The William Backus Hospital of Norwich was fined $7,500 by the state and ordered to hire an outside firm to oversee its facility operations for two years.
In a consent agreement signed in November the state found a number of licensing violations.
They included:
•The hospital failed to ensure that an unexpected finding was properly reported to an emergency room attending physician. A patient was admitted with groin pain underwent a CTSCAN. The scan found a soft tissue mass in the lung. But that discovery, according to the state, was never recorded and the findings were never given to the patient’s referring doctor. The patient died of lung cancer in 2008.
•A pharmacy tour found that refrigeration temperatures fluctuated and were not immediately corrected and in one instance was not corrected for 17 hours.
•Patients were not given proper discharge orders and medication orders were not explained.
•Restraints were used on patients without a doctor’s order.
•Food was served in an unsanitary manner.
The hospital has agreed to permit the outside consultant to ensure that the safety and welfare of patients is being met and to follow their recommendations. The consultants will review the following services: nursing, infection control, pharmacy, and operating room among others. The hospital is required to come up with an action plan to correct deficiencies. The hospital did not return a phone call seeking comment.