Health Systems Quality Assurance, the Department of Health’s regulatory division, opened its investigation sometime around April 28 after learning of the death from InvestigateWest’s reporting, spokesperson Frank Ameduri said in an email. The division issued a notice of “immediate jeopardy” to Providence Sacred Heart, alerting the hospital that it was “out of compliance in such a way that patients could be in danger of serious injury, harm, impairment or death,” Ameduri wrote. Immediate jeopardy notices put hospitals on track to lose their Medicare certification within 23 days. To prevent that, Providence Sacred Heart responded by submitting a safety plan to address the deficiencies noted. Ameduri declined to give additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.
Beth Hegde, Providence Sacred Heart spokesperson, said in a written statement that the hospital immediately launched a formal internal review “following a tragic event at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in April.” That included notifying local health authorities, she said. She declined to provide other details, citing patient privacy laws.
Asha Joseph, Sarah’s sister, said she was glad the health department is investigating and hopes it will force the hospital to improve safety for other children. She said that the hospital has not provided the family with any of Sarah’s medical records or additional information about what happened to her sister.
Lili Navarrete, a Spokane city council member whose district includes Sacred Heart, criticized the hospital’s silence.
“There’s HIPAA and then there are just plain questions,” she said. “I do believe they are hiding behind HIPAA.”
Elected officials are calling on the hospital to address community concerns about psychiatric care quality and safety protocols at Providence Sacred Heart, as it continues to receive young patients in mental health crises. Several said Sarah’s death has left them deeply worried about the fallout from the hospital closing its inpatient psychiatric center for youth, which provided such care for 40 years until last September.
“The frustrating piece is, we were told there’s a plan here, and, you know, it clearly failed,” said State Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, who met with hospital leaders last August to discuss how youth would still access critical care after the center closed. “I don’t know the ins and outs, but a tragic death like this can’t be called anything else but a failure of the system. And, yeah, I don’t think this would have happened if that unit was open.”
Five local elected officials said they learned about Sarah’s death from InvestigateWest’s reporting. Providence Sacred Heart has refused to answer the newsroom’s questions about safety and quality of care, or improvements following Sarah’s death. Hospital leaders declined an interview request for this story.
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