Hospital Cited in Patient Escape

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

State health officials declared a state of immediate jeopardy at a Scranton hospital after reviewing records of a patient who had been involuntarily committed but was able to escape from the hospital's intensive care unit on Dec. 10.
A report on the December incident at the Regional Hospital of Scranton concludes that the 186-bed facility failed to follow its own policies and state requirements in its handling of the unnamed male patient.
The report does not indicate what ultimately became of the patient and hospital officials did not respond to a request for comment.
The immediate jeopardy declaration forced the hospital to come up with an immediate remediation plan. The first plan produced by the hospital was rejected, but the second was accepted.
According to the report the patient was brought to the hospital by ambulance on Dec. 8 and was eventually judged by a physician to be severely mentally disabled and in need of treatment.
The patient had pulled out an intravenous tube and demanded to be released. He was eventually in-tubated and place on a respirator.
The records showed that at one point staffers became concerned about the patient's escalating behavior and "the health and safety" of both the staff and the patient himself. The patient was "not making sense." Police were called and stood at the patient's bedside.
The physician who examined the patient concluded that he should be committed to a facility recommended by the county administrator.
The report faults the hospital for failing to perform a suicide assessment on the patient and for failure to implement an emergency "Code White" as the situation worsened. A Code White is declared to deal with a violent or potentially violent individual.
Although a one-on-one monitor was assigned to the patient, he became combative and ran towards a back door.
The hospital's plan of correction calls for a re-education of staff members, revision of some policies relating to the handling of committed patients and a series of audits to ensure staff compliance.
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