Post-Op News You Don’t Want: Oops! Hospital Errors Still Happening

November 17th, 2010. By LucyC

Stories about hospital screw-ups and medical malpractice suits—you know, mistakes that nearly cost someone his life—are typically good coffee break fodder and undoubtedly the stuff of urban legend. However, I came across this news story today and it was a bit of a wake-up call. According to a report by United Press International, 12 California hospitals were recently fined between $25,000 and $75,000 each “for medical errors that caused, or were likely to cause, injury or death.” Twelve hospitals. 

One of the facilities that screwed up and got caught, according to officials with California’s Department of Public Health, is Southwest Healthcare System in Murrieta, CA. They were fined $25,000 for leaving a surgical instrument—”a metal device roughly 10 inches long and 2 inches wide used to hold tissue during surgery—inside a woman who had a baby in 2008.” I’m going to assume that that means the surgical team left the device inside the woman following her Caesarean section. Nobody noticed until the woman complained of pain. So she underwent exploratory surgery and the instrument was found. Apparently the report that was written about the incident listed one of the possible reasons for the mistake as unfamiliarity between the two doctors who were operating—meaning the docs didn’t know each other. Isn’t that why procedures were developed?

Again, to cite the UPI story, this particular facility has been fined by the state seven times. And, Southwest Healthcare System is not alone in its stunning lack of adherence to procedure: California Pacific Medical Center, Pacific Campus Hospital, San Francisco, was fined $50,000 and $75,000 for negligence involving two different patients; Citrus Valley Medical Center in Covina, CA, was fined $25,000 and $50,000 for two different patients; and the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, was fined $25,000 twice for two different patients. The fines were brought for failing to ensure the health and safety of patients by not following the facilities’ own surgical procedures. 

So are you safer on the kitchen table? Maybe. 

And who should be particularly wary? Veterans. They appear to be among the most vulnerable populations at risk for negligent medical treatment. Case in point, an elderly veteran who sued a Veteran’s Association (VA) hospital in Palo Alto and won, over allegations that he became blind as a result of negligent medical treatment at the facility. The federal government has agreed to pay him $250,000 in damages to settle the suit. Chicken feed really. But at least the authorities admitted negligence.

David E. Woodward Sr. was one of eight eye patients receiving treatment at the facility and who was contacted by hospital officials in 2009 with news that they had received improper care that may have caused some vision loss. Part of the official communication written by Dr. Stephen C. Ezeji-Okoye, the hospital’s deputy chief of staff, to Mr. Woodward was published in the Mercury News, and reads “We have recently reviewed your eye care and determined that some of the vision loss you suffered may have been preventable had you received a different course of therapy.” Can you imagine getting that letter? There’s no tell-tale pain—no possibility of exploratory surgery—no fix for this mistake—you’ve lost your vision. Suddenly. For life. And it may have been preventable. 

Needless to say an investigation into what happened was undertaken by the hospital, hence the letter, and it showed the hospital optometrists had not followed an internal policy—sound familiar? Those procedures required all patients with glaucoma to have their treatment overseen and reviewed by an ophthalmologist, a medical doctor that specializes in eye care.

The good news, in addition to Mr. Woodward winning his suit, is that changes have been brought about to prevent this kind of thing from happening again at this facility. But really—is this what it takes to get people to follow the rules?

In case you’re wondering, the Federal Tort Claims Act allows a civilian to claim compensation from the US government when damage is caused by the negligence of an employee or agency (such as VA hospital malpractice) of the US government, including the Veterans Administration (VA). VA medical malpractice law falls within negligence law, which is applicable to all lawsuits by attorneys against medical professionals, from VA hospitals to doctors and dentists to podiatrists and chiropractors.

I think David E. Woodward Sr. deserves a medal for taking this lot on and setting an example, especially at the age of 87.

Tags: Hospital Error, medical malpractice, Veterans Hospital, veterans medical malpractice

This was posted on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Drugs/Medical . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.