The California Department of Health has fined 13 hospitals in the state for committing medical mistakes. Some of the medical errors caused serious patient injury and deaths. Among the Southern California hospitals that were fined:
Hoag Memorial Hospital: A patient at this Newport Beach hospital sustained fractures to her foot and leg in January 2009 when she was sucked in by an MRI machine while on a metal gurney. The fine for this error is $50,000. This is the third penalty against the hospital in two years.
Western Medical Center: This Santa Ana hospital was fined $50,000 for leaving a surgical sponge in a patient. She became ill and had to be operated on a second time.
St. Jude Medical Center: A patient at this Fullerton hospital died in the emergency room from a heart attack after nurses failed to realize that the heart monitor had become disconnected. The Orange County, California hospital was fined $50,000.
Los Angeles Community Hospital: A patient who should have been properly supervised and restrained died after he was left alone and he pulled out his tracheotomy tube. The Norwalk hospital was fined $50,000.
California Hospital Medical Center: This Los Angeles County hospital was fined $50,000 because a medical resident n the ER wrongly diagnosed a woman as having an ectopic pregnancy. She was not pregnant.
John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital: The Riverside County hospital was ordered to pay four $25,000 fines for not properly monitoring patients and meds in 2008.
California Medical Malpractice
Medical mistakes are not errors that doctors, nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, emergency room physicians, or other medical professionals can afford to make. Wrong diagnosis, surgical mistakes, failure to properly supervise a patient or monitor his/her vitals are some of the reasons that people file Orange County, California medical malpractice lawsuit.
13 California hospitals fined for medical errors, Los Angeles Times, January 28, 2010
California Department of Health
Related Web Resources:
Medical Malpractice, Nolo
Types of Medical Mistakes, Wrong Diagnosis
Please contact our Anaheim medical malpractice lawyers today.
