Staffing struggles contribute to string of 3 deaths at major US teaching hospital

Nurses have been flagging understaffed units and troublesome turnover rates at a major teaching hospital in the Northeast for some time. Specific hazards they’ve mentioned include medication errors, triple assignments in the ICU and seriously delayed care. 

Now those warnings have manifested in a worst-case scenario, with three deaths attributable to inadequate staffing over the past year.

The institution is 617-bed, 65-bassinet Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford, Conn. 

Going forward, if it fails to comply with Connecticut’s minimum nurse-to-patient staffing plans, it could face regulatory fines, enforced corrective action plans, external oversight and the potential loss of state licensing. 

The Hartford Courant has been following the developments. In exclusive coverage posted May 19, the newspaper quotes reports from an independent monitor that the Courant obtained through a Freedom of Information request. 

“Staffing was inadequate to meet the needs of patient care, treatment and/or services as evidenced by the lack of response to a patient’s deteriorating condition,” the independent monitor reported Jan. 18. “At the time of the demise of the patient, the RN taking care of the patient had a five-patient assignment when the staffing plan stated that RNs had four-patient assignments.”

Combined with previous Courant coverage from last November and earlier in 2025, the May 19 reportage shows the January mortality to be the third in a year’s time. 

A high performer at a low ebb 

Notably, Saint Francis Hospital is not a struggling community facility. It holds primary academic affiliations for undergraduate and graduate medical education with the medical schools at the University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University. 

It’s a level-1 trauma center, part of the Trinity Health of New England network and the largest Catholic hospital in New England. U.S. News & World Report regularly ranks it as one of the best in its region and as an exemplary performer across 14 procedures and conditions. 

The May 19 Hartford Courant report, filed by staff reporter Livi Stanford, lists several consequential lapses in staffing levels cited by the independent monitor and other watchdogs. Among them:  

• On Feb. 12 at 3 a.m., the emergency department “had 94 patients including 58 inpatient boarders and 14 nurses, requiring each nurse to care for 6.7 patients. … The nursing staffing plan allows for each nurse in the ED to care for 4.5 patients. … At 5:35 on 2/13/26 an adverse event occurred.”
   
• On Feb. 24 the independent monitor said that “RN staffing remains challenging. … Month to date ED compliance is 61%.” The Courant points out that Connecticut’s hospital staffing law, in effect since 2023, requires hospitals to be in compliance with their staffing plan 80% of the time.
   
• In March the monitor noted that staffing had improved somewhat but “there continue to be shifts and units where the staffing levels do not align with the staffing plan.”
   
• Last month 40 radiologists from Advanced Imaging Specialists left Saint Francis after the group sued the hospital for mismanagement and lack of equipment. 
   
• Last year 15 hospitalists left Trinity Health of New England, the majority from Saint Francis, after the health system required them to shift their employment to California-based Vituity within 90 days or risk losing their jobs. An unknown number of nurses have also left the hospital.

Connecticut legislation enacted in 2023 and overseen by the state Department of Public Health stops short of prescribing specific staffing ratios for hospitals. However, as explained by the Littler law firm, it mandates specific requirements for nurse staffing committees and applies to both unionized and non-union hospitals. 

A call for leadership attuned to nurses’ concerns 

A spokesperson for Trinity Health of New England tells the Courant Trinity is “taking decisive steps to strengthen safety, quality and the patient and colleague experience at Saint Francis and across Trinity Health Of New England.”

The spokesperson says one of the steps is forming a physician-led executive leadership team to guide advances in patient safety and operational excellence. 

“We have made new, targeted investments to support this work, including engaging external independent specialists to assess our current state and provide a clear roadmap to advance a high-reliability organizational culture,” the spokesperson says.

The Courant also spoke with a professor of healthcare administration and public health at the University of New Haven. 

“The key is responsible leadership that cares, that shows they believe this is a strategic investment,” says the educator-researcher, Pavani Rangachari, PhD, CPH. “This is a human resource that they’re investing in. Hospitals need to see nurses not simply as a cost center but as central to the mission and the culture and long-term sustainability of healthcare.”