Four Bay Area hospitals — one in Redwood City, two in San Francisco and one in Napa — were among 14 facilities fined by the California Department of Public Health on Thursday after investigators determined that their staffs caused — or almost caused — serious injury or death to patients.
In total, the department imposed $1.1 million in fines for the incidents, which occurred from 2012 to 2016.
The California Pacific Medical Center-St. Luke’s Campus Hospital in San Francisco was fined $47,452 after the state said the hospital staff did not correctly assess a patient’s unwitnessed fall, after which she developed a blood clot that required brain surgery. She died from the injuries in April 2015.
Kaiser Permanente San Francisco was fined $47,025 after the state said the hospital staff failed to monitor a patient’s dialysis catheter in his groin. After one of the blood lines became loose and disconnected, the patient suffered massive blood loss and died of heart failure in December 2015.
Kaiser San Francisco was fined $100,000.after a patient died in April 2016 of respiratory failure when established procedures related to the patient’s tracheostomy tubes were not followed.
Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa was fined $50,000 after a patient died in April 2013 when the hospital didn’t ensure that his CPR monitoring and breathing support system was functioning while he was being transferred from the emergency room to a medical unit.
The same hospital also was fined $75,000 after an emergency room staff member in May 2013 did not follow a doctor’s order to give a patient with a severe allergy epinephrine under the skin. Instead, she gave it to him intravenously. That lead to chest pains, causing him to be admitted to the hospital.
Queen of the Valley Hospital also was fined $100,000 for a November 2013 incident in which a patient’s breathing problems were not promptly reported to her doctor, leading to bleeding down the back of her throat, respiratory arrest and brain damage.
Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City was fined $47,452 after the hospital in February 2016 mistakenly removed a woman’s ovaries. As a result, she will need to be on estrogen replacement therapy for life.
The state Department of Public Health said that in addition to being fined the hospitals will be required to provide the state with a plan that explains how they will prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
Hospitals can appeal the penalties by requesting a hearing within 10 days.
