San Francisco Chronicle
OAKLAND, Calif. — Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and the Oakland police and fire departments have been issued more than $135,000 in citations by state regulators for failing to limit exposure to emergency workers who assisted a patient with bacterial meningitis, authorities said.
The Oakland hospital and the two city agencies violated numerous state health and safety standards, leading to the emergency hospitalizations of an Alta Bates employee and an Oakland police officer in December, according to Cal/OSHA.
On Monday, Alta Bates was issued $101,485 in citations for 10 violations, including failing to report the case to local health officials in a timely manner and not testing exposed employees for a week, officials said. The Oakland Police Department received $31,520 in citations for nine violations, and the Oakland Fire Department received $2,710 in penalties for five violations.
Incidents like the one in Oakland “are completely preventable and should never happen,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Len Welsh.
The hospital and the city agencies have 15 days to appeal or accept the violations and pay the penalties.
Hospital spokeswoman Carolyn Kemp said today that the medical center “has every intention of appealing portions of the citation.”
Kemp said, “The medical center immediately responded to this very unfortunate and unusual occurrence. A thorough investigation was completed and a performance improvement action plan to prevent an event like this from reoccurring was implemented.”
On Dec. 3, Oakland police and firefighters responded to a home on Fairmount Avenue to conduct a “welfare check” of a 36-year-old man who was later confirmed to have bacterial meningitis. American Medical Response paramedics arrived and took the patient to the hospital. Employees from all three agencies were exposed to bacterial meningitis, which can result in brain damage, hearing loss, or learning disabilities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
An Alta Bates respiratory therapist who had treated the patient became ill and was admitted to the intensive care unit at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek on Dec. 10, a full week after his initial exposure, officials said. The employee, a 47-year-old man, was in the hospital for 11 days.
An Oakland police officer was also stricken with bacterial meningitis and was placed in intensive care at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Walnut Creek for five days. The Police Department failed to report the 30-year-old officer’s hospitalization to Cal/OSHA and didn’t notify him about this exposure to meningitis, the state agency said. Three other officers had responded to the incident but did not contract the disease, officials said.
None of the three Oakland firefighters - all of whom used personal respirators - developed the disease, officials said. But the Fire Department failed to develop standards for reporting infectious airborne diseases, Cal/OSHA said.
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