Hospitals fined over patient care

California public health officials have imposed the first $100,000 fine under a new escalating system of penalties for hospitals that put patients at risk of death or serious injury. Southwest Healthcare System in Murrieta was assessed the fine after investigators determined that doctors at its Rancho Springs Medical Center performed caesarean sections on three women in October using electrical cauterizing instruments in a delivery room with dangerously low humidity, creating conditions that could have sparked a fire. Three fines against the hospital, totaling $225,000, were announced Tuesday, bringing Southwest's total to six, the most in the state.

After Southwest's six fines, the facilities that have four each were:
  • * Olive View-UCLA Medical Center
  • * John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio
Southwest Healthcare was among seven hospitals -- four in Southern California -- fined in the most recent round announced by the California Department of Public Health.

Others sanctioned were:
  • * California Pacific Medical Center-Pacific Campus Hospital in San Francisco
  • * Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Fontana
  • * Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego
  • * St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino
  • * St. Joseph Hospital
  • * Sutter Davis Hospital in Davis
    • Los Angeles Times
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