Hospitals fined for serious, tragic mistakes
California public health officials recently released 10 reports of negligence involving nine hospitals — including two in the Bay Area
The 93-year-old chronically depressed patient said he’d lived long enough and that his physical problems would only get worse over time.
Then he told a few nurses at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital about his suicide plan: He would deliberately fall down, making sure to hit his head, and die.
And in August 2015, when no one was in his room, the man did just that at the hospital, which has been fined $100,000 by the state.
His story is among 10 reports of negligence at nine California hospitals — including two in the Bay Area — that led to penalties recently issued by the state public health department.
The incidents took place from 2014 to 2017, and led to a combined $549,555 in fines levied against those hospitals.
Here is a look at some of the most egregious errors:
• Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Santa Barbara:
Investigators found that the hospital had failed to provide a safe environment for the elderly suicidal patient and prevent him from carrying out his plan. Among other issues, the hospital staff did not tell a security guard, who was monitoring the patient from a video camera behind the nurses station, that he was suicidal.
The hospital issued a statement saying that the suicide “deeply saddened our patient care team and everyone involved. When a patient is in our hospital, our priority is to provide care with integrity and compassion.”
• Palmdale Regional Medical Center, Palmdale
By not following its suicide risk policies, a patient got a hold of a pair of scissors and stabbed himself 69 times, causing critical injuries including a stroke, injury to the heart, liver, abdomen, and neck, and on his left side. Penalty: $49,500
• Doctors Medical Center, Modesto
Investigators found that staff didn’t sufficiently monitor a male patient who had exhibited increasing sexually explicit behavior; he was able to enter a female pa-