The Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida is facing lawsuits from 89 patients and their families. The lawsuits allege that the hospital did not take necessary precautions to prevent patients from contracting staph infections after open-heart surgery. Attorneys for the plaintiffs say the hospital's negligence is to blame for 16 post-surgical staph infection deaths.

The lawsuits are related to heart procedures performed from 1995 through June 2001. Each suit seeks damages exceeding $15,000. A spokesman for the hospital denied the allegations claiming the hospital has always provided "quality cardiac care."