Hospital Emergency Rooms Shut Down In Three US States Due To Cyberattack

A recent cyberattack on US hospitals has caused significant disruption across various departments within medical facilities, posing numerous challenges for both medical professionals and patients. Emergency rooms in a minimum of three states have been paralyzed by the cyberattack, forcing the organisation to redirect patients to alternative facilities.

According to CNN, all of the affected hospitals are in New Jersey, New Mexico, and Oklahoma and are owned, or partly owned, by Ardent Health Services, a Tennessee-based company that owns more than two dozen hospitals in at least five states.

The attack had shut down a significant number of its computerized services, the company said in a news release. 

The organisation said that a ransomware attack caused the disruption and that its facilities were "diverting some emergency room patients to other area hospitals until systems are back online." Hospital facilities were also forced to reschedule some non-emergency surgeries.

Patient care "continues to be delivered safely and effectively in its hospitals, emergency rooms, and clinics," Ardent Health said on Monday.

"In an abundance of caution, our facilities are rescheduling some non-emergent elective procedures and diverting some emergency room patients to other area hospitals until systems are back online," Ardent Health's release said.

"In the interim, while this incident results in temporary disruption to certain aspects of Ardent's clinical and financial operations, patient care continues to be delivered safely and effectively in its hospitals, emergency rooms, and clinics. In an abundance of caution, our facilities are rescheduling some non-emergent elective procedures and diverting some emergency room patients to other area hospitals until systems are back online," the company said.

"The investigation and restoration of access to electronic medical records and other clinical systems are ongoing. Ardent is still determining the full impact of this event, and it is too soon to know how long this will take or what data may be involved in this incident."