RHC St Francis Hospital Ratings & Violations

Now Called Presence St. Francis Hospital

RHC (Presence) St. Francis Hospital is a 271-bed hospital providing care and services to the residents of the Chicago metropolitan area. The facility is located in Cook County, Illinois at:

355 Ridge Ave
Evanston IL 60202
(847) 316-4000

http://www.presencehealth.org/presence-saint-francis-hospital-evanston

Presence St. Francis Hospital, previously Resurrection Health Care Saint Francis Hospital, is a full-service medical facility and provides Level One trauma care. The facility provides numerous medical services including:

• Cancer care
• Emergency care
• Primary care
• Palliative care
• Cardiovascular care
• Behavioral health services
• Rehabilitation
• Pain management
• Neurosciences
• Immediate care
• Digestive health care
• Complex surgery procedures
• Women's health
• Digestive health
• Diabetes care
• Sports medicine
• Orthopedic care
• Nutritional education
• Pain management
• Wound care

Illinois State Designations

RHC (Presence) St. Francis Hospital has the following designations:

Perinatal II+ – A Perinatal Level 2 Medical Center with extended capabilities provides an intermediate level of care to expect that mothers and “more complex care to newborns when required.” This hospital does not maintain a neonatal intensive care nursery. However, the facility does “maintain a special care nursery that is covered by a neonatologist who is specifically trained to treat newborns requiring special care.”

Trauma Center I – This facility's trauma Center provides essential services around-the-clock and has a helicopter landing pad.

Magnet Recognition – This facility is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, a part of the American Nurses Association for their strong nursing leadership, effective communication skills and organizational decision-making processes.

Primary Stroke Center – Illinois state regulators to recognize RHC (Presence) St. Francis Hospital as a stroke care facility that meets the standards of care to support optimal outcomes for stroke patients. To maintain the designation, the hospital must follow the Illinois Department of Public Health compliance regulations. Previously, primary stroke centers were called “Emergent Stroke Ready Hospital.”

Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics (EDAP) – This facility is a recognized EDAP hospital that participates in the Illinois emergency medical system under section 515. 4000 and provides “operable emergency department care to pediatric patients 24 hours per day.”

According to data supplied by the hospital to the Illinois Department of Health other agencies, RHC St Francis Hospital reported the following medical errors which may be of concern to patients and their families.

Facility-Acquired Infections

• Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections in the Adult Medical/Surgical ICU (01/01/2018 to 12/31/2018) with zero patients reporting infections for 1851 central-line days


• Surgical Site Infections Associated with Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (01/01/2016 to 12/31/2016) with one patient reporting an infection in 38 procedures.


• Healthcare Facility Onset Incident Rate of CDI (Clostridium Difficile Infections) between 01/01/2018 and 12/31/2018 with 28 infections out of 32,908 patient days.

Patient Safety

The state of Illinois maintains comprehensive records on medical centers in hospitals that rank unexpected problems compared to all other facilities in the United States. Currently, St. Francis Hospital has been cited for current safety issues that involve:

• Risk-Adjusted Postoperative Lung Embolism or Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT clotting) (for 2015) eight of 1558 patients.


• Accidental Puncture and Laceration (for 2015) five of 6983 patients.


• Postoperative Respiratory Failure (for 2015) four of 645 patients.


• Collapsed lung caused by medical care (for 2015) one of 6572 patients.


• Postoperative Hemorrhage or Hematoma (for 2015) 8 of 1405 patients. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, this statistic is the same as the posted state average.


• Pneumonia Patients Admitted to the Hospital within 30 days (between 07/01/2015 and 6/30/2018) – 18 % of all patients treated at the facility for pneumonia were readmitted to the facility 30 days after departure for retreatment. This statistical percentage is significantly higher than the posted national average (16.9%) and Illinois average (17.37%).


• Pneumonia 30 Day Mortality Rate (between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2018) – 16.3% of all patients treated for pneumonia at the facility died within 30 days. This statistical rate is slightly higher than the posted national average (15.9%) and Illinois average (15.98%).


• Heart Failure Patients Readmitted to the Facility within 30 Days (between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2018) – 22.4 % of all patients treated for heart failure were readmitted to the facility within 30 days after discharge. This statistical rate is slightly higher than the posted national average (21.6%) and Illinois average (21.78%).


• Heart Failure 30 Day Mortality Rate (between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2018) – 11.7 % of all patients treated for heart failure at the facility died within 30 days. This statistical rate is slightly lower than the posted national average (11.9%) but higher than the Illinois average (11.67%).


