Website Allows Public To Check Hospital's Patient Safety Violations

There is information on about 8,000 patient safety violations from roughly 1,000 hospitals across the US since January 2011. Among them some disturbing reports from Oregon.

The website hospitalinspections.org is where you can see how hospitals are doing on patient errors. In one incident listed, a nurse who wrongly administered oxygen and then covered it up – leading to a patient’s death at Portland’s Legacy Emanuel Hospital. In another case 18 patients received colonoscopies with unsanitary scopes at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.

Four Southern Oregon hospitals are also listed. Medford’s Asante Rogue Regional had two violations. In one case a patient fell and broke a hip. in the other the hospital didn’t report unsubstantiated claims of harassment by a patient in a timely manner.

Medford’s Providence Medical Center had five violations. The more serious of them include six non-english speaking patients who weren’t given hospital forms in Spanish. Five suicidal risk patients who didn’t get one on one observation. And refusing to accept a transfer patient from another hospital.

Both Asante and Providence hospitals say they value patient safety and strive to keep violations from occurring.

Asante Three Rivers Hospital in Grants Pass had three violations involving its hospital security staff.

In Klamath Falls it was found the hospital failed to maintain an accurate and complete medical record for one of seven sampled patients.