Push is on to prevent deaths

After 10th nursing home patient dies, urgency grows; so does blame

A 10th patient of the sweltering Hollywood nursing home died Wednesday, as debate intensified over who failed to protect some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Martha Murray, 94, was the latest to succumb to the stifling heat in the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, which was without air conditioning for three days after Hurricane Irma swept through the state. Among those who died, body temperatures were as high as 109.9 degrees.

Since the first eight victims died Sept. 13, Hollywood police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement have launched a criminal investigation into how the nursing home cared for patients; the state has shut down the facility; and legislators have vowed to better protect nursing home patients — the same promise they have made in the past.

The deaths also have raised questions about Florida Power & Light Co.’s response to a life-threatening situation and have resulted in intense finger-pointing among state, local and utility officials about who is at fault.

Murray was among the approximately 150 patients evacuated to nearby Memorial Regional Hospital after hospital staff ran over to help upon noticing patient after patient brought into the emergency room by paramedics. They found a chaotic environment with elderly victims in distress, warm to the touch and dehydrated.

Broward Medical Examiner Dr. Craig Mallak said Murray died at 7:55 p.m. Wednesday. She had been in hospice after the nursing home’s evacuation, according to her son, William Murray.

“She was a good mother and homemaker. That’s about all I can say,” he said when reached by phone Thursday. “I’m just struggling with it. I don’t understand how she went from going in there and … I don’t know what happened. I’m just sorry I put her there.”

A day earlier, another patient died: Carlos Canal, 93, a Cuban exile who came to Miami in 1961.

The others who died a week ago Wednesday were: Albertina Vega, 99; Carolyn Eatherly, 78; Manuel Mario Mendieta, 96; Gail Nova, 70; Bobby Owens, 84; Miguel Antonio Franco, 92; Estella Hendricks, 71; and Betty Hibbard, 84.

State legislators, emergency management officials, health care regulators and nursing home owners will gather today in Tallahassee to discuss hurricane planning. They’ll be looking at what went wrong in Hollywood and what policies or laws are needed to make sure this won’t happen again.

They held a similar summit in 2006, with a goal of making nursing homes a priority during power outages — but 11 years later the issue is unresolved.

The most urgent topic will be Gov. Rick Scott’s new mandate that all nursing homes have generators and enough fuel to maintain “comfortable temperatures” indoors for 96 hours, as well as run lights and medical equipment. Current state laws for nursing homes require temperatures between 71 and 81 degrees, but facilities need to have only “alternate power,” not specifically generators, to make that happen.

Getting power back on rapidly after an outage also will be on the table.

Scott on Tuesday put the onus for the deaths in Hollywood on the nursing home.

“This facility is failing to take responsibility for the fact that they delayed calling 911 and made the decision to not evacuate their patients to one of the largest hospitals in Florida, which is directly across the street,” he said. “The more we learn about this, the more concerning this tragedy is.”

Along with his statement Scott released 159 pages of records, including a timeline that showed repeated contact from the nursing home to the state.

Scott said an investigation will encompass “why the facility made the decision to put patients in danger, whether they were adequately staffed, where they placed cooling devices and how often they checked in on their patients.”

Staff at the Rehabilitation Center said FPL failed four times to show up after they began calling Sunday, when the home’s power was knocked out. Some residents already had died in the heat by the time FPL workers arrived Wednesday, according to a timeline released by the nursing home.

FPL declined on Thursday to confirm or deny the facility’s statements. It took the power company about 15 minutes to fix the problem after the evacuation Sept. 13.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement set up a tip line Thursday for the public to offer information about the nursing home deaths or the facility itself between Sept. 9 and Sept. 13. The toll-free number is 866-452-3461.

Of more than 100 patients who were treated at Memorial Regional Hospital and its other facilities, 14 remained hospitalized, a spokeswoman said. Other evacuees were treated at Aventura Hospital, Broward Health Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic.