Two organizations are investigating Raleigh, N.C.-based UNC Health Rex after a storm left several units without electricity for more than an hour, The News & Observer reported Aug. 11.
At around 7:40 p.m. Aug. 7, a lightning strike caused a power surge that tripped circuit breaks and cut power to several areas of the hospital, including the emergency department. Power was restored 1 hour and 20 minutes later.
The state Division of Health Service Regulation and an accrediting body for hospitals that was unnamed in the report are investigating whether the hospital was in compliance with state and federal laws and if it created unsafe conditions for patients.
No patients were harmed as a result of the outage, health system officials said.
Phil Bridges, a UNC Health spokesperson, told the news outlet, "Our system reacted the way it was designed to prevent major damage to hospital equipment."