Page 1 - SOUTH FLORIDA HOSPITAL NEWS & HEALTHCARE REPORT JUNE 2022

PRSRT STD
AROUND THE REGION: U.S. Postage
PAID
HCA Florida JFK North
See West Palm Beach, FL
pages Permit #4595
Hospital Welcomes
25-32
Celina Holson as
Chief Operating Officer
TM
Page 21

Volume 18 • Issue 12 • $5.00 June 2022

THE REGION’S MONTHLY NEWSPAPER FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS & PHYSICIANS
OUR 18TH YEAR SERVING THE HEALTHCARE COMMUNITY!

Emergency/ Healthcare Construction/Real Estate Malpractice

Trauma Medicine
New Cancer Center to Augment

World-Class Care

BY LOIS THOMSON

Memorial Healthcare System has
been providing world-class care to
patients for decades, and now future
patients seeking care can look forward
to a consolidation of those services
when the new Memorial Cancer
Institute is completed. According to
Mark Greenspan, the purpose of this Julie Danna
facility, which is currently under con-
struction, is to coordinate all of the
Dr. Evan Boyar cancer care under one roof. Severity of Jury
As he explained, "Care was being
provided in multiple facilities, so the Verdicts Should
Broward Health purpose of the project is to create a (l-r) Mark Greenspan, director of construction
consolidation of care, bringing togeth- and design services, and Dr. Brian Hunis, Concern Florida
Expects the er our experts in cancer care, and cre- medical director of oncology and
ating a healing environment for the
patients. It will help to ease their bur- hematology, Memorial Healthcare System Physicians
Unexpected den during their journey with the dis-
ease and create a patient and family center healing environment where we can provide BY VANESSA ORR
24/7 Emergency world-class cancer care. It's also where our physicians and clinicians can collaborate,
and where the patients have the amenities to make their journey easier." In March of this year, an Iowa City fam-
and Trauma Greenspan, director of construction and design services at Memorial Healthcare ily was awarded $97.5 million in a med-
Continued on page 16 ical malpractice case, the largest award of
Expertise this kind in state history. This verdict,
along with a new Florida House bill on
Feeding Baby When Formula the horizon, should send up red flags to
Florida physicians, according to Julie
BY BARBARA R. FALLON Is Hard to Come By Danna, senior vice president, National
Health Care Practice, Danna-Gracey, a
Anyone who has ever channel surfed BY ANIRUDDH SETYA, MD, FAAP Division of Risk Strategies.
has caught a made-for-TV medical “Verdicts that used to be $1 million are
drama where ER doctors do everything Formula shortages and empty store shelves have sent par- now $10 million or higher,” she
from open heart surgery to handling ents and caregivers into a panic. Some are stocking up with explained. “What this means for doctors
security incidents to curing exotic dis- help from family and friends while others struggle to buy just is that their premiums are going up
eases in a single episode. one can. because most carriers are running at a
Evan Boyar, M.D., MSE, FAAEM, Problems with the formula supply began when an Abbott loss. For every dollar in, they are not
Chief of Staff for Broward Health North Nutrition facility abruptly closed after Similac, Alimentum, bringing in enough to cover every dollar
and District Chief of Emergency and EleCare formulas were suspected of bacterial contamina- out.”
Medicine at Broward Health, describes tion. This led to a shortage of almost all infant formulas Because the state of Florida did away
a more accurate account of what it’s like across the United States. with tort reform in 2017, it means that
in a high capacity hospital Emergency doctors are particularly at risk as caps on
Department that from minute to The Reliance on Formula Dr. Aniruddh Setya non-economic damages in medical mal-
minute may involve life-threatening Breastfeeding is not something we can take for granted. practice actions litigated in Florida courts
trauma care, pandemic medicine proto- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only about a quar- have been eliminated.
cols, emergency planning, weather and ter of U.S. infants born in 2017 were exclusively breastfed during their first six months. “Since 2017, we have completely lost
environmental related awareness, clini- There are many reasons why a mother won’t or can’t nurse. Maternal illness, absence or tort reform in Florida, which a lot of doc-
cal teamwork, safety education; and, of an infant’s own intolerance are some examples. And if a mother has to stop nursing tem- tors are not even aware of,” said Danna.
course round-the-clock compassionate porarily, it can be difficult to resume breastfeeding exclusively. “When we had tort reform, everything
high-tech care for anyone from infants to Infants and children with artificial feeding tubes, metabolic disorders or protein aller- was stabilized, and premiums were dras-
seniors who needs sophisticated, imme- gies may not thrive on breast milk and require specialized formulas, which are limited. tically lower. However, since 2017, when
diate expertise after suffering a trauma. Alternative approaches, including those suggested on the internet, can be harmful to it was decided that it was unconstitution-
It’s the stuff that can make the TV story- infants. For instance, adding extra water to the formula is dangerous. During the first al to put a cap on pain and suffering
line seem tame. 1,000 days of life, nutrition is vital for a child's health and development. Powdered infant cases, these rates have been going up

Continued on page 13 Continued on page 10 Continued on page 11