Eighteen hospitals in California were fined for state health code violations, including leaving surgical instruments inside patients and causing the death of one patient by improperly inserting an intravenous catheter.
The fines follow investigations from the California Department of Public Health that found several instances in which shoddy care either killed or endangered people. The hospitals were each fined $25,000 — the latest of dozens of penalties the state has issued in recent years to more than 40 hospitals.
The report found some patients experienced surgical awareness during their procedures due to improper anesthesia. In other cases, patients had surgical instruments or sponges left inside their bodies during surgery, requiring a second surgery to retrieve the misplaced items.
In the case of the catheter, the report found that despite a lack of specialized training, a registered nurse inserted a tube into a patient’s neck vein on Sept. 1 at Doctor’s Medical Center in San Pablo. The patient died as a result of an air bubble that was introduced through the catheter.
The state has issued 61 such penalties to 42 hospitals, Billingsley said.