics could leave
the building, another resident died and then another. Memorial
Regional doctors and nurses, alarmed by the flurry of calls, ordered
an evacuation of the nursing home.
The nursing home's licence was suspended days after the evacuation.
In January, state regulators revoked the licence. The nursing home's
owners, South Miami's Larkin Hospital, are appealing the revocation.