Department of Health Services Issues Report on Hospital, Clinic Actions Following Patient Death

ValleyCare Medical Center in Pleasanton and a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Hayward did not follow state guidelines that require medical facilities to report "unusual incidents" after treating an 18-year-old Livermore woman who last year died after taking mifepristone to induce a medical abortion, according to a Department of Health Services report released Tuesday, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The woman died in September of septic shock after taking mifepristone that she had received at the Hayward Planned Parenthood clinic (Walker, San Jose Mercury News, 2/25). ValleyCare spokesperson Kathy Campbell said that the hospital reported the patient's death to the coroner's office but did not believe it was required to report the death to DHS because the incident involved a "young adult who received drugs for an early medical abortion," the Contra Costa Times reports. Campbell said that the state requires hospitals to report incidents such as deaths by "fire, poisoning and epidemics," the Times reports. However, Campbell added that the hospital in the future will consider such incidents unusual deaths cases and report them to DHS (English, Contra Costa Times, 2/25). According to the report, the Planned Parenthood clinic also should have reported the patient's death to DHS because the patient was under the clinic's care at the time of her death (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 2/25). The clinic said that it did not report the patient's death to DHS because she died in the hospital, according to the report. However, the clinic subsequently submitted a "plan of correction" and agreed to report to DHS unusual occurrences, such as deaths from unnatural causes and unexpected deaths, according to the Times. Neither the clinic nor ValleyCare were penalized for their failure to report the patient's death to DHS (Contra Costa Times, 2/26). In addition, DHS found no deficiencies in the care the patient received at ValleyCare (San Jose Mercury News, 2/25).

According to the report, the clinic failed to follow its own consent and education procedures by not having the patient sign one of three informational consent forms, the Times reports (Contra Costa Times, 2/25). DHS spokesperson Norma Arceo said the form that the patient did not sign contained "crucial information about the care and procedures for her to follow when she returned home" (San Jose Mercury News, 2/25). Although the patient did not sign all three forms, the clinic said that a counselor reviewed all consent material with the patient before providing her with mifepristone. In addition, the clinic said that the patient was "personally instructed" and given written materials on how to properly administer mifepristone, but it did not have her sign the "Request for Provision of Surgery or Other Special Services/Procedure" form, according to the AP/Chronicle. Clinic officials said that they will begin placing a note on the consent form in question indicating that the document also must be signed on the reverse side. The clinic also will require that a clinician initial all three required patient signatures (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 2/25).