Death at R.I. Hospital

Manslaughter Investigation Requested after Death at RI Hospital during Hurricane Floyd Power Failure

Monday, January 3, 2000 3:45 PM Dudley St., in front of RI Hospital

An independent investigation has been conducted by State Senate candidate and Registered Nurse Frank Palin concerning the death of a patient during the Hurricane Floyd power failure at RI Hospital. It has been discovered that the death was preventable if administrative decision-makers acted in a reasonable and prudent manner prior to this foreseeable disaster. It has been uncovered that RI Hospital did not have an independent generator to supply power during any catastrophic loss of electrical service as mandated by the State and Federal governments. An explanation of the probable cause of the power loss and the many financially driven decisions which placed this patient in harms way will be disclosed.

Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse will be contacted in writing just prior to the press conference with a written report ofthe investigation's results. The Attorney General will be asked to open an involuntary manslaughter investigation into the cause of this death and uncovering all of the responsible individuals.

Senate Majority Leader Paul Kelly and Speaker of the House John Harwood will be asked to open hearings into the Department of Health's role in this patient's death.

Senator Jack Reed, Congressman Bob Weygand, and Congressman Patrick Kennedy will be asked to investigate the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), based in Chicago, on its role in this patients death.JCAHO is the accrediting agency charged with insuring safe patient care.

It is only through sharing our experiences and strengths that we can overcome the effects abuse in our profession has had on our professional and personal lives. It is through well-focused individual and collective interaction and action such as collective bargaining through the development of professional unions for nurses that healing and empowerment will come.

We invite all nurses who choose activism over apathy---empowerment over powerlessness---to join us in the

Nightingale Network. Sincerely, Melissa Franklin RN and Peter Ramme RN Co-Founders, Nightingale Network