Care Regional Medical Center is a 75-bed hospital located at 1711 W Wheeler, Aransas Pass, Texas 78336. Located in San Patricio County, it is the only hospital in the two counties of San Patricio and Aransas.
The hospital has been open for over 30 years and currently has over 80 physicians on its medical staff and another 200 employees.
Care Regional Medical Center operates an emergency room and offers general surgery, pulmonary/respiratory care, diagnostic radiology (x-rays, ultrasounds, nuclear medicine, CT scans, and mammograms), physical therapy, psychiatric services, occupational health, and internal medicine.
Quality of care concerns
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services conducts regular on-site inspections surveys of accredited hospitals. When surveyors identify quality of care concerns, they issue violations to the hospital. Since September 7, 2011, Care Regional Medical Center has been cited with nine violations.
On August 2, 2016, the hospital was cited with six violations, all arising from the hospital’s failure to maintain a safe operating room environment. Violations were issued to the governing body, infection control, leadership responsibilities, surgical services, operating room policies, and the operating room register.
The surveyor found that, starting with the hospital governing body and extending to the staff, Care Regional Medical Center ignored data showing that the hospital’s operating room (suite) humidity and temperature far exceeded the recommended guidelines of nationally accepted standards of practice, as well as the hospital’s own policies and procedures.
The conditions of the operating room were so bad that staff members were using dehumidifiers to keep moisture off the walls and floors. Cultures taken from the operating room were positive for bacterial growth, but the hospital administration continued to schedule surgical and endoscopy procedures, while exposing patients to unnecessary risks of hospital-acquired infections.
The surveyor found that 46 patients had procedures performed in the operating room following disruption of air-conditioning throughout the whole hospital.
As a former hospital administrator, these types of lapses in care are very concerning. Hospitals are required to have a robust quality improvement system in place, which allows hospital leadership to ensure that the facility is operating in a safe manner. In this instance, it appears that Care Regional Medical Center failed its patients from top to bottom.
On November 22, 2011, the Medicare and Medicaid surveyor issued another two violations to Care Regional Medical Center. The first violation concerned patient rights to care in a safe setting. The surveyor found that four staff members had positive urine drug screen results since being employed at the facility, and one file did not contain the proof required by hospital policy for the staff member to return to work. According to the hospital’s own policy, staff members with a positive urine drug screen must provide proof of any medication that they have taken that could cause the positive screening.
The second violation of the state concerned the delivery of drugs. The surveyor found that the hospital did not ensure that controlled substances (narcotics) were secured and locked as required.
On September 7, 2011, the hospital received one violation. The standard of care requires patients to be provided care in a safe setting. The surveyor found that emergency room patients were placed in an exam room and left over two hours without any care or follow-up being provided.
We are here to help
The medical malpractice attorneys at Painter Law Firm, in Houston, Texas, handle cases statewide. Many of our clients tell us that their hometown attorneys are unwilling to tackle local hospitals. This is not a concern for us, and we are willing to investigate negligent health care by any hospital or doctor in Texas. For a free consultation about your potential case, call us at 281-580-8800.
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Robert Painter is a former hospital administrator and an attorney at Painter Law Firm PLLC, in Houston, Texas. He represents patients and family members in medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuits against hospitals, doctors, surgeons, anesthesiologists, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers. He frequently speaks and writes about healthcare and medical negligence topics. He is a former editor-in-chief of The Houston Lawyer magazine, and is a current member of the editorial board of the Texas Bar Journal.
