The UCSD Medical Center and Scripps Mercy Hospital, along with 11 other state hospitals, were charged by the California Department of Public Health last Wednesday of making major mistakes that put patients at serious risk of injury or death.
Last June, surgeons at the UCSD Medical Center forgot to remove a sponge during a lumbar surgery, and did not take a post-surgery X-ray. The sponge was later discovered during a routine X-ray appointment three months later.
According to a hospital spokesperson, the patient underwent a second surgery, and the object was removed without any long-term complications.
The UCSD Medical Center issued a statement acknowledging the error, turned in a report to the CDPH and later released a statement of apology.
Scripps Mercy Hospital was charged with using faulty respirator equipment while transporting a male patient for an MRI exam in September 2008. The patient experienced heart failure and was left in a vegetative state as a result of the mistake.
The two most recent fines were filed on April 24, but were not made public immediately because of concern over the swine-flu outbreak.
The two San Diego hospitals, both located in Hillcrest, were charged the maximum fine of $25,000 for the second time since the state began assessing their operations in 2007.
The hospitals were fined under a 2006 disclosure law implemented to inform the public about ‘immediate jeopardy’ incidents ‘mdash; situations in which the hospital’s noncompliance with one or more requirements of licensure has caused preventable death or serious injury to a patient.
UCSD Medical Center’s first violation occurred in August 2007, when the high-risk medication Flolan, used for pulmonary hypertension, was improperly administered to a patient with high blood pressure.
The hospital self-reported the incident and the CDPH ordered the hospital to turn in a plan of action that would prevent similar incidents concerning Flolan in the future.
The first violation at Scripps Mercury Hospital occured in February 2008, when staff failed to administer the saline solution ordered by an emergency room doctor to a woman after tests showed that her sodium levels were critically low. The woman died several hours later.
Seven San Diego hospitals have been fined a total of 12 times since the CDPH started issuing the violations in 2007.
Eleven additional California hospitals have received violation fines: Brotman Medical Center, Clovis Community Medical Center, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, John Muir Medical Center, Los Angeles County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Saint Agnes Medical Center, Saint Francis Medical Center, St. Jude Medical Center, UC Irvine Medical Center, UC San Francisco Medical Center and Whittier Hospital Medical Center.
Readers can contact Sarah Alaoui at [email protected].