The inspectors were initially refused entry to the hospital by staff members who demanded a search warrant before allowing the inspectors to enter. Phone negotiations resulted in that demand being rescinded and the inspectors, along with Wayne County Sheriff's deputies, entered the hospital campus where the bodies were discovered in a warehouse being used both as a morgue and supply storage center.
According to an official report from Bill Nowling, a spokesman for Wayne County, health inspectors discovered the approximately 50 bodies in a vacant building on the hospital grounds.
“The Wayne County Health Division has launched an investigation to determine whether county health ordinances were violated by the hospital system,” Nowling said.
The inspection seemed to validate one claim of employees who were laid off when the hospital was closed last week. Several of the health workers accused the Beaumont system of hoarding scarce personal protection equipment in the same Wayne warehouse and union busting tactics in the closing of Beaumont Wayne.
In response to the report of the makeshift morgue, a spokesman said that Beaumont “received approvals from the City of Wayne Department of Community Development and Planning, Building Department and Fire Marshall to convert part of a warehouse into a temporary morgue.
“Once we obtained approval, we worked quickly to ensure that part of the warehouse space could serve this temporary purpose in a safe, appropriate and respectful way. Beaumont continues to use the rest of the warehouse to store much needed supplies we distribute to our hospitals across metro Detroit,” Mark Geary, Beaumont director of external communications, claimed in a prepared response.
The City of Wayne issued a formal statement stating that Beaumont requested permission for the temporary morgue from the Building and Engineering Department in mid-April, but had not yet provided the requested photographs and documents.
“Without advanced notice, without being able to explain their purpose, and without appropriately fitting PPE to protect themselves from the coronavirus, various individuals demanded entry into the warehouse,” Geary said.
Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Debbie Dingell from Congressional District 12 and 13 respectively wrote strong letters to Beaumont Health management this month, requesting information about the business model that would allow the closure of the 185-bed community hospital. Both lawmakers expressed their disagreement with the decision and reiterated several employee complaints about unusual practices at the Wayne facility, including the unconventional storage of bodies. Those communications preceded the discovery of the corpses last week.
In response, Beaumont administrators said the closure of the Wayne hospital, which had been emptied of all patients by March 26 and then designated as a COVID-19 only treatment center, was temporary and that the hospital would re-open after the current pandemic when specific state controls were lifted. Whether the hospital would remain as a COVID-19 only facility or reopen as an acute care hospital remained unclear.
Last week, Beaumont also announced the lay off of 2,375 employees across the entire service area and the permanent elimination of 450 jobs.
The heath system claimed the action was necessary due to the dire financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, CEO John Fox will reportedly take a temporary 70-percent pay cut in his base salary and other members of the health system executive leadership team will also take temporary pay reductions of up to 45 percent.
“Temporarily laid-off employees can apply for enhanced unemployment benefits available through state and federal programs. As additional medical services are brought back online at all our campuses, including Wayne, employees could be asked to return to their roles. These individuals can also continue to participate in their Beaumont health insurance and other benefits at their current employee rates during the layoff period,” Fox said in a prepared statement.
“Those whose jobs are eliminated will receive a lump-sum severance package and will likely be able to take advantage of enhanced state and federal unemployment benefits. These employees will have the option to continue their benefits at current employee rates through their severance period,” he added.
Impacted employees will be eligible to apply for other open positions at Beaumont and given priority, he stated.
“We will do everything we can to assist our employees affected by these changes. We never want to have to make decisions like this, but no one could have predicted the extraordinary impact this virus would have on health care and society overall,” Fox said.
