For-profit hospital slashed costs. Then a patient froze to death on its roof.

A report by Mother Jones describes what it says was a fatal failure in care and staffing at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, Illinois. The account follows Chelsea Adolphus, 28, who was taken by ambulance on January 22, 2025, after a week of bleeding left her disoriented and anemic. Staff suspected alcohol withdrawal and treated her with Ativan. Court records and public reporting described agitation, hallucinations and repeated attempts to leave. The hospital allegedly furloughed 78 employees, including sitters, days earlier, leaving no one available. After security searches were called off and she was marked “discharged” without evidence, a nurse later spotted her lying on the rooftop.