Politics & Government

Poway Pomerado Among Hospitals Fined for Patient Safety

Four other hospitals in San Diego County were also cited by the California Department of Public Health.

Five hospitals in San Diego County were assessed penalties Thursday by the California Department of Public Health for failing to follow policies that ensure patient safety.   

The CDPH announced Pomerado Hospital in Poway was among 12 medical centers around the state that were cited. 

According to CDPH, Pomerado Hospital was fined $75,000 because a confused and agitated patient was left unattended on Jan. 31, 2010, and he got out of bed and fell, suffering skull fractures and bleeding within his brain. He died four days later.  

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Palomar Medical Center, which is also a part of the Palomar Pomerado Health group, was also fined. According to CDPH, Palomar Medical Center was fined $75,000 for the Feb. 9, 2010, death of a cancer patient who received a dose of morphine 33 times stronger than she was supposed to receive. The CDPH found errors in programming a pump that delivered the drug to the woman.  

In a statement, Bobette Brown said both incidents were "immediately self-reported" by Palomar Pomerado Health. Brown also said, "Complete and thorough reviews were completed for each incident and extensive action plans were identified to address the issues.  All follow-up actions were completed and accepted by the California Department of Public Health. We take these incidents extremely seriously and work diligently at all levels to assure a safe environment for our patients."

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Other San Diego County hospitals that were cited include:

—Scripps Encinitas Medical Center was fined $50,000 for leaving a piece of medical equipment inside the abdomen of a 66-year-old woman who underwent surgery on April 16, 2010. She had to have a second operation to remove the device.      

—Scripps Memorial Hospital was fined $75,000 for leaving a 28-inch guide wire for a medical device inside an 82-year-old patient's right femoral artery for 29 days in April and May of 2009.   

—Sharp Memorial Hospital was fined $25,000 for the 2008 death of a heart attack patient given an overdose of a drug by a nurse the agency said was not competent to work in the intensive care unit.   

The facilities can appeal within 10 days. Otherwise, they have to submit plans to correct the problems to prevent future incidents. 

City News Service contributed to this report.


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