Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, Calif., was recently fined $75,000 for inadequate obstetric care that led to an infant's death in 2016, The San Diego Union Tribune reported July 15.
The hospital shuttered its maternity ward in 2021, but still, the fine came in eight years after the infant's death, despite being reported to the California Department of Public Health the same day the baby died, according to the Union Tribune.
Becker's contacted the California Department of Public Health to request comment on whether this was typical of its investigative timelines and if not, why it took so long to fine the hospital in this particular care.
A CDPH spokesperson responded with the following statement: "We understand the gravity of this situation and acknowledge the length of time it took to complete the investigation. This timeline is atypical. The investigation began promptly after the complaint was received; however, we encountered significant delays due to operational challenges. Once the investigation resumed, the investigating team conducted a thorough review and found the hospital to be noncompliant and issued an Administrative Penalty against the hospital. There are timeframes for initiating investigations, but no timelines for completing the investigation or issuing any associated penalties. The department is committed to timely resolution to all investigations and has implemented process changes to prevent further delays as experienced in this case."
The CDPH penalty document from its inspection, which didn't occur until July 2023, found that the hospital failed to continuously monitor the infant's fetal heart rate and was subsequently born March 3, 2016, without a heartbeat and could not be resuscitated successfully.
The inspection noted that "the facility’s noncompliance with these requirements, jointly, separately or in any combination, has caused…serious injury or death to the patient, and therefore, constitutes an immediate jeopardy within the meaning of Health and Safety Code Section 1280.3 (h)."
In a statement to the Union Tribune, a spokesperson for Paradise Valley Hospital said its "Maternity Services were discontinued in 2021, five years after the events mentioned in the CDPH survey had transpired and had nothing to do with what occurred in 2016. We closed our Maternity Services department because it was no longer financially feasible for us to maintain it. At the time of the department closure, Paradise Valley Hospital had seen a downward trend in births during the previous 10 years and was averaging less than two births per day."