"We are excited to have a seasoned healthcare executive like Denten leading our operations in Massachusetts," said Maggie Gill, Eastern Group President for Tenet Healthcare, a Dallas-based for-profit chain. "I am confident that his experience and leadership will be instrumental in building strong relationships with our staff, physicians and community, and advancing our mission of providing high-quality care."

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Nurses Association said nurses look forward to meeting with Park and building "a positive, collaborative relationship."

Park's predecessor, Jackson, had a stormy tenure. A few years ago, nurses at Saint Vincent staged the longest nursing strike in state history, in large part because they alleged the hospital was understaffed. The walkout lasted nearly 10 months before both sides negotiated a new contract in January 2022.

Late last year, the Globe reported that nurses at Saint Vincent alleged that cost-cutting measures were causing pervasive lapses in care. Among the deficiencies the nurses cited were the September deaths of two patients who allegedly failed to receive potentially life-saving dialysis in the intensive care unit.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association says Saint Vincent accounted for more reports of unsafe staffing last year than any of the 42 other hospitals where it represents nurses.

On January 7, about two dozen nurses from Saint Vincent and Framingham Union met with Dr. Robert Goldstein, the commissioner of the state Department of Public Health. They implored him to assign independent monitors to Saint Vincent, Framingham Union, and Leonard Morse after presenting evidence of safety lapses. (Framingham Union and Leonard Morse together make up MetroWest Medical Center.)

The evidence included a photograph of a noose that a psychiatric patient was allegedly able to make from bed sheets because of insufficient staffing. The patient ultimately did not harm herself.

Goldstein said in a statement after the visit that "the stories and insights highlighted by these frontline caregivers were honest and heartfelt." He said his department investigates all complaints and visits hospitals if necessary, but he stopped far short of assigning monitors to Tenet's hospitals.

Spokespersons for Saint Vincent and Tenet have repeatedly denied that care is deficient and said after Goldstein's meeting with nurses that the union was engaging in "publicity stunts."

"There is no doubt that these unfounded attacks are related to upcoming negotiations with the union at Saint Vincent, a tactic the union uses in connection with contract negotiations with virtually all other systems across the state," Tenet spokesperson Shelly Weiss Friedberg said at the time.