Spike in deaths prompts investigation

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/04/30/Web_dialysis.html?imw=Y#comment
Spike in deaths prompts investigation
More than 100 patients displaced as DaVita Dialysis Center shuts down temporarily

By JESSICA SAVAGE
The Lufkin Daily News

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

After being released from the hospital in August and seeing her condition improve, Thelma Metcalf began outpatient kidney dialysis treatments at DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center. Within a few days of treatments, Metcalf was unable to walk, said her husband, Walter. Her rapidly deteriorating condition puzzled the family doctor, her husband said, but Metcalf continued treatments over the next several months.

Then on April 1, while receiving her dialysis at Davita, the 68-year-old quit breathing. Metcalf was pronounced dead later that day at a local hospital, her husband said.

"She went from walking to being a ... I don't know what you would call it. She couldn't do anything," said Walter Metcalf, of Zavalla, during a phone interview Tuesday.

Since Monday state health officials and local law enforcement have been investigating a recent spike in patient deaths over the past 30 days at the DaVita center in Lufkin, said a spokesman with Lufkin Police Department.

A number of unexpected deaths and serious complications at the facility prompted the investigation, said Lt. David Young.

"It is not known at this time what may have caused the unexpected deaths and complications, but no evidence of criminal activity has been found," Young said in a press release.

The facility at 700 S. John Redditt Drive temporarily shut down Monday in cooperation with the investigation, sending more than a hundred patients outside the county for treatment.

Officials with the Texas Department of State Health Services and DaVita both have declined to comment on the investigation.

"Right now, it would irresponsible to speculate beyond the facts we have and we will remain focused on our patients and the care they need," DaVita spokeswoman Stephanie Horn stated in a press release issued Tuesday.

DaVita, Inc., is a nationwide kidney care service company that serves more than 100,000 patients in 43 states at its more than 1,300 outpatient facilities, the release stated.

More than 120 patients have been sent from the Lufkin center for care at DaVita facilities in Henderson and Livingston and Nacogdoches, Horn said.

Upon hearing the Lufkin facility was under investigation and had temporarily shut down, Metcalf said he hoped the facility would be closed down.

"I don't think they knew what they were doing up there," he said.

Patient Frederick Davis, who has been receiving dialysis treatments at DaVita since February, said he found out the center had closed its doors when he showed up for treatment Tuesday morning. The center had tried to reach him by phone Monday night, he was told, but Davis said he never got the message because he doesn't have an answering machine.

An employee told Davis the center was closing because some patients had died, he said.

"That's all hearsay, but I wouldn't be surprised," Davis said.

Davis said some employees who worked at the center provided care while others conducted themselves as if they were "just trying to get a paycheck."

"It was rolling the dice with who you got," he said.

Davis said the center told him he would now be receiving his treatments from Henderson Kidney and Dialysis Center, which is operated by Memorial Health System of East Texas.

Yana Ogletree, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said the center had accepted 20 patients for treatment, placing it at maximum capacity.

"We have brought in additional resources to do what we can," Ogletree said.

Staff writer Ashley Cook contributed to this report.