Read the stories of patients who died after seeking care at Steward hospitals
One patient was found unresponsive in a hospital hallway; another collapsed and died while waiting in a registration line. Others died after overworked hospital staff did not monitor their conditions. Four died after developing a mold infection from an outbreak that wasn’t properly contained. All were patients at Steward hospitals.
The Spotlight Team identified at least 15 instances in which Steward Health Care patients died after failing to receive professionally accepted standards of care due to equipment or staffing shortages. This total omits deaths due to individual lapses in judgment or medical errors.
The team reviewed hundreds of government reports, staffing complaints filed by nurses, federal data, and wrongful death lawsuits. The investigation also relied on conversations with patients’ families and their lawyers, and interviews with more than 100 current and former Steward workers. (Reporters identified some patients by matching dates and other details to death records acquired by the team.)
Do you have information about problems at Steward hospitals? Help us build this database. Send us an e-mail at [email protected] or submit tips here.
Sherlynn Brownlee
Kyle Fleetwood
Richard Fingleton
Melbourne Regional Medical Center patient
Sungida Rashid
Good Samaritan Medical Center patient
Glenwood Regional Medical Center patient
Michael Shea
Good Samaritan Medical Center patient
Theresa Williams
Patsy Strickland
Glenwood Regional Medical Center patient
David Varnado
Gilberto Melendez-Brancaccio
St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center patient
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Credits
- Reporters: Liz Kowalczyk, Chris Serres, Jessica Bartlett, Elizabeth Koh, Mark Arsenault, and Yoohyun Jung
- Contributors: Gordon Russell and Hanna Krueger of the Globe staff, and Khadija Sharife of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
- Editors: Brendan McCarthy and Mark Morrow
- Visuals editor: Tim Rasmussen
- Photographers: Craig Walker, Barry Chin, Kayla Bartkowski, David Ryan, and Andrew Burke-Stevenson
- Director of photography: Bill Greene
- Photo editors: Kevin Martin and Leanne Burden Seidel
- Design: Ashley Borg, John Hancock
- Development and graphics: John Hancock
- Digital editor: Christina Prignano
- Copy editor: Michael J. Bailey
- Quality assurance: Meredith Stern and Michael Johnston
- Audience: Cecilia Mazanec, Jenna Reyes, and Peter Bailey-Wells
- SEO strategy: Ronke Idowu Reeves
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