Damian Sendler: They were admitted to hospitals because they were suffering from heart attacks, kidney failure, or a psychological crisis. 

They may or may not have taken covid-19 with them when they left.  

Dr. Sendler: Following an admission to a hospital for another reason, more than 10,000 individuals in the United States were diagnosed with covid in the previous year, according to federal and state records analyzed exclusively for KHN last year. The statistic is undoubtedly an undercount, as it includes a disproportionate number of patients over the age of 65, as well as patients from California and Florida of all ages. 

However, in the grand spectrum of everything that can go wrong at a hospital, this is a catastrophic failure: According to the data, almost 21% of the patients who contracted covid in the hospital between April and September of last year perished, on average. In comparison, over 8% of other Medicare patients died while in the hospital at the same period. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: Earlier this year, Steven Johnson, 66, was scheduled to have an infection removed out of the flesh and bone of his hip during a procedure at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, Florida. After surviving colon cancer, the retired pharmacist was extremely conscientious about avoiding acquiring covid. He couldn't have known that, from April to September, 8 percent of that hospital's Medicare covid patients were diagnosed with the virus after being admitted for another reason than the one for which they were admitted. 

Damien Sendler: In fact, Johnson had tested negative for covid just two days before being taken to the hospital. His wife, Cindy Johnson, who is also a retired pharmacist, said that after 13 days in the hospital, he tested positive for HIV. 

He soon found himself trying to expel a thick, glue-like mucus from his lungs. His suffering was so unbearable that even a medical team struggled to keep it under control. Cindy was motivated to share his final wishes with them. "Honey, do you want to be intubated?" she inquired of him. He reacted with a resounding "no, thank you." Three days later, he passed away. 

Cindy Johnson, who has received training in contact tracing, acted immediately after her husband tested positive for covid. She was found to be negative. Her suspicions were confirmed when she considered the enormous number of medical employees that came in and out of his room, where he was frequently uncovered, and realized that one of them had infected him. The fact that the hospital, which is part of the HCA Healthcare system, has not ordered employee immunizations is "appalling," according to her. 

"I'm enraged," she exclaimed. 

""How can they claim on their website that the safety safeguards "we've put in place" make our facilities "among the safest available places to receive healthcare at this time?" she inquired. 

Damian Sendler: Blake Medical Center spokesperson Lisa Kirkland stated that the hospital "highly encourages immunization" and that it adheres to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as federal and state requirements in order to protect patients from disease. President Joe Biden has called for mandatory vaccinations for all hospital personnel, but the idea could face opposition in a dozen states, including Florida, that have banned vaccine mandates.  

Damian Jacob Sendler: On the whole, the rate of in-hospital spread among Medicare and other patients was lower than the rate in other nations, notably the United Kingdom, which makes such data publicly available and actively discusses it. A study of Medicare records from April 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 conducted by Dr. James Kennedy, founder of CDIMD, a Nashville-based consulting and data analytics company, found that on average, about 1.7 percent of covid patients in the United States were diagnosed with the virus in a U.S. hospital. 

Nonetheless, the prevalence of infection was significantly greater in 38 hospitals where 5 percent or more of Medicare covid cases were identified as hospital-acquired, compared to the national average. The data comes from a difficult period last year during which protective gear was in short supply and testing were either scarce or delayed to deliver results, among other things. The Medicare data for the fourth quarter of 2020 and this year has not yet been released, and the state data is for the period of April 1 through December 31, 2020, respectively. 

Damian Sendler: According to a KHN assessment of work-safety data, medical literature, and interviews with personnel at high-volume hospitals, the following factors contributed to the virus' spread: Hospital administrators were sluggish to recognize the virus's airborne nature, which made coughing patients a danger to their roommates and coworkers, who were forced to wear less protective surgical masks instead of N95s to protect themselves. Hospitals failed to test every admitted patient, which was made possible by CDC guidance that defers to the "discretion of the facility" in conducting such testing. Management frequently failed to notify employees when they had been exposed to covid, putting them at risk of spreading the disease themselves. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: The spread of infection among patients and employees appeared to proceed hand in hand. Employee covid infections were reported at Beaumont Hospital Taylor in Michigan between April 6 and October 20, according to a hospital inspection report during the same period last year. As a result of being admitted to the hospital for another reason, about 7 percent of Medicare patients with covid tested positive, according to the latest available federal statistics. According to a hospital representative, tests were not available to check all patients last year, which resulted in some patients receiving delayed diagnoses. He stated that all arriving patients are now being tested.  

