Drug found in hospital patient sparks city probe

Officials at San Francisco’s health department are launching an investigation at Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center after a nonprescribed medication was found in the system of a patient who recently died, officials said Monday.

Few details are known about the patient, who city health officials said died this month, other than the person was undergoing endoflife treatment in a part of Laguna Honda that cares for people with behavioral impairments.

The probe comes more than a year after a separate abuse scandal rocked the facility. Laguna Honda serves as a livein hospital, nursing home and rehabilitation center for more than

700 patients.

The earlier investigation found that 23 patients, living in wards that primarily serve people affected by dementia, endured systemic physical and verbal abuse at the hands of six employees between 2016 and January 2019. Some of the patients were allegedly found to have been given both prescription and nonprescription drugs intended to sedate them.

Officials haven’t said what drug was found in the patient’s system, or whether the substance was detected before or after the patient died. An autopsy is taking place, officials said.

The Department of Public Health said in a statement Monday that “there is no suspected connection between the nonprescribed medication and the resident’s passing,” though officials would not elaborate on what led them to draw that conclusion.

The hospital “is deeply committed to creating a safe environment for all our residents,” Laguna Honda CEO Michael Phillips said in a letter to residents and caretakers. He added that “our partner agencies at both the city and state level” would be involved in the investigation.

City health officials said oversight of medications dispensed to patients was increased following the patientabuse scandal last year. Such policy changes led the hospital to find the nonprescribed medication in the patient’s system, health officials said.

Part of that review will include interviews with patients and staff, as well as “safety searches,” where patient rooms are checked for drugs or other items, the letter said.

The probe announced Monday marks the latest in a series of controversies at the hospital.

In 2017, the state’s health department fined Laguna Honda $100,000 for safety violations that led to a patient’s death. In 2014, another patient died after a hospital staffer failed to properly lock the patient’s wheelchair and left them outside a movie theater on a group outing. The wheelchair rolled, causing the patient to fall and sustain head and hip injuries that would lead to their death two weeks later.