Ransomware Attack Prompts Overwhelmed Nurse to Call 911 from Hospital

A cyberattack on CommonSpirit, the second-largest nonprofit hospital chain in the US, is driving overwhelmed emergency room nurses to adopt desperate measures, including calling 911 for help.

CommonSpirit operates more than 700 care sites and 142 hospitals in 21 states. It’s one of the largest non-profit hospital systems, by revenue, in the US.

Outages have been ongoing at CommonSpirit hospitals for the past week due to what was initially described as an “IT security issue.”

The non-profit this week confirmed it suffered a ransomware attack, with reports revealing that the cyber incident has led to delayed surgeries, hold ups in patient care, diverted ambulances, and rescheduled doctor appointments across the country.

In a desperate plea for help, a nurse at St. Michael Medical Center reportedly called 911 saying ​​they were “drowning” in patients with too few hands on deck to assist everyone.

CommonSpirit issued a statement this week acknowledging the incident and assuring those concerned that the organization took immediate steps to protect its systems, contain the incident, start an investigation, and ensure continuity of care.

“Our facilities are following existing protocols for system outages, which includes taking certain systems offline, such as electronic health records,” the statement reads. “We continue to conduct a thorough forensics investigation and review of our systems and will also seek to determine if there are any data impacts as part of that process.”

A parent whose daughter is a nurse at a CommonSpirit hospital tells The Register that the facility has patients on dialysis machines without current lab reports. Also, IV medications coming from the pharmacy have hand-written labels “without correct order information," the person said.

"Most of the nursing staff is unfamiliar with doing paper charting and handwritten information leads to errors," they added.

A study by the Ponemon Institute indicates that cyberattacks against hospitals directly translate into higher mortality rates.