“This is my ward! This is my ward!” Rodriguez (22nd) chirps back as Sigcho-Lopez (25th) grills Gov., saying, “the State Police are arresting protesters.”

“They’re protecting our protesters,” Gov. JB Pritzker responds.

Thank you, Lynda!

Thanks for reading and sharing!

This investigation required digging through thousands of pages of public records and interviewing dozens of people. It examined our health care system through this one hospital but it isn't the only one operating like this. I hope you give it a read.

blockclubchicago.org/2025/08/27/s...

Staff and patient's greatest fear happened in 2022. When a 27-year-old woman who fainted came to the hospital by an ambulance struggling to breathe. She was never medically assessed and died while in the ER's waiting area.

Then there was the patient experience. One patient said her mother's tracheostomy was clogged and struggling to breathe. She sat waiting for hours before her daughter demanded immediate help. Then, nurses tried plugging the suction machine in the wall but there was no power.

Nurse said they sometimes have to feed patients themselves since the cafeteria sometimes runs out of food. Another ER Tech said one day they only had eggs to feed patients. He quit shortly after that.

Staff shared stories that they believe are placing patient in danger. This includes an ER tech who was asked to do medication pushes and on one occasion doing a jugular IV on a patient. These things go beyond what they were license to do.

We examined years of Medicare Cost reports to try and understand the health of the hospital. And what experts told us is the hospital appears to be in a "financial death spiral"

These records painted a picture of declining patient volumes and decreasing revenue.