Parkland hospital's board formally OKs $1M settlement

Parkland Memorial Hospital's Board of Managers formally approved today a $1 million fine to settle what state regulators called "egregious deficiencies" in patient care, my colleague Sherry Jacobson reports. As The Dallas Morning News reported last month, the fine by the Department of State Health Services is the largest ever given to a Texas hospital. It is 20 times as much as the previous largest—$50,000 assessed against Houston's Ben Taub General Hospital in 2007. Parkland said last month it had reached the deal to avoid further legal action into complaints made between Jan. 1, 2011, and May 31, 2012.