State fines three O.C. hospitals for safety problems

State fines three O.C. hospitals for safety problems
Anaheim General, Western Medical and Fountain Valley broke rules that put patients at risk.
By JENNIFER MUIR
The Orange County Register
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Three Orange County hospitals are being fined for breaking hospital licensing rules that put patients at risk of injury or death, the California Department of Health reported Tuesday.
For Anaheim General Hospital, which treats many of the county's poorest residents, it's the latest blow in a string of safety concerns that include losing a national quality accreditation and two other administrative penalties by the state health department. Anaheim General was cited for poor food handling practices that could have sickened patients throughout the hospital's campuses, including preparing food with dirty equipment and storing it at unsafe temperatures, according to a state report.
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital received its second health department penalty because a nurse administered oral medicine intravenously, causing a patient's heart to stop beating and brain to swell. And Western Medical Center in Santa Ana received its first-ever state penalty for failing to appropriately investigate a report that a staff member assaulted a psychiatric patient, causing a black eye.
Fountain Valley and Western Medical plan to appeal, spokespeople said.
The hospitals are among 10 in the state sanctioned today by the California Department of Health, which started issuing administrative penalties in 2007 to medical facilities that are out of compliance with state licensing requirements, potentially causing patients injury or death. Since then, the agency has given out 71 administrative penalties to 49 hospitals across the state.
Each of the hospitals was fined $25,000 for violations that occurred in 2007 and 2008, and each has taken steps to correct the problems.
"As consumers, we have to be aware of the fact that there are medical errors that take place in hospitals," said Kathleen Billingsley, deputy director of the California health department's Center for Health Care Quality. "One of the important things, for me, is to realize that if I went to one of these particular facilities, I would feel very confident that the hospital had addressed the issue."
Here's what happened at each hospital:
Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center
In May of 2008, a nurse mistakenly gave oral anti-seizure medication through an IV. The errors caused the patient to go into cardiopulmonary arrest, which caused brain swelling, ultimately leaving the patient "obtunded," or mentally dull, according to a state report.
The hospital immediately reported the issue to the state, the California Board of Registered Nurses and the staffing agency through which the nurse was employed, hospital spokesman Ben Russo said in a prepared statement.
"The hospital notified the staffing agency that the nurse is not permitted to return to work at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center," the statement said. "We take seriously our responsibility to deliver quality, safe health care services."
The hospital also has required training for nursing staff, created new procedures and done self auditing.
It was the second such sanction given to Fountain Valley Regional. In June, the hospital was cited for leaving a sponge inside a patient during surgery.
Western Medical Center Santa Ana
In November 2007, a psychiatric patient complained that a staff member slapped her across the face, causing her to bruise under her right eye. The patient later told a therapist that a staff member "punched my face then he tried to get me to eat my fist."
Family members were not immediately notified and the hospital didn't properly investigate the allegation, according to the report. Hospital staffers didn't report the case to police for 16 days, and a director said that because of the patient's psychological presentation, he did not know if the patient's story was "delusional or not."
The staff member involved in the alleged attack never was identified, spokeswoman Shelle Malm said. Since then, the hospital has set up a process to immediately notify the appropriate people when something like this happens and has done extensive staff training, Malm said
"We take all of these allegations seriously," she said. "We failed to report the allegations in a timely manner."
Anaheim General Hospital
The hospital was cited in February 2008 for several food violations that "had the potential to expose patients to a hospital-acquired food borne illness, which may result in nausea and vomiting, thereby further compromising the medical status of inpatients."
Inspectors described pre-cooked turkey breast being stored in a broken refrigerator, left-over sausages sitting in a tray of congealed fat, moldy bagels and a rubber blender gasket being covered in "a green, slime-like substance," according to the state report.
The hospital was cited for lacking a fulltime person responsible for managing dietary services at the hospital's Anaheim and Buena Park campuses, storing food at unsafe temperatures in Buena Park and failing to properly monitor the cooling down of potentially hazardous food.
Since being cited, the hospital has hired a full time dietician, educated staff on food safety and repaired broken equipment, the report said.
"Since then we've had a management change, and the hospital continues to provide excellent care," says James Young, chief executive for Pacific Health, which owns Anaheim General.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7813 or jmuir@ocregister.com