Four nurses have filed a lawsuit against the past and current owners of a Joliet hospital that alleges they have endangered the lives of patients through severe understaffing.

The lawsuit was filed on June 4 against Ascension Healthcare and Prime Healthcare Services at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet.

Ascension was the former owner of Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet. Prime Healthcare took over the hospital in 2025.

The nurses pursuing the lawsuit include Cathy Wolff, Mary Sue Bugler, Paula Koranda and Cindy Poe.

Wolf and Bulger are still with the Joliet hospital, while Koranda and Poe contend they were forced to leave because of severe understaffing and intolerable working conditions, according to the lawsuit.

Lawsuit’s allegations

The lawsuit alleged Koranda worked for more than 52 years at Saint Joseph Medical Center and the number of nurses at the hospital dropped from 550 to 250.

The companies “cannot readily fire senior and better-paid” nurses but have been able to “force out these nurses” by making “work conditions intolerable,” the lawsuit alleged.

“In this manner, defendants save even more cost by understaffing and acting in willful and wanton disregard of the harm to plaintiffs and other nurses,” the lawsuit alleged.

The nurses’ lawsuit alleged Ascension and Prime caused them to suffer “fatigue, burnout and other physical symptoms” because of the severe understaffing and the companies have systematically failed to meet “minimally safe nurse-to-patient ratios” for the Joliet hospital.

Patients’ lives are being endangered through “severe understaffing” and by forcing plaintiffs and other nurses to “watch helplessly as the needs of their patients are ignored, the defendants have engaged in conduct that is unethical, immoral and indifferent to the conduct expected of a hospital, to provide safe and adequate patient care,” the lawsuit alleged.

In an email, Noel True, a Prime Healthcare spokesperson, said Saint Joseph Medical Center does “not comment on pending litigation and the majority of these allegations involve periods of time under previous ownership.”

“Patient care is always our top priority with recent investments to support caregivers, and our current staffing practices align with national best practices for quality and safety,” True said.

In another email, Olga Solares, an Ascension spokesperson, said the company does “not comment on ongoing litigation but is committed to vigorously defending these allegations.”

“We remain focused on delivering high-quality patient care and supporting the dedicated nurses, providers, and associates who make that care possible,” Solares said.

In May, Prime Healthcare officials touted the praise they’ve received from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board after acquiring Franciscan Health Olympia Fields.

“During the review board’s unanimous 8-0 vote, members repeatedly highlighted Prime’s track record of turning around financially distressed hospitals, fulfilling commitments made to Illinois communities and investing in expanded services,” according to the statement from Prime Healthcare.

In 2025, Prime Healthcare purchased eight Illinois hospitals from Ascension, including Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Mercy Hospital in Aurora and Saint Mary Medical Center in Kankakee.

Prime Healthcare has defended the cuts at Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet. Company officials said the hospital experienced a “period of significant financial distress, including approximately $90 million in annual losses until it was saved by Prime Healthcare.”

Nurse-to-patient ratios

The nurses’ lawsuit alleged Ascension and Prime have “consistently disregarded” recommendations from a nursing care committee regarding nurse-to-patient ratios for each care unit and “systematically breached” the lower standards that a chief nursing officer chose to adopt.

The lawsuit claimed only Wolff and Melody Ryan, another nurse, have been assigned to the dialysis unit “at various times in the past” and the companies have submitted technicians for work done by nurses.

The lawsuit alleged technicians can only do part of what nurses are trained and qualified to do and Wolff and Ryan “have far more work than two nurses can safely handle” in a unit where “extreme kidney failure has life and death consequences.”

The lawsuit alleged Prime Healthcare is currently attempting to have a ratio of one nurse for three patients in dialysis for kidney failure instead of just two.

The lawsuit accused Ascension and Prime Healthcare of setting nurse-to-patient “ratios, or ‘grids,’ however they please, with no meaningful input from the nurses.”

Poe became one of the “floater” nurses at the Joliet hospital who work in various units, such as the emergency room, and other units “outside of her specialty and training, which were already understaffed,” the lawsuit alleged.

“Defendant Ascension knew that it was highly stressful for Poe and other nurses to become floaters and to work in various units temporarily that were severely understaffed and to provide patient care outside their specially or for which they were unfamiliar,” the lawsuit alleged.

Poe left the hospital after she became emotionally drained, exhausted and fearing reprisal from her employer because she protested unsafe staffing, the lawsuit alleged.