CLEVELAND, OH – Carlos Maldonado was delivering a specimen his physician wanted him to take to Cleveland Clinic’s Lutheran Hospital location on West 25th Street for testing on Saturday, December 18, 2021. When he arrived at 10:30 a.m. Maldonado learned the laboratory had closed two hours earlier due to a worker shortage.
The Lutheran Hospital employee who turned Maldonado away explained that only one person showed up for work though four were scheduled. The single employee who did arrive for work was sent back home. The normal Saturday workload was too much for one worker to handle.

Maldonado needed the results of the test for a medical appointment scheduled for Monday with his primary care physician. A founding member of Cleveland’s Guardian Angel chapter in 1981, Maldonado dumped the specimen and left. He decided to take another specimen to the west side hospital on Monday.
Maldonado’s health information is privacy protected under the Health Information and Patient Portability Act (HIPPA). The reason for his visit is between Maldonado and his physician. EJBNEWS is sharing that the unexpected disruption to a routine visit alarmed Maldonado about the quality of health care he’d be getting from Lutheran Hospital going forward.
“I was expecting to make the drop-off like I’ve always done,” he said. “This time was different.”