Baby’s Death Triggers $100,000 Fine for Southwest Healthcare

CORRECTION: The hospital where the death took place was originally reported as Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta. The death actually occurred at Wildomar's Inland Valley Medical Center. The story below has been updated.

A branch of the corporation building Temecula's first hospital was fined -- again -- by the California Department of Public Health.

Southwest Healthcare System, which also operates in Wildomar and in Murrieta, was hit with a $100,000 administrative penalty for failing to ensure the wellness and safety of a patient, it was announced today.

Southwest is a branch of Universal Health Services, which is building the hospital in Temecula.

Under the state’s Health and Safety Code, an administrative penalty carries a fine of $50,000 for the first violation, $75,000 for the second, and $100,000 for the third or subsequent violation.

The most recent administrative penalty is Southwest Healthcare’s eighth. The fine comes after a pregnant patient, whose identity was not released, was admitted to the Wildomar facility in 2010 and did not receive adequate emergency care, which resulted in the death of the mother’s full-term baby, according to the CDPH.

Based on an investigation of the incident by state regulators, " … the facility failed to ensure the labor and delivery nurses provided emergency measures in order to sustain life.”

Southwest's parent company was the target of criticism last year for taking more than five years to break ground on the facility. Some Temecula City Council members accused hospital officials of intentionally dragging out the process for the company's financial gain.

According to the CDPH, a delay in recognizing an abnormal fetal heart pattern – and promptly notifying the patient’s physician of a problem – resulted in the baby’s death.

“The physician was not informed of the difficulties in obtaining a fetal heart rate, or a baseline fetal heart rate … until … 50 minutes after the physician was notified that the patient was in the hospital and in labor,” CDPH documentation revealed.

The incident happened before the company instituted major reforms to ensure things like this don't happen, a company official said today.

"This incident occurred over two years ago prior to our System Improvement Agreement with CMS and CDPH. During that time, Southwest successfully implemented numerous patient care initiatives and other processes as evidenced by the successful survey in 2011, which found Southwest in compliance with all patient care requirements. Southwest is committed to providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients," the company announced.

When hospitals receive investigative findings, they are required to provide CDPH with a plan of correction to prevent future incidents.

According to the CDPH documents, Southwest Healthcare stated it conducted its own investigation and developed a “plan for remediation” for the primary nurse involved in the incident. However, the nurse subsequently resigned from the hospital, according to the documents. Policies for fetal and uterine monitoring and interpretation were also reviewed and revised by hospital staff, according to the CDPH documents.

A request for comment was placed with Southwest Healthcare, but a response was not immediately provided.

In March 2011, the local Southwest Healtcare hospitals' expansions opened for patients, but the road to expansion was a bumpy ride. In April 2010, Southwest received word from the CDPH that it was in jeopardy of losing federal funding under Medicare/Medicaid and that a process was underway to revoke its hospital license.

In the April 19 letter, the California Department of Public Health stated it was “very concerned about recent surveys involving patient care violations …”
The concerns mostly stemmed from issues at Wildomar’s Inland Valley Medical Center.

Dating back to June 2007, investigations conducted by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determined that Southwest Healthcare System had put patient health in jeopardy.

After working to improve its systems, in May 2010 Southwest announced it had reached a one-year agreement with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to keep its federal funding. In October of that same year, it was also announced Southwest had reached an agreement with the California Department of Public Health to retain its license.

According to a April 2011 letter from the CDPH, “Within the past year, the CDPH has worked closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services … Under your new leadership, SWHS has demonstrated progress towards implementing systemic improvements.”

UPDATE: Statement from Southwest Healthcare System -- "This incident occurred over two years ago prior to our System Improvement Agreement with CMS and CDPH. During that time, Southwest successfully implemented numerous patient care initiatives and other processes as evidenced by the successful survey in 2011 which found Southwest in compliance with all patient care requirements. Southwest is committed to providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients."