Report: California fails to monitor hospitals for errors/infections

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by Victoria Colliver
San Francisco Chronicle

The California Department of Public Health has consistently failed to enforce new laws designed to reduce medical errors and infections at California hospitals, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Consumer Union report, which focuses on a series of patient safety laws passed in 2006 and 2008, says the state public health department has not held hospitals accountable for complying with the laws, which include requirements to make certain medical errors public among other safety measures.

"The public is in the dark on what's happening in their local hospital on these various important patient safety laws," said Betsy Imholz, special projects director for Consumers Union who works in the group's San Francisco offices.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/18/BAVH1CHAME.DTL