In a previous press conference following prior patient deaths, ER nurse Hannah Drummond, shared her observations of her workplace.

Just this week when I worked a shift in triage, we had more than 10 patients per nurse…

Patients were admitted to the floor, straight from the waiting room without ever being assessed…

HCA kept its doors open to transfers, even though we had 140 plus patients in our department and a 96-bed ER.

We’ve had patients go into cardiac arrest in our waiting room… We have patients on life-supporting medications in hallway beds, unmonitored. We have had patients die in hallway beds…

We have reported this to management, and they have done nothing.

A patient in Mission Hospital’s ER in Asheville, North Carolina, died in the bathroom after calling for help but getting no immediate response.

Hospital spokesperson Nancy Lindell reported that one employee was fired, leaving observers to guess whether it was a nurse who was fired.

Several ER nurses asserted that the ER was crowded and understaffed that evening.

“The sudden death of a patient is devastating, and we grieve whenever there is a loss of life,” Lindell said. Our investigation indicates that certain staff who had been trained did not follow hospital protocols. We have terminated one individual and have reported to the appropriate agencies.” The fact that Ms. Lincell refused to provide the number of staff and the number of patients present at the time of the fatality suggests that information would have confirmed understaffing.

A patient arrived by ambulance at the Mission Hospital ER on February 10th. According to staff, the patient complained of breathing difficulties and chest pains. With 94 meds, this hospital’s ER is large. However, no beds were available.

An EKG was ordered. But the patient requested to go to the bathroom before the procedure. He was taken to the bathroom in a wheelchair. While he was in the bathroom, he the red cord for assistance. The cord triggers an alarm that rings throughout the emergency department.

The hospital claimed a call was made over the radio multiple times for someone to check that bathroom. The hospital reported that This went on for about 12 to 15 minutes until the triage nurse went to the bathroom and found the patient’s heart had stopped beating. Attempts to revive the patient failed.

Nurses reported to Asheville’s paper, The Watchdog, that staffing levels were inadequate that evening. The understaffing resulted in the man’s call not being responded to immediately. The emergency room was extremely busy, one nurse said, with 25 to 40 patients in the lobby during the busiest part of the night. Another nurse said there were patients out the door at one point, many with severe symptoms.

“From what I observed, I would say it’s because of the staffing shortage, based on acuity and volume,” one nurse said. “They’re going to say there’s no staffing issue because of what we’re, quote unquote, fully staffed according to rooms, but we’re not staffed according to the lobby.”

For years, nurses have contended Mission is not staffing its emergency room adequately, putting patients at risk.

“This issue dominoes down because they are not properly staffing their floors to take enough patients,” one nurse said. “It trickles down to the ER. These patients are not getting rooms at appropriate times, because we are holding patients that could be taken care of upstairs. But instead of being taken care of up there, the way they’re saving money is by holding them in the emergency department.”

A previous 384-page CMS Summary Statement of Deficiencies issued a finding of “Immediate Jeopardy.” That report detailed deficient treatment and inadequate nurse staffing that led to the death of four patients in the ER