4th Death Leads to New Probe of Hospital

SAN JOSE —  A private psychiatric hospital is under investigation again after a fourth person died there within 18 months, officials said.

This is the third time within six months that Oak Creek Hospital has been investigated by the Department of Health Services.

“People don’t usually go to a psychiatric hospital and die,” said Carla Framiglio, chief of the department’s San Jose office.

The inquiry into the hospital was reopened after a seriously ill patient died in June.

The first investigation began after two patients died in. April. A second probe into the hospital’s bookkeeping led officials to look into the death of a patient in 1991.

During the most recent investigation, the department found evidence that some physicians’ orders were not carried out; patients were improperly monitored, and the hospital kept inadequate records on a patient who fell.

The hospital had been cited after those investigations, but Framiglio said officials still believed that the hospital should not handle patients who needed acute care.

“The population we’re serving includes much older and more acutely ill folks,” said Oak Creek administrator David Lisonbee. “But we have procedures we follow in the event of emergencies, and I feel comfortable that our (medical) treatment is far above the community standard.”