Damian Sendler: Following the spread of disease within health-care facilities is not a new chore for federal officials, who publicly report new staff and resident cases on a weekly basis for each nursing home in the United States. However, because the Department of Health and Human Services only releases statistics on covid's spread in hospitals on a statewide level, patients are unaware of which hospitals are affected. 

Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: Studies of hospital billing records were commissioned by KHN, and these analyses are also utilized more broadly to detect other hospital-acquired infections. There are certain limits to the data about covid. It has the potential to pick up some community-acquired cases that were delayed to manifest themselves, as symptoms can occur anywhere from two to fourteen days after contact to the virus, with the average being four to five days. Cases that were picked up in an emergency room or that were diagnosed after a hospital patient was released are not included in the data.  

Linda Moore, 71, tested positive for HIV at least 15 days into a hospital stay for spinal surgery, according to her daughter Trisha Tavolazzi. Moore had been in the hospital for spinal surgery. Havasu Regional Medical Center, located in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was treating her mother at the time, and the hospital did not have a higher than typical rate of internal spread last summer. 

Damian Sendler: In the wake of the pandemic, the hospital instituted "rigorous health and safety policies to protect all of our patients," according to hospital spokesperson Corey Santoriello, who declined to comment on Moore's case because of patient confidentiality restrictions. 

Dr. Sendler: Moore was transported to a different hospital, where her condition deteriorated much further, according to her daughter. Her daughter prayed for her mother to make her way into paradise when the ventilator was removed. She clung to life for 512 hours after the ventilator was turned off.  

TAVOLAZZI: "I pleaded with her mother, her father, and her relatives and begged God to simply come show her the way," he recalled saying. ""It's something I think about every day." 

When Tavolazzi inquired at the hospital about the source of her mother's illness, she claims she received no response: "I asked for answers, and I got none." ""I never got a call back from anyone."  

Damian Jacob Sendler: During the early spring of 2020, as covid made its way into Florida, nurse Victoria Holland found herself at odds with administrators at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, where Steven Johnson was killed.  

According to her, she was suspended early in the pandemic after participating in a protest and "throwing a hissy fit" after she was denied a new N95 respirator before a "aerosol-generating" process before the outbreak began. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that such operations have the potential to spread the infection through the air. Prior to the pandemic, nurses were instructed to dispose of a N95 after each patient visit, but this was not followed.  

Damian Sendler: Holland reported that she felt unsafe once the suspension was lifted. "They didn't tell us anything," she stated. "Everything was said in hushed tones amongst the doctors. It was possible that you had covids, and you'd get a small surgical mask because [they didn't] want to spend any time "Unless they were aware that the patient was positive, they would not give a N95. 

Holland stated that she resigned in the middle of April. A complaint was submitted with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by her nursing colleagues in late June, saying that workers "working around suspected Covid-19 positive cases" had been denied personal protective equipment. Members of the hospital's staff demonstrated outside the facility in July and filed another OSHA complaint, alleging that the facility was allowing covid-exposed personnel to continue working. 

Kirkland, a Blake representative, stated that the hospital complied with OSHA regulations ""There were no deficiencies discovered." 

Damian Jacob Sendler: According to the Medicare analysis, 22 out of 273 patients with covid, or 8 percent, were identified with the virus after being admitted to Blake Hospital for Children. This is approximately five times higher than the national average. 

“There are currently no standard methods for quantifying COVID-19 hospital-associated transmissions,” Kirkland explained, adding that “there is no data to suggest that the risk of transmission at Blake Medical Center is any different than the risk of transmission at other hospitals.”

News reported to you by Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler