(2 of 2)
The hospital has barred Nurse Cho from further work there, though it praised her record of service over the past eleven years. Cho's lawyer, Arthur Blitz, complained last week that his client is being used as a "scapegoat." Said he: "The hiring of a private-duty nurse does not relieve the hospital of its own responsibilities."
Some doctors at the hospital privately admit that cost-cutting efforts, nursing-staff shortages and overworked, overtired interns may be compromising care at their institution. Hospitals around the U.S. may be "trimming their staffs too far down," says Dr. Dennis O'Leary, president of the Chicago-based Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. O'Leary suggests that the ongoing war between the "money people and the clinical people" at hospitals struggling to contain costs may be taking a toll on quality.
Whether these factors played a role in Warhol's death remains uncertain. Indeed, despite a continuing investigation by Manhattan's district attorney, chances are no one will ever know precisely why Warhol died. Unexpected arrhythmias sometimes strike after surgery, and medical scientists admit that the cause remains a mystery.