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U.S. NEWS Monday 26 august 2019

Attorneys: Charges expected in Florida nursing home deaths

By KELLI KENNEDY charges and planned to ing homes and assisted liv-
Associated Press negotiate a bond agree- ing facilities at 81 degrees
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) ment before an expected Fahrenheit (27 degrees
— Defense attorneys said hearing Monday morning. Celsius) or lower for at least
Sunday that arrests are ex- Patients began dying at four days.
pected shortly in the case the rehabilitation center Hashish declined to identify
of a Florida nursing home days after the devastat- his client by name, but said
where 12 patients died af- ing hurricane struck Florida she was works as a full-time
ter its air conditioning pow- amid widespread power nurse at another facility
er went out amid sweltering outages. and was just picking up a
heat following Hurricane Investigators said the cen- shift that day in September
Irma in 2017. ter did not evacuate pa- 2017.
Lawrence Hashish told The tients as temperatures in- "They called her. They said,
Associated Press his client is side began rising, even 'can you come and help? In this Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017 file photo, a woman is trans-
one of three nurses, in ad- though a fully functional We're short-handed,' and ported from The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills as pa-
dition to an administrator, hospital was across the look what she walked into," tients are evacuated after a loss of air conditioning due to Hur-
expecting to be charged in street. he said.q ricane Irma in Hollywood, Fla. Associated Press
connection with the deaths The home's license was
after Hurricane Irma, which suspended days after the
blew through Florida on storm and it was later shut-
Sept. 10 of that year. The tered.
storm knocked out a trans- Paramedic Craig Wohlitka
former linking the main and other paramedics from
air-conditioning unit to the Hollywood Fire-Rescue tes-
power grid at the Rehabili- tified last year that he was
tation Center at Hollywood haunted by the deaths of
Hills, sending temperatures patients there. Fire Lt. Amy
soaring . Parrinello said one of the
Hashish said the attorneys female patients had a tem-
don't yet know what spe- perature of 107.5 degrees
cific charges would be, but (42 Celsius), the highest she
he expected those would had ever seen in his 12-year
likely entail some form of career.
manslaughter offense. Later that morning, she
Twelve deaths at the cen- said, another patient
ter had been ruled homi- topped that with a temper-
cides . Police have been ature so high it couldn't be
investigating the deaths measured.
for nearly two years but no Wohlitka further testified
charges have been filed that the crew decided to
thus far. start checking other pa-
A voice message and email tients who hadn't been re-
left by the AP for Hollywood ported as ill.
Police were not immedi- He said they saw a woman
ately returned Sunday. in a room who appeared
Hashish said his client and sick, though a nursing
the others are merely home employee said they
scapegoats. had just checked her and
"The real crime is that the she was fine.
state is looking to blame In the aftermath of Irma,
selfless caregivers and the the deaths made national
evidence will show that no headlines and sparked a
crime was committed," he political backlash. Months
said in a telephone inter- afterward, lawmakers
view, passed a bill requiring
His co-counsel, Ilham Sof- backup power sources in
fan, told the AP that their Florida nursing homes and
client was turning herself in assisted living facilities. The
Monday. The attorneys said legislation requires such fa-
they didn't have any further cilities to have a generator
details about expected capable of keeping nurs- Opening Hours: Monday to Monday from 5:00 pm to 10:30 pm