While findings by the California Department of Health stopped short of holding a San Diego metro area hospital responsible for failing to detain a patient who died shortly after leaving the facility, the department did file a "statement of deficiencies" report, according to a July 3 San Diego Tribune report.
Alberto Herrera, 32, was found unconscious Aug. 11 close to the National City, Calif.-based Paradise Valley Hospital after walking out of the facility against caregiver advice, the report said. He died later in the hospital's emergency department.
Mr. Herrera's family said he should have been kept at the hospital under a mental health order, but security officers escorted him out of the facility, the report continued.
Paradise Valley said it has re-educated intensive care workers on how to properly categorize such discharges, mandating they search and find any patient if they have not returned to their room within two hours, the report said. In another step to address procedures, staff also reviewed policies on mental health holds.
Paradise Valley Hospital belongs to Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare, which operates 45 hospitals. The same system was placed under investigation after the death Jan. 10 of a new mother at its Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, Calif.