SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA- Ten years ago, a landmark report was issued in the medical industry. It said that more Americans die each year from hospital medical errors than from car accidents or AIDS. That report ignited a drive to improve patient safety at hospitals nationwide. As our San Diego personal injury lawyers learned yesterday, California health officials said that many preventable hospital errors are still endangering people in San Diego County. Some mistakes, including drug mix-ups and equipment left inside patients following surgery, continue to occur far more often than they should. The San Diego Injury Lawyers at our firm are well aware of these ongoing mistakes, and will continue to fight for the rights of patients and clients so that they receive proper compensation for their pain and suffering under the law.
As a result of the lapses in proper care, 11 California hospitals, including two in San Diego Country, received the maximum administrative fine from the state Department of Public Health. Six of the announced penalties were assessed for sewing surgical patients with a sponge, clamp or other item still inside them, resulting in a second surgery to remove the item left. Overall, 57 of the 115 fines levied in California since the program started in 2007 have been for “retention of a foreign object” or errors associated with medication or pharmacies. The rate at which California reports foreign object cases is alarming according to the deputy director of the Center for Health Care Quality, Kathleen Billingsley. If a similar incident has happened to you or a loved one during a recent surgery, contact the California injury attorneys at our firm today to discuss your options.
The local hospitals fined were Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center and Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside. Medical officials at both hospitals have said they have taken steps to prevent similar errors in the future. Sharp already paid its fine in April. A spokesman for Tri-City said his hospital intends to appeal its fine. All of the fines announced yesterday were for $25,000.
Tri-City was fined for failing to prevent a 91-year-old woman from falling out of her bed. When she fell, she broke her hip and subsequently died while in surgery to repair the break a few days later. Sharp Chula Vista was fined for a December incident in which a clamp was left inside a man who had undergone a quintuple bypass heart surgery. The patient had to undergo a second operation 10 days later when a CT scan found a fluid buildup in his lungs and a clamp behind his heart.
Tri-City argued that it should be able to appeal the fine privately. However, Leah Binder, chief executive of the Washington D.C. based Leapfrog Group, a national group that monitors hospital quality, stressed that publicity is important for quality control and future patient safety. Only about 29 out of the 115 fines imposed but the state of California have been appealed. California has collected about $1.6 million of the nearly $2.9 million imposed in fines. Our California personal injury attorneys have posted more information about the prior fines which can be found below.
The other fines announced yesterday were against Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, Coast Plaza Doctors Hospital in Norwalk, Kindred Hospital in Ontario, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Mendocino Coast District Hospital in Fort Bragg, Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna, St. John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica and two Los Angeles facilities run by the University of Southern California.
Here is an overview of the 115 administrative penalties California has issued to 80 hospitals for preventable errors in 2007 and 2008:
- Medication/pharmacy errors: 31%
- Patient-care issues: 18%
- Retention of a foreign object: 18%
- Patient safety: 12%
- Equipment failure 6%
- Improper food handling: 3%
- Patient Abuse: 3%
- Staffing/training: 3%
- Surgical error: 3%
- Diagnostic/laboratory test errors: 2%
- Quality assurance: 0.1%
Hospital accidents can be devastating to patients and their families alike. If you have been injured in some way while under the medical care of another person, you may want to discuss the harm you suffered with a qualified California personal injury attorney. Berman & Riedel, LLP is a plaintiff’s personal injury law firm with its main offices in San Diego, California. The lawyers in the firm, however, practice throughout the entire state of California.
Though not directly mentioned in these statistics, brain injuries are among the many accidents than can be suffered due to improper medical care in a hospital. If a member of your family has suffered from such an accident please contact a San Diego Brain Injury Attorney at our firm to discuss your legal options, as these are cases with which we have a track record of successful litigation for our clients.
Each and every lawyer at Berman & Riedel, LLP is dedicated to compassionate, caring, and yet zealous legal representation of every client we represent. If you would like to talk to a qualified and experienced San Diego personal injury lawyer about your medical accident resulting in harm to you, contact the firm to discuss your case. There is no charge for your first meeting.
