{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-13T06:05:47.168Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"staffing","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":2,"coverage":{"cases":2,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":1,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":1,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":1},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-us-hospital-chain-data-scientist-alleges-firing-after-reporting-unauditable-ai-staffing-tool","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"documented","evidence":[{"locator":"'This is a retaliatory discharge action brought by Russell against HCA under the Tennessee'; 'Case 3:26-cv-00983 Document 1 Filed 07/15/26'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"Angelique Russell filed a retaliatory-discharge complaint against HCA Healthcare in the Middle District of Tennessee on 15 July 2026 under the Tennessee Public Protection Act.","causal_attribution":"Established by the filed complaint."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Russell determined that Timpani, an AI system whose daily census predictions help set nurse'; 'a rolling basis, leaving HCA permanently unable to reproduce or audit the staffing decisions'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'She accused HCA of routinely deleting data the tool uses to create schedules, which prevented auditing how well it worked'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The complaint alleges that Timpani, an AI system whose daily census predictions help set nurse staffing, overwrote the data behind its predictions so that HCA could not reproduce or audit the staffing decisions it drove.","causal_attribution":"The plaintiff's allegation; WIRED relays the same complaint."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'On March 5, 2026, weeks after Russell first raised Timpani'; 'HCA placed Russell on a Performance Improvement Plan'; 'On April 3, 2026, days after Russell escalated her concerns to HCA'; 'HCA terminated her employment.'; 'The performance deficiencies cited in the PIP were pretextual.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'sued the company for allegedly firing her in retaliation for raising concerns about Timpani'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The complaint alleges that HCA placed Russell on a performance improvement plan on 5 March 2026, weeks after she first raised the defects, and terminated her on 3 April 2026, days after she escalated her concerns to its Director of Responsible AI and compliance department, and that the stated performance reasons were pretextual.","causal_attribution":"The plaintiff's allegation of retaliation; untested."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'HCA has yet to formally respond in court, and Russell declined to comment.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"WIRED reported that HCA had yet to respond formally in court and that Russell declined to comment.","causal_attribution":"Status as reported by WIRED on 2 October 2026."}],"effects":[{"label":"a data science manager says she was put on a performance plan and fired after reporting that an AI staffing tool could not be audited","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.110375/gov.uscourts.tnmd.110375.1.0.pdf","kind":"court_record","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English on 2026-10-13 (RECAP PDF, HTTP 200, converted with pdftotext); no translation. The complaint establishes that the allegations were made, not that they are true.","independence_group":"russell-complaint"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.wired.com/story/ai-making-mess-of-nurses-schedules-they-say-its-a-safety-issue/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English on 2026-10-13 (HTTP 200); WIRED summarises the complaint and adds that HCA had not responded and Russell declined comment, so it is grouped with the complaint.","independence_group":"russell-complaint"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["work"],"unknowns":["HCA's response to the allegations and its stated reasons for the termination.","Whether the Timpani defects alleged in the complaint have been confirmed or corrected."],"geography":{"basis":"The complaint states that Russell performed her work for HCA remotely from Minnesota and that HCA has its principal place of business in Nashville, Tennessee; the suit was filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The event country rests on where the work was performed and the employer is based, both in the United States.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a consequential-response case: a former HCA data science manager alleges in a federal complaint that she was fired after reporting that HCA's Timpani AI staffing system could not be audited. The allegations are attributed to the complaint and have not been tested; the plaintiff is named because she brought the suit publicly.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-13"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The harm alleged is HCA's response to an employee's objection to its AI system: the complaint says Russell reported that Timpani, an AI system whose census predictions help set nurse staffing, could not be audited or reproduced, escalated this to HCA's Director of Responsible AI and compliance department, and was placed on a performance plan and fired. No AI output about Russell is alleged, so no relation describing an AI system's action toward her is established (unknown; consequential response). The connection to AI rests on the complaint's allegations.