The coroner said that Vista “must be held accountable” after a woman died after she was found unresponsive on the Waukegan hospital’s rooftop seven hours after going missing from her room.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said Chelsea Adolphus, 28, of Waukegan, was admitted to Vista Medical Center East, 1324 North Sheridan Road in Waukegan, around 4 a.m. Wednesday seeking medical treatment and help.
Adolphus left her patient room on the fifth floor around 2 a.m. Thursday and was discovered almost seven hours later on the second-floor rooftop of the hospital at approximately 8:45 a.m.
“The door we believe she exited, if you exit that door, you are not able to return back inside of the hospital,” Banek said, adding that it is believed that the door she exited did not have alarms.
She was found unresponsive on the rooftop while only wearing her hospital gown. Temperatures were in the low 20s at the time.
Another patient or another patient’s family was the one who spotted Adolphus on the rooftop and notified staff.
Adolphus was brought from the rooftop to the emergency room where staff provided treatment, including warming her body temperature, which was 50 degrees Fahrenheit, Banek said during a Monday press conference.
The woman was pronounced dead around 11 p.m. Thursday after staff attempted to resuscitate and warm Adolphus for 14 hours.
Banek said the hospital notified the Lake County Coroner’s Office minutes after Adolphus was pronounced dead but the hospital had not contacted the Waukegan Police Department yet.
The coroner’s office notified the police department, which met the coroner’s office at the hospital to start an investigation.
An autopsy was performed on Adolphus on Friday at the coroner’s office and the preliminary findings show she died from hypothermia due to cold exposure. The final cause of death is pending toxicology results.
American Healthcare Systems, the owner of the hospital, and the Vista leadership team have been issued a preservation letter by the coroner’s office ordering all paper, video, digital and electronic evidence to be saved.
In addition to being the coroner, Banek is also a nurse anesthesiologist who previously cared for patients at Vista Medical Center East.
“I have voiced my concerns about the lack of care and safety measures in place at this facility,” Banek said.
The Illinois Department of Public Health revoked Vista’s Level 2 trauma designation for five weeks last year for not having the appropriate blood supply and clinical staff available for patients.
Vista Health System earlier this month announced it was furloughing 69 workers from Vista Medical Center East due to financial issues.
Banek said among those workers furloughed were sitters, who are staff members who sit and watch patients to ensure they are safe when they are the most vulnerable.
“I had warned during a February 2024 press conference that lives were at stake. In high-stakes industries, like healthcare, we rely on evidence-based practices, transparency, and effective oversight as protective measures to make certain people do not die. A death is not the threshold by which we should be measuring the necessity for a call to action,” Banek said.
“American Healthcare Systems must be held accountable to provide safe, quality healthcare to Waukegan and its surrounding communities. It has repeatedly fallen short by failing to meet its financial obligations to vendors, clinical providers, the City of Waukegan for its water bill, in addition, to $1M owed in back taxes,” she added.
Vista recently applied to the State of Illinois for a safety net designation.
Safety net hospitals receive additional subsidies when they meet certain thresholds of Medicaid or charity care.
“While safety net hospital designation from the State of Illinois could help with healthcare costs and improve access to the community, unless there is transparency, money should not be given to private equity entities at the taxpayers’ expense, especially to a company with such a poor track record. Hospitals are a public trust and the public needs to trust in the hospital that serves this community,” Banek said.
The coroner expressed her condolences to the Adolphus family and said that accidental loss of life because of lack of appropriate basic safety measures “cannot happen again.”
“More delays and excuses puts Vista patients at risk. It is past time for all stakeholders to step up and find solutions that ensure safe, quality healthcare at Vista Medical Center,” Banek said.
Banek spoke for approximately 20 minutes during a press conference at the Lake County Courthouse and Administration Building in Waukegan on Monday afternoon, which the Waukegan Police Department was not present for.
The woman’s brother, Paul Adolphus, also spoke during the press conference and said the family is seeking answers.
He said his family is going through a “horrible time” and are shocked by what happened.
“We want to know exactly what happened from when my sister stepped foot in that facility. The Adolphus family will be seeking justice for Chelsea Adolphus,” Paul Adolphus said.
Former Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham told Lake and McHenry County Scanner after the press conference that he is devastated by what occurred and that answers are needed to help restore the community’s faith in Vista.