12 More Hospitals Fined For Putting Patients In Immediate Jeopardy

Twelve California hospitals received the latest fines for putting patients in "immediate jeopardy" of harm or death, including three that failed to remove sponges or towels from surgical patients, one where a psych tech repeatedly slapped an unconscious patient in the face in the belief he was "faking it," and another where staff failed to properly use restraints, resulting in a patient's critical fall. Poor training of medication use resulted in a heparin overdose that caused a brain hemorrhage in a patient at a sixth facility while at a seventh hospital, managers failed to properly staff the intensive care unit, and a patient whose condition was quickly deteriorating was not adequately treated. Some of the hospitals have been fined three times, and some for repeating similar violations.