The hospital believed a woman who overdosed on drugs suffered a cardiac death in October 2009, according to the report. In reality, she was in a deep coma, from which she awoke just before physicians were going to remove her organs.
Unrelated to the hospital incident, the patient committed suicide in January 2011, according to the report.
The state health department began investigating the case in March 2010 and found several errors, including inadequate testing of the patient, inaction after a nurse observed signs indicating the patient may be alive and a lack of a thorough investigation by the hospital, according to the report.
The health department later fined the hospital $22,000 for this and another incident, according to the report.
Kerri Howell, a hospital spokeswoman, told the Post-Standard, “St. Joseph’s goal is to provide the highest quality of care to every patient, every time. We’ve learned from this experience and have modified our policies to include the type of unusual circumstance presented in this case.”
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