A 2nd Kaiser Hospital Is Cited

SAN JOSE — State health regulators cited a second Kaiser Permanente hospital in the Bay Area for giving the wrong medication this summer to a patient who later died.

The California Department of Health Services determined that officials at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara were “deficient” in their care of Josephine Frances Hart, 12.

The girl had been hospitalized with pneumonia and died the same day in August that she received a double dose of the drug epinephrine.

In their August report, investigators said the San Jose girl’s death a month earlier came after a nurse accidentally administered two bags of the drug, which speeds up the heart rate. The nurse believed it was an antibiotic.

“The death of this young girl is tragic, and we’re holding the hospital responsible,” said Lea Brooks, a Health Services spokeswoman.

The Santa Clara County coroner’s office said Friday that it was still investigating the cause of death.

The hospital now requires that at least two registered nurses double-check that the medication is being administered to the right person.

Earlier this week, the health department cited Kaiser Permanente Santa Teresa Medical Center for a similar infraction.

Chemotherapy patient Christopher Robin Wibeto, 21, died in August, three days after a cancer-fighting drug called vincristine, which was intended for another patient, was injected into his spine.

Under an agreement with the health department, the hospital now requires that three people -- a doctor, a nurse and a pharmacist -- verify that the correct medication is being administered.

The coroner’s office is still investigating Wibeto’s cause of death.