BRMC faces another hurdle
Published on December 23rd, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - Boston Regional Medical Center (BRMC) ran into more trouble last week when it was discovered that an artificial insemination procedure had gone wrong at the hospital's fertility clinic in early December.
On Friday morning, the hospital filed with the Department of Public Health, likely in response to media reports which had detailed the error in procedure at BRMC.
According to Mark Leccese, director of Public Affairs for the Department of Public Health, the incident occurred on December 4 when a woman was to be inseminated with her husband's sperm. The wrong sperm was used in the procedure, however, and the woman chose to take contraceptive medication when she was notified immediately after the insemination.
In a statement released by BRMC, the hospital acknowledged that the employee involved in the incident had been suspended pending the investigation.
According to published reports, the hospital handles approximately 400 artificial inseminations each year.
Leccese said that the procedure which the hospital chose to follow after the incident as well as the incident itself is suspect.
"The regulations require that hospital incidents be reported within 24 hours by phone or seven days by mail. In either case, they didn't report it in a timely manner," he said of hospital administration's failure to report the incident until 14 days after the procedure was completed. "The hospital's reporting manner is part of the investigation."
According to BRMC spokeswoman Christine Hawrylak, the hospital was advised by legal counsel that the error did not require a filing with the Department of Public Health. "Once this came into question, we filed immediately," she told the Independent.
According to the BRMC statement, "The hospital regrets the error and has apologized to the patient. We cannot go into further details due to patient confidentiality."
Leccese explained that there are four types of findings that could be filed once the investigation by the Department of Public Health is completed.
In the least serious instance, he said, no problems would be found and no actions would be taken.
In the second, a statement of deficiencies would be released in which the hospital would be asked to address the state's concerns and correct the procedural errors. A follow-up evaluation by the Department of Public Health would follow after a period of time.
A third option would be a condition which would involve a recommendation from the Department of Public Health to the federal government requesting that reimbursement for such procedures be cut off.
Finally, the department could order the unit closed.
According to Leccese, this last sanction is unlikely due to the nature of the procedure.
"For that to happen, there has to be an immediate and serious danger to the patient's safety," he said.
The investigation is expected to take several weeks.
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