When Anna Belle Smith arrived at the hospital Nov. 21, the power had been out for less than an hour after an electric cable t was accidentally cut near the facility. Hospital staff said she would not be able to receive treatment at Sinai-Grace and instead wanted to transfer her, though they were hesitant to transfer her immediately because they feared their elevator could lose power. By the time Ms. Smith was transferred to Henry Ford Hospital nearly two hours after she arrived at Sinai-Grace, her blood pressure had dropped during transport, and she died soon after arrival.
“When we arrived [at Sinai-Grace], they were not prepared for us, and we did not know that,” said Mary Lisa Brown, Ms. Smith’s daughter. “The end result: My mom ended up passing. The family is left with questions. We feel like it was a breakdown.”
DMC Sinai-Grace was partially running on power from generators, which complied with all regulatory standards for a hospital of its age, though regulations for newer facilities require backup power supplies that can maintain a cardiac catheterization lab during an outage.
“Power outages affect community resources, including the need to transfer patients who seek treatment at the hospital to facilities where appropriate levels of care may be offered during a power outage,” the Detroit Medical Center said in a news release. “The hospital worked with [local energy company] DTE to restore power during the outage, and we are supportive of any efforts DTE makes to power grid infrastructure improvements for the future.”
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