The penalized incidents occurred between 2014 and 2018. Here is a breakdown of the penalties:
1. Anaheim-based Kaiser Foundation Hospital – Orange County incurred a $75,000 penalty for a medication error that led to a patient’s death in 2018.
2. The health department fined Visalia-based Kaweah Delta Medical Center $51,975 for failing to protect against interpatient abuse during a 2018 incident.
3. Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield incurred a $31,350 penalty for leaving a surgical object inside a patient during a 2017 procedure.
4. Mercy Medical Center Redding (Calif.) was fined $30,000 for failing to adequately deliver patient care in a 2017 incident in which a patient did not have a bowel movement for 10 days. The hospital also failed to recognize a nursing diagnosis of severe constipation and intervene by promptly notifying the physician.
5. Fresno-based St. Agnes Medical Center incurred a $71,250 penalty for failing to protect the rights of a patient and failing to ensure staff followed hospital policy when a patient left the hospital against a physician’s advice in 2017.
6. The health department fined Oxnard-based St. John’s Regional Medical Center $40,400 for leaving a surgical object inside a patient after an open-heart surgery in 2014.
7. Health officials fined Vibra Hospital of Sacramento (Calif.) $75,000 for giving the wrong dosage of medication to a patient, resulting in the patient’s death.
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