Lawsuit filed against University of Chicago Hospitals

November 21, 2005 (Chicago) (WLS) -- The Illinois attorney general has filed a lawsuit against University of Chicago Hospitals. It claims the hospital took part in a dangerous practice of putting infants too close together in the same area in intensive care and over billed the state.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is questioning $8 million worth of Medicaid billing. She has joined a lawsuit filed in 2003 by two former nurses who worked at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital. They claim for years they witnessed critically ill babies being crammed in to close together, which they say resulted in at least four infectious outbreaks at the hospital.

It's called 'double bunking' -- housing critically ill babies in side-by-side cribs in a space designed for one. State law says there should be at least four-feet between babies.

But two former University of Chicago nurses -- now whistleblowers -- say for at least seven years, the hospital took in more babies than allowed, and then charged Medicaid the full rate.

"The University of Chicago, for whatever reason, decided to ignore these important laws about standard of care, hid the fact that they were doing that, did it, then said pay us as if we were giving you the services you were expecting to get," said Steven Cohen, Plaintiffs' attorney.

"The way we situated babies at no time impacted negatively their care," said Dr. Michael Schreiber, University of Chicago, neonatologist.

The hospital admits it took it in more sick babies than licensed to back when the neo-natal intensive care unit was located at the Old Wyler Children's Hospital, which was cramped. Since moving to the larger Comer building this year, the practice has stopped.

"To say that the babies were so close together, that the bugs would jump from one bed to the other really doesn't have any scientific basis. So having them close together as long as we wash our hands really did not put any baby at any risk," said Schreiber.

Doctor Schreiber says it came down to treating sick babies or turning them away. But attorney Steven Cohen says that's not true.

"And what was more incredible is that almost everyone of those days when they engaged in double-bunking, they always had two or three open spaces," said Cohen.

Attorney general Lisa Madigan's office is keeping a very low profile on this, choosing not to have anyone go on camera Monday. A spokesperson says they recognize the fine medical care University of Chicago Hospitals has provided to the underserved community.

The hospital says the whistleblowers never went to management with their concerns and questions their motive, but their attorney says they complained about it for years before filing the suit.

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