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["unknown"]},"name":"Lawsuit says HCA fired a data science manager after she reported that its Timpani AI nurse-staffing tool could not be audited","summary":"Angelique Russell, a former manager of data science at HCA Healthcare, sued the hospital chain in federal court in Tennessee on 15 July 2026 for retaliatory discharge. Her complaint alleges that she found that Timpani, an AI system whose daily census predictions help set nurse staffing, overwrote the data behind its predictions so that its staffing decisions could not be audited or reproduced; that HCA placed her on a performance improvement plan weeks after she raised this; and that HCA fired her on 3 April 2026, days after she escalated her concerns to its Director of Responsible AI and its compliance department. She says the performance reasons were pretextual. These are allegations; HCA had not formally responded in court when WIRED reported on the suit on 2 October 2026.","incidentDate":"2026-04-03","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-07-15","aiSystem":"Timpani, which the complaint describes as an AI-enabled staffing and census forecasting system developed by HCA whose daily census predictions help set nurse staffing levels","aiProduct":"Timpani","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["professional_harm","financial_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to her complaint, Russell was placed on a performance improvement plan and then fired after reporting that HCA's Timpani AI staffing system could not be audited; she seeks lost pay and damages. HCA had not formally responded in court when WIRED reported the suit.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the plaintiff who alleges she was fired. Nurses and patients affected by staffing are not counted in this record.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-TN","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"lawsuit_filed","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.110375/gov.uscourts.tnmd.110375.1.0.pdf","primarySourceLabel":"Complaint, Russell v. HCA Healthcare, Inc., M.D. Tenn. No. 3:26-cv-00983, filed 15 July 2026 (ECF 1)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-13T03:27:47.102175+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-13T03:27:47.102175+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["workplace-ai","retaliation","whistleblower","hospital","staffing","lawsuit"]},{"id":"2026-us-hospital-nurses-say-ai-scheduling-tool-overrode-shift-requests-and-assigned-days-off","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Since 2023, HCA has rolled out an AI scheduling tool it co-developed with Palantir called Timpani at roughly 130 of its 190 locations.'; 'it uses algorithmic forecasts of patient volumes and staffing needs to automatically build nursing schedules'; 'The efficiency comes from AI generating stronger initial schedules,'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"HCA co-developed Timpani with Palantir as an AI scheduling tool, has rolled it out at roughly 130 of 190 locations since 2023, and uses it to build nursing schedules automatically from algorithmic forecasts; an HCA executive wrote that its efficiency comes from AI generating stronger initial schedules.","causal_attribution":"WIRED's description and the executive's paper as quoted; this establishes the AI scheduling role."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Over the past four months, Amber Retzloff, a critical care nurse in Florida, requested to work 50 specific 12-hour shifts. But over half the time, she says her hospital'; 'Palantir-powered scheduling software assigned her to different shifts, often putting her on back-to-back-to-back days and leaving her mentally drained.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A Florida critical care nurse said that over four months the scheduling software assigned her different shifts for over half of the 50 she requested, often back-to-back days that left her mentally drained.","causal_attribution":"The nurse's own account to WIRED."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Barker says now essentially every nurse has been assigned to work on a day they were supposed to be off. Barker delayed a long-planned doctor'; 'appointment for a chronic condition after struggling to trade an assigned red day.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"A Missouri nurse said the tool assigned essentially every nurse at the facility to work a requested day off, and that the nurse delayed a long-planned doctor's appointment for a chronic condition after struggling to trade such a day.","causal_attribution":"The nurse's own account to WIRED."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'says that nursing leaders, not Timpani, make final scheduling decisions'; 'On average, Timpani schedules nurses for 1 percent of their requested days off, or what are known as red days, according to HCA.