On Friday, the California Department of Public Health announced that is has fined 13 hospitals a total of $825,000 for safety lapses and failures in patient care, the AP/Sacramento Bee reports (AP/Sacramento Bee, 6/1).
The penalties are in response to incidents that occurred in 2010 (O'Neill, "KPCC News," KPCC, 6/1).
Background
Under a 2006 state law, hospitals must notify state regulators of all significant patient injuries.
For incidents occurring prior to 2009, the state issued $25,000 fines for each violation.
Starting in January 2009, sanctions increased to $50,000 for a hospital's first violation, $75,000 for its second and $100,000 for its third and subsequent violations (California Healthline, 9/8/11).
Details of Latest Penalties
According to DPH, some of the penalties stem from incidents where personnel at the hospitals:
- Left "foreign objects" inside of surgical patients (Jones, Contra Costa Times, 6/1);
- Improperly monitored a full-term, viable infant, which led to its death; and
- Sexually assaulted a patient (AP/Sacramento Bee, 6/1).
The 13 hospitals that were fined by DPH are:
- Chapman Medical Center in Orange County, which received a $75,000 fine;
- Chinese Hospital in San Francisco, which received a $50,000 fine;
- Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, which received a $50,000 fine;
- Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Oakland, which received a $75,000 fine;
- Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Diego, which received a $50,000 fine;
- Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco, which received a $75,000 fine
- Keck Hospital at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, which received a $75,000 fine;
- Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, which received a $50,000 fine;
- Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, which received a $50,000 fine;
- San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp, which received a $25,000 fine;
- Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, which received a $75,000 fine;
- Southwest Healthcare System in Murrieta, which received a $100,000 fine; and
- UC-San Diego Medical Center, which received a $75,000 fine (CDPH release, 6/1).
According to DPH, the hospitals have 10 days to appeal the fines (
AP/Sacramento Bee, 6/1).