HOUSTON – For the sixth time this year, a Houston-area hospital has come under federal scrutiny because of a patient death.
The latest incident happened at Harris Health System’s Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in September where a woman died just hours after giving birth, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The review by CMS states that a woman, only identified as a Spanish-speaker, arrived at LBJ hospital in labor around 4:30 a.m. on September 12.
The woman had a very rapid heart rate and stated that she had a history of diabetes and high blood pressure, according to the report. But records show her blood pressure was not taken until an hour later when doctors decided they needed to perform an emergency cesarean section because her labor was not progressing.
The baby was delivered at 5:55 a.m. The report says the woman was suffering from severe internal bleeding in the aftermath but it was not identified until 8:45 a.m.
After being unable to control the bleeding, the report states doctors performed an emergency hysterectomy on the woman that afternoon.
She went into cardiac arrest after the procedure and was pronounced dead at 3:38 p.m., the report reads.
The obstetrics staff working with the patient never consulted with the internal medicine department or cardiology to assess the woman’s high blood pressure or rapid heart rate, according to CMS.
“The hospital’s Medical, Anesthesia, and Nursing staff failed to effectively communicate amongst themselves concerning a critical situation with one obstetric patient. The failure of the medical team to identify this critical event during the provision of care to this patient led to a negative outcome of Patient #429,” CMS wrote in the report.
Harris Health says they have corrected the issues identified by CMS and has published the CMS report, you can read it on the Harris Health website.
CMS is due back at the hospital between Wednesday and Jan. 15, 2020 to review Harris Health’s plan of correction.