CA fines 13 hospitals for placing patients at risk

The California Department of Public Health has disciplined 13 hospitals for placing patients at risk of serious injury or death, fining each $25,000. The agency, which has issued 39 citations since October, won the right to fine facilities for serious violations of patient safety in 2007. Violations included a case in which a car crash victim died at Los Angeles-based public hospital Harbor-UCLA after nurses failed to monitor the patient's failing neurological condition. In another case, Olive View-UCLA was cited when a resident attempted a surgical procedure, handed the patient to another doctor, and failed to communicate that a patient's small intestine may have been perforated in the process.

To learn more about the citations:
- read this Los Angeles Times article

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