Hartford Hospital is still on probation after reports of 30 more public health code violations, including an incident in which a 13-inch surgical instrument was left inside a patient’s abdomen.
The patient returned to the emergency room after the surgery, complaining of extreme stomach and back pain, and the instrument showed up in a CT scan, according to the Hartford Business Journal. It had been in the patient for two weeks.
The hospital was placed on a one-year probation in 2008 and it was due to be lifted on Feb. 8, the Business Journal reports.
The probation could be lifted later this month after the state Department of Health conducts a review of the amended action plan it received from the hospital on Feb. 25. A meeting will be held on the issue Wednesday.
Other reported violations included patient falls that resulted in serious disability or death, hospital-acquired bedsores, perforations during laparoscopic or endoscopic procedures and the retention of foreign objects in patients after surgery, the Business Journal said.
Some of the violations happened before the hospital was placed on probation and put new procedures in place, the Hartford Business Journal reports. Investigators who showed up unannounced found additional violations, some as recent as March 12.
According to a six-month, 87-page progress report filed, the hospital addressed most of the items identified for improvement have been addressed by the hospital.
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In a statement, spokeswoman Lee Monroe said, "Hartford Hospital is passionately engaged in a process designed to make us the leader in patient quality and safety in the United States."
William Gerrish, DPH spokesman, told the Hartford Business Journal that the hospital has made significant improvements.
“We feel the hospital has made considerable progress since the consent order. We have observed that the hospital has committed considerable resources to improve the quality,” he said.
