California Public Health Department Issues Penalties To Hospitals Over Patient Safety
The penalties are part of an ongoing “immediate jeopardy” program created in 2007 by the state legislature in an attempt to curtail preventable harm in hospitals.
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Three San Diego Hospitals Fined For Patient Harm Incidents
Three San Diego hospitals are among 10 across the state penalized Thursday for mistakes that severely injured, or killed, patients. The California Department of Public Health levied a total of $618,002 in penalties against the facilities, including $233,650 in financial pain for Sharp Coronado Hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns and Vibra Hospital of San Diego, for errors which included an attempted suicide, a sponge left inside a patient and a fall-related death. (Sisson, 8/31)
Fresno Bee:
Valley Children's In Madera Fined For Patient Death
The California Department of Public Health has fined Valley Children’s Hospital $71,962.50 in the death of a patient two years ago. The state says a delay in communicating the results of a chest X-ray and scan resulted in a delay in medical treatment and surgery, resulting in the potentially avoidable death of the young man who died from a bleeding aneurysm. No information about the patient’s age or hometown was immediately available, but the state identified him as male and Valley Children’s identified him as a “young adult.” Valley Children’s treats patients up to 21 years of age. He died on Nov. 6, 2015. (Anderson, 8/31)