Demand a Federal Investigation of American Healthcare Systems
The Issue
Chelsea Adolphus was 28 years old when she was admitted to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, Illinois, on January 22, 2025. She was anemic, disoriented, and showing signs of alcohol withdrawal. Staff gave her Ativan, a medication known to cause confusion, and monitored her through the night.
When she began wandering her floor, a security guard recognized the problem: she needed a patient sitter, a staff member assigned to stay with at-risk patients. But none were available. One week earlier, American Healthcare Systems (AHS), the company that owns Vista, had furloughed 78 employees to cut costs, including most of the hospital's sitters.
Adolphus pushed through an emergency exit and ended up on the hospital's second-floor rooftop through a door that was unlocked and unalarmed. In temperatures that dropped to the low 20s, she was trapped outside in a thin gown and socks for nearly seven hours. A nurse spotted her face-down in the snow. She had no pulse and an internal body temperature of 50 degrees. Fourteen hours of resuscitation failed to save her.
AHS first told her family she had been found in a nearby parking lot, then in the hospital's backyard. Only after the family requested medical records did the hospital admit the truth: she had frozen to death on its own roof.
AHS promised compassionate care when it bought Vista. That same year, court records show, its CEO allegedly used hospital funds to visit a French villa in Cannes, wire more than $100,000 to cover a luxury baptism party at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, and purchase a Rolls-Royce. (He denies taking hospital money for personal use.) The company's own partners are now suing each other, alleging more than $50 million was diverted from hospital accounts. AHS's two Illinois hospitals owe more than $116 million in state taxes, with more than 100 lawsuits claiming tens of millions more in unpaid bills.
Chelsea Adolphus needed a sitter. AHS cut them to save money. Then it lied to her family about where she died.
Sign this petition to demand a federal criminal investigation of American Healthcare Systems, immediate license reviews in every state where it operates, and new federal solvency standards to stop predatory operators from buying critical hospitals they cannot afford to run.
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The Issue
Chelsea Adolphus was 28 years old when she was admitted to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, Illinois, on January 22, 2025. She was anemic, disoriented, and showing signs of alcohol withdrawal. Staff gave her Ativan, a medication known to cause confusion, and monitored her through the night.
When she began wandering her floor, a security guard recognized the problem: she needed a patient sitter, a staff member assigned to stay with at-risk patients. But none were available. One week earlier, American Healthcare Systems (AHS), the company that owns Vista, had furloughed 78 employees to cut costs, including most of the hospital's sitters.
Adolphus pushed through an emergency exit and ended up on the hospital's second-floor rooftop through a door that was unlocked and unalarmed. In temperatures that dropped to the low 20s, she was trapped outside in a thin gown and socks for nearly seven hours. A nurse spotted her face-down in the snow. She had no pulse and an internal body temperature of 50 degrees. Fourteen hours of resuscitation failed to save her.
AHS first told her family she had been found in a nearby parking lot, then in the hospital's backyard. Only after the family requested medical records did the hospital admit the truth: she had frozen to death on its own roof.
AHS promised compassionate care when it bought Vista. That same year, court records show, its CEO allegedly used hospital funds to visit a French villa in Cannes, wire more than $100,000 to cover a luxury baptism party at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, and purchase a Rolls-Royce. (He denies taking hospital money for personal use.) The company's own partners are now suing each other, alleging more than $50 million was diverted from hospital accounts. AHS's two Illinois hospitals owe more than $116 million in state taxes, with more than 100 lawsuits claiming tens of millions more in unpaid bills.
Chelsea Adolphus needed a sitter. AHS cut them to save money. Then it lied to her family about where she died.
Sign this petition to demand a federal criminal investigation of American Healthcare Systems, immediate license reviews in every state where it operates, and new federal solvency standards to stop predatory operators from buying critical hospitals they cannot afford to run.
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Petition created on July 29, 2026