| AdventHealth Wauchula | |
| Org/Group: | AdventHealth |
| Location: | 735 South 5th Avenue |
| Region: | Wauchula |
| State: | Florida |
| Country: | United States |
| Coordinates: | 27.5355°N -81.817°W |
| Healthcare: | Private hospital |
| Funding: | Non-profit hospital |
| Type: | General hospital |
| Helipad: | No |
| Beds: | 25[1] |
| Founded: | 1970 |
| Former-Names: | Hardee Memorial Hospital Florida Hospital Memorial Hospital |
AdventHealth Wauchula is a non-profit hospital in Wauchula, Florida, United States owned by AdventHealth. In 1988, the hospital received national attention after it was revealed that two babies were switched at birth there in 1978.[2] [3] In 2019, AdventHealth Wauchula received a bomb threat that forced it to evacuate.[4] [5]
In late July 1992, Hardee Memorial Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the United States Bankruptcy Court in Tampa.[6] [7] The Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection had nothing to do with the baby-swap incident.[8] Also in July 1992, the only physician who worked at Hardee Memorial Hospital quite their job and the hospital closed soon after.[9]
In late June 2016, there was a groundbreaking for a new $32 million hospital to replace the old one. The new site on U.S. Route 17 is about 0.75miles northeast of the old site. The new hospital opened in 2017.[10] [11]
On January 2, 2019, Florida Hospital Wauchula rebranded to AdventHealth Wauchula.[12] [13] On November 8, the hospital received a bomb threat at 2:30 p.m., which forced AdventHealth Wauchula to evacuate all patients and employees. Local responders responded after the threating call, as well as responders from DeSoto County, Highlands County, Manatee County, Polk County and the Florida Highway Patrol. Also the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded. No bomb was found at the hospital.[14] [15] [16]
The United States government required all hospitals to have their chargemaster on its website, by January 1, 2021.[17] In a survey done in 2022, the majority of hospitals in Florida including AdventHealth Wauchula had failed to comply with the new law.[17] [18] It was not until early February 2023, that the hospital was in full compliance with the law.[19]
On December 1978, Arlena Twigg and Kimberly Michelle May were switched after being born at Hardee Memorial Hospital. Their parents were not aware of the switch when they left the hospital.[20]
In early September 1988, Ernest and Regina Twigg of Sebring, Florida, filed a lawsuit against Hardee Memorial Hospital and four of its employees in a United States District Court in Tampa for $100 million.[21] [22] [23] They did this after a genetic test was done on Arlena, before she died in August 1988 from a congenital heart defect. The genetic test revealed that Arlena was not their biological daughter.[21] [23] The Twiggs asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate Hardee Memorial Hospital, which they did and found that no federal crime had been committed.[21] [22] [23]
In 1989, the Twiggs filed a lawsuit against Robert Mays of Sarasota, Florida to seek custody of Kimberly Mays, after almost a year they agreed to drop their custody lawsuit if a genetic test was done on Kimberly. Originally Robert Mays had refused to submit Kimberly to a genetic test.[24] [25] When the genetic test was done on Robert and Kimberly, it was revealed that Kimberly was 99.9 percent the daughter of the Twiggs. [23] [24] [25] The genetic test was done by Johns Hopkins University.[23] [25]
In 1991, Hardee Memorial Hospital agreed to settle the lawsuit for $3.5 million to $7 million.[8] [26] [27] Also in late August 1992, the hospital agreed to settle a lawsuit by Robert Mays and daughter Kimberly Mays for $6.6 million.[8] [28] The money would be payed out from the Florida Patient's Compensation Fund, which was created by Florida hospitals to pay for lawsuits by patients.[8]
In late August 1993, Kimberly Mays successfully divorced the Twiggs, when Circuit Judge Stephen Dakan refused to order her to see them.[29] [30] In late November 1993, the Twiggs asked for a criminal probe into the baby-swap.[31] [32] They did this after Patsy Webb, a former nurses aid from Hardee Memorial Hospital, had said that a physician told her to switch Arlena and Kimberly. And that she had refused the request of the physician and that the following day they had been switched.[33] Later Robert May had been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and took a polygraph which he passed.[31]
No criminal probe was planned, since the claim by Patsy Webb was considered a tall tale,[34] during the custody for Kimberly, Webb said in court that she knew nothing of the switch.[33]
In March 1994, Kimberly Mays ran away from home and was found later by Sarasota police at the YMCA, she later moved in with the Twiggs.[35] [36] [37] In early May 1994, the Twiggs, Robert Mays and Kimberly were back in the courtroom of Circuit Judge Stephen Dakan. He overturned his August 1993 decision, granting both the Twiggs and Robert Mays guardianship of Kimberly.[38] [39]