Two San Diego-area hospitals were fined by the California Department of Public Health after an investigation found the facilities had dangerous practices in place that caused or likely caused serious injury or death to patients.
One of the fines stems from an NBC 7 investigation in 2013 into the death of 57-year-old Thomas Vera, who was a patient at University of California San Diego Medical Center.
California Department of Health and Human Services records obtained by NBC 7 last September show UCSD Medical Center had broken alarm systems that the hospital knew were inoperable and did not repair. The lapse in hospital security led to a tragic search for Vera which ended when his body was found five days later less than a mile from the hospital entrance in Palm Canyon.
According to the CHHS investigation, Vera’s bed alarm never sounded. Vera was under video surveillance, and when nurses were notified, the report states they “attempted to contact security by paging security twice with no response and then pushing the panic button twice with no response.”
The panic button was “broken for 8 days,” according to the report.
UCSD Medical Center along with Palomar Medical Center in Escondido were two of the ten hospitals across California facing penalties and fines of up to $700,000.
Palomar Medical Center was fined for failing to ensure the health and safety of a patient and are facing a penalty of $50,000. This is the hospital’s first Immediate Jeopardy administrative penalty.
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According to the report on Palomar Medical Center, a 68-year-old male patient at the hospital determined to be at an increased risk of falling. The facility used a call/bed exit alarm system that would ring a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) with a hand held phone if a patient tried to leave the bed. If no nurse replied in a one minute time frame, the system would alert all staff on the specific nursing unit and the alarm could only be turned off from the patient’s room, according to the CDPH report.
A review of the incident found the alarm failed to go off the morning the 68-year-old male was found on the floor and staff later acknowledged the alarm had been turned off. When the nurse found the patient on the floor, the alarm system had not been activated, the report found.
John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Riverside County and Southwest Healthcare in Murrieta were among the other hospitals fined nearby.
Fined hospitals are now required to provide CDPH with a plan to correct their mistakes to prevent further incidents. Hospitals can file an appeal to the penalty within ten days of notification.