• Heart Attack Patient Readmitted to the Facility within 30 Days (between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2018) – 15% of all patients treated at the hospital for heart attack were readmitted to the facility 30 days after discharge for retreatment. The statistical percent is slightly lower than the posted national average (16.3%) and Illinois State average (16.4%).


• Heart Attack 30 Day Mortality Rate (between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2018) – 12.6% of all patients treated for a heart attack at the facility died within 30 days after admittance. The statistical rate is significantly lower than the posted national average (13.6%) and Illinois average (13.32 percent).


• Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rate Including Heart Attack Deaths, But Not Including Transfers (between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2016) – seven patients out of 127 cases died at the facility from a heart attack. The statistical risk-adjusted rate of 33 per 1000 patients is slightly lower than the posted Illinois State average of 37.24 per 1000.


• Pneumonia Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rate for 2015 – Nine patients out of 236 died from the ammonia. This statistical risk-adjusted rate of 36.41 per 1000 patients is significantly higher than the posted Illinois average of 23.48 per 1000.


• Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Deaths Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rate for 2015 – Five out of 186 patients died of congestive heart failure at the facility. This risk-adjusted rate of 14.84 per 1000 patients is almost three times higher than the posted Illinois average of 20.74 per 1000.


• Stroke-Associated Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rate for 2015 – Nine patients out of 129 died of a stroke at the hospital. This risk-adjusted rate of 45.3 per 1000 patients is significantly lower than the posted Illinois average of 61.56 per 1000 patients.

Sample Medical Malpractice Claims Involving St. Francis

$3,000,000 Settlement; Illinois Hospital Malpractice Case

The patient involved in this controversy was himself a doctor. He entered the St. Francis Hospital on a spring day in May. He told the staff attending to him that his chest was bothering him. Apparently, he had had cardiac trouble before and this distress was similar in the kind and level of pain. The doctor on staff tried to get ahold of a cardiologist. However, this request for almost half an hour. In that time, the man’s condition fatally worsened. He died before getting to the laboratory. His children and loving spouse survived him. They brought this action against the hospital for wrongful death and malpractice. Their complaint criticized the delay in referral. It cited this error as the main cause or contributing factor in the man’s death. Eventually, the two sides were able to arrange a settlement to end the matter. The plaintiffs obtained $3 million.

$6,000,000 Settlement; Illinois Wrongful Death Claim

Here, the patient was a young teenage girl. She got suddenly sick while at school. Emergency responders came and got her. They brought here to St. Francis Hospital where staff started to examine her. They had her sit for a CT-scan. Apparently, doctors read those results but failed to do anything else. Eventually, they found out she had an arterial blockage which could have been spotted from the CT findings. They transferred her for surgery and that was successful. However, the damage was already done. She passed away not long after that. She was survived by her parents and sibling. They filed this claim against the doctor and hospital for negligence and wrongful death. The failure to diagnose oversight was pretty stark. For that reason, the parties began to focus on settling the matter rather than contesting it. In the end, the family obtained $6 million in compensation for their losses.

Maternal Safety and Utilization

• Birth Trauma (10/1/10 to 9/30/11) 5 out of 1,484 patients


• Obstetric Trauma – Vaginal with Instrument (10/01/2016 to 9/30/2017) Twelve out of 42 patients which translates to 285.71 per 1000). According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, this statistic is significantly worse in the state average of 113.23 per 1000 patients


• Obstetric Trauma – Vaginal without Instrument (for 2015) Six out of 371 patients. According to the IDPH, this statistic trauma rate is the same as the state average.

Evanston, Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawyers

If you were seriously harmed while you were a patient at Presence St. Francis Hospital (previously called Resurrection Health Care Saint Frances Hospital), your injuries might be the result of medical negligence. The medical malpractice attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC provide legal assistance to patients who have suffered injuries by errors and mistakes in every medical setting. We have successfully prosecuted many cases involving medical mistakes where our clients were severely injured or died as a result of someone else's negligence.

Contact our attorneys today to schedule a free, no-obligation case consultation to discuss the merits of your claim for compensation. Our legal team accepts all personal injury case, wrongful death lawsuit, and medical malpractice claim through contingency fee agreements. This arrangement postpones the payment of our legal services until after we have successfully resolved your case through a jury trial or negotiated an out of court settlement. All information you share with our law office remains confidential. We provide every client a “No Win/No-Fee” guarantee, meaning if we are unable to secure financial compensation on your behalf. You owe us nothing.

Sources:

• Perinatal
• Emergency Medical System for Children
• Website