Eleven California Hospitals Fined for Failure to Properly Care for Patients

Public health officials seem to be cracking down on hospitals a lot harder these days, and rightly so. In fact, eleven California hospitals were recently fined $25,000 each for alleged regulation violations that caused serious injuries or even death in patients.

The California Department of Public Health assessed the penalties to the eleven hospitals for various failures to care for patients. Such indiscretions included leaving sponges and other surgical tools inside of patients after a surgery was completed. Other penalties included failures in communication between hospital departments or inadequate training for nurses.

The hospitals are located in Alameda, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. They must respond to the citations within 10 days, and also submit a plan of correction to the state on how they will avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.