BOSTON (AP) — Nurses at a Massachusetts hospital allege that hospital leaders are defying a state order to delay certain surgeries, though officials at the facility say they’re following state rules.
The Boston Globe reports that nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital are asking Massachusetts officials to investigate. The Massachusetts Nurses Association, a union that represents 3,500 Brigham nurses, told the state health department Monday that operating rooms remain as busy as ever, despite a state order to curtail scheduled surgeries.
The union wrote in a letter that nonessential surgeries were continuing while patients who need urgent surgery for broken bones and brain injuries were sometimes waiting for operating rooms.
Brigham spokesperson Lori Schroth said the hospital is complying with state rules and that decisions about which surgeries to postpone are based on criteria developed by a group of experts, including doctors and nurses.
Health department officials said they’re reviewing the union’s complaint.
Gov. Charlie Baker issued an emergency order to require any hospital or hospital system facing limited capacity to care for patients to reduce non-essential, non-urgent scheduled procedures beginning in late November. Hospitals began cutting those surgeries by 30% and the administration has now ordered hospitals to cut those surgeries by 50%, starting Wednesday as long as the delays won’t harm patients.
A holiday-season spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations has hit even New England, one of the most highly inoculated corners of the country.
(Copyright (c) 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)