ORLANDO, Fla. — 9 Investigates found out Florida Hospital agreed to pay out $2 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it used leftover chemotherapy treatments on patients.
The hospital is accused of putting patient’s safety at risk to boost profits.
Adventist Health paid out a $2 million settlement in response to a 36-page filing from 2013, which describes a systematic overbilling for patients seeking oncology treatment.
The suit claims between 2007 and 2011, Florida Hospital East personnel were ordering the wrong size of single dose vials of chemotherapy drugs, and that excess drugs were not being thrown away, but instead, the medication was being used on the next patient.
The suit claims that, once opened, the vials lack antimicrobial preservatives and can become contaminated, making them a source of infections.
Florida Hospital officials said they don’t believe any patients had a negative outcome as a result of the procedures, but the suit claims one patient may have died as a result of the alleged negligence.
The patient was brought to Florida Hospital East from another location and allegedly given the leftover drugs.
Even as the leftover drugs were being used and not thrown out, the suit claims patients were still being billed for unused doses.
That means tax dollars would have helped Medicare and Medicaid reimburse the hospital system for the so-called wasted drugs.
Florida Hospital said they gave that money back to the government.
Florida Hospital released the following statement: “At all Florida Hospital physician practices, the health and safety of our patients is the ultimate priority. In January 2011, we personally notified the limited number of impacted patients and addressed their concerns. Our review did not identify any negative patient outcomes as a result of the procedures.
While we believe a number of the allegations in the litigation are overbroad and incorrect, we worked with the government and resolved this matter so we can focus on what we do best — saving lives and restoring our community’s health.
After learning of the issue, we brought in two national patient safety experts to perform an exhaustive audit, reported this incident to appropriate health care agencies, and launched a broader review to ensure there were no other issues. We immediately implemented new procedures and have rectified billing issues by refunding all monies to the government. We stopped using hand-written physician orders, and implemented new supervisory protocols, training and electronic dosing.”