An investigation into Howard University Hospital by the Washington Post has found a laundry list of quality and financial issues at the D.C. facility, including paying at least $27 million in malpractice wrongful death lawsuits over the past decade.
The hospital posted a $58 million dollar loss in 2014 and a $19 million loss in 2015 amid reports of empty beds and unhappy physicians “fed up with the way the hospital is being run.”
“Howard has had a lot of instability in leadership, particularly at the hospital, which has made it difficult to have a sustainable strategy,” said Chiledum Ahaghotu, MD, MBA, the hospital’s former chief of urology and a Howard alumnus who resigned in 2015. “Accountability is an issue.”
One former Howard cancer surgeon said the root of some of the problems was closing the city’s only public hospital, D.C. General, in 2001.
“When it closed, we became the city hospital—unofficially,” said Robert DeWitty Jr., MD. “Patients have to go somewhere, and they may be discouraged from showing up at certain places.”
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.