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"HCA says nursing leaders, not Timpani, make final scheduling decisions, that the tool schedules nurses on 1 percent of requested days off on average, and that it keeps improving the tool on nurses' feedback.","causal_attribution":"HCA's statements, preserved as counterevidence on who decides."}],"effects":[{"label":"nurses say an AI scheduling tool overrode their shift requests and days off, leaving one exhausted and leading another to delay a medical appointment","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.wired.com/story/ai-making-mess-of-nurses-schedules-they-say-its-a-safety-issue/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in full in English on 2026-10-13 (HTTP 200); no translation. WIRED reports interviews with nurses, HCA's and Palantir's statements and an HCA executive's paper.","independence_group":"wired-nurse-interviews"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["work","health"],"unknowns":["The dates of the specific assignments described; WIRED reports the four months before its October 2026 article for the Florida nurse.","Whether managers reviewed or edited the specific schedules the nurses describe.","The outcome of the Missouri union grievance."],"geography":{"basis":"WIRED places the nurses at HCA hospitals in Florida and Missouri, United States.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the approved AI workforce-scheduling class: two named nurses told WIRED that HCA's AI scheduling tool, which builds schedules automatically, assigned them shifts and a requested day off against their preferences, with exhaustion and a delayed medical appointment as consequences. HCA disputes that the tool makes final decisions.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-13"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"WIRED describes Timpani as an AI scheduling tool that builds nursing schedules automatically from algorithmic forecasts of patient volumes and staffing, and quotes HCA's innovation executive writing that its efficiency comes from AI generating stronger initial schedules, which distinguishes it from ordinary rota software by the operator's own account. The nurses say the tool assigned them shifts and days off against their requests, with the consequences they describe. HCA says nursing leaders make the final decisions, so the allocation is recorded both as the tool's decision (nurses' account) and as an AI output informing managers' decisions (HCA's account).","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_decision_about","informed_decision_about"]},"name":"US: HCA nurses tell WIRED its AI scheduling tool overrode their shift requests and scheduled them on requested days off; one delayed a medical appointment","summary":"Nurses at HCA Healthcare, the largest US hospital chain, told WIRED, in an article published on 2 October 2026, that Timpani, an AI scheduling tool HCA co-developed with Palantir and has rolled out at about 130 of its 190 locations, assigns shifts that ignore their requests. A Florida critical care nurse said that over four months the tool gave her different shifts for more than half of the 50 she requested, often back-to-back days that left her mentally drained. A Missouri nurse said essentially every nurse at their facility had been assigned to work on a requested day off, and that they delayed a long-planned doctor's appointment for a chronic condition after struggling to trade such a day. HCA says nursing leaders, not Timpani, make final scheduling decisions and that the tool schedules nurses on about 1 percent of requested days off.","incidentKind":"ongoing_experience","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"repeated_interactions","reportedDate":"2026-10-02","aiSystem":"Timpani, an AI scheduling tool co-developed by HCA Healthcare and Palantir on Palantir Foundry, which uses algorithmic forecasts of patient volumes and staffing needs to build nursing schedules automatically","aiProduct":"Timpani","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_autonomy","psychological_distress","treatment_disruption"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the nurses interviewed by WIRED, the AI scheduling tool repeatedly assigned a Florida nurse shifts she had not requested, often back-to-back days that left her mentally drained, and assigned a Missouri nurse to work on a requested day off, leading Barker to delay a doctor's appointment for a chronic condition. HCA says managers make final decisions.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":2,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"Two counted: the Florida and Missouri nurses who describe specific consequences. Barker says essentially every nurse at the Missouri centre was assigned a requested day off, and five other nurses describe problems, but no further count with a stated consequence is given; patients are not counted.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.wired.com/story/ai-making-mess-of-nurses-schedules-they-say-its-a-safety-issue/","primarySourceLabel":"WIRED, 2 October 2026: AI is making a mess of nurses' schedules","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-13T03:27:43.266051+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-13T03:27:43.266051+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["workplace-ai","scheduling","nurses","hospital","palantir","union-grievance"]}]}