Maryland hospital fined for unreported errors

Last year, errors by a Maryland hospital led to the death of one patient and "serious harm" to at least seven others, all of which went unreported to state health regulators, reports the Washington Post. The Doctors Community Hospital, a 185-bed facility in Prince George's County, was fined $30,000 last month as a result.

The initial penalty fee for Doctors was set at $95,000; however, the $30,000 mark was agreed upon under the conditions that the hospital puts the remaining $65,000 toward creating a patient-safety program. It was determined that the facility "did minimal investigations to determine what went wrong and did not classify the errors by their level of seriousness, as required by law." In one instance, a technician gave an antibiotic to a 65-year-old woman thinking it was plain IV fluid.

"We are working very hard to make sure errors aren't repeated," said Philip Down, president of Doctors, in a letter to the Maryland Office of Health Care Quality director. "But you have substantial demand. Care is not always predictable."

Prior to this review, Doctors had only reported three errors since 2005.

To learn more about Doctors Community Hospital:
- read this Washington Post article

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