CDPH Fines 10 Hospitals $625,000

The California Department of Public Health last week issued administrative penalties against 10 hospitals and fined them a total of $625,000 for lapses in care that occurred in 2010 and 2011 that either endangered a patient's life or lead to their deaths. 

Four patients died as a result of the incidents, including an adolescent awaiting a bone marrow transplant who was given a massive overdose of an anti-fungal medication by staff at Children's Hospital Los Angeles after dosage suggestions made by the hospital's own computer-assisted physician ordering system were confused. 

Another patient at Marin General Hospital in Novato died after he was mistakenly given an anti-hypertension drug in lieu of the antibiotic he had been prescribed, leading to renal failure and gangrene.

Two other patients died in San Diego County hospitals as the result of injuries they sustained as a result of falls. In one incident, a patient at Palomar Health's downtown Escondido campus fell out of bed and suffered severe heard injuries even after he showed staff that he could disable a system warning that he could fall. 

Altogether, the CDPH has fined 150 hospitals $11.9 million since 2007, when the agency was given the statutory power to regulate providers for serious medical errors. To date, it has collected $8.8 million. The remainder of the fines and penalties are under appeal, a laborious process that can take years.

Those hospitals fined include:

1. Pacific Medical Center, pacific campus, San Francisco. Patient underwent bladder surgery in 2011. Sponge was retained as the result of a failure of formal counting procedures. Fourth administrative penalty for the hospital. Fined $100,000.

2. Marin General Hospital, Novato. Nurse administered an anti-hypertension medication to a pneumonia patient instead of antibiotic in 2011. Led to renal failure, dry gangrene of feet and two fingers, and death. Third penalty. Fined $75,000.

3.  Tri-City Medical Center, Oceanside. A cancer patient in frail condition was improperly restrained in their geri chair while waiting for an x-ray, allowing him to fall. His death was related to the injuries sustained in the fall. Third penalty. Fined $75,000.

4. Palomar Health Downtown campus, Escondido. A 64-year-old patient died from hemorrhaging after hitting his head while falling out of bed in 2011. Third penalty. Fined $100,000.

5. Pacific Medical Center, St. Luke's campus, San Francisco. Allowed a guidewire to reach a patients' heart during an emergency dialysis procedure in 2011. The physician admitted he did not know how to use the insertion kit. First penalty for the hospital. Fined $50,000.

6. Children's Hospital Los Angeles. An adolescent awaiting a bone marrow transplant died in 2011 due to receiving a massive overdose of an antifungal medication. First penalty. Fined $50,000.

7. Fallbrook Medical Center. A new mother received a massive overdose of an alkaloid to stanch uterine bleeding in 2011. Led to seizures and brain damage. First penalty. Fined $25,000.

8.  Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Patient underwent abdominal surgery in 2009. Sponge was retained and removed during a second procedure. First penalty. $50,000.

9. Simi Valley Hospital & Health Care Services. A clamp was left in a patient's abdomen following a 2011 surgery, requiring a second procedure to remove. First penalty. Fined $50,000.

10. St. Joseph Hospital, Eureka. A retractor part was left in the patient's abdomen during a 2011 surgical procedure, after a loop of wire warning of its presence had been obscured. It required a second procedure two months later to remove. First penalty. Fined $50,000.