Error-Ridden Hospital Wins U.S. Reprieve

Federal regulators granted a major reprieve to a mistake-ridden hospital Wednesday, finding that it had corrected deficiencies and clearing it to keep receiving millions in government health care funding.

University Community Hospital had been threatened with the loss of that funding because one patient lost the wrong leg in a botched amputation and another died after he was mistakenly removed from a ventilator.

Last month, federal inspectors found procedural problems that created an “immediate and serious” threat to patient safety. But a return visit this week found the situation had turned around, federal officials said.

The 424-bed private hospital gets about a third of its patient revenue from government programs. Some worried the hospital would have to close if it did not get its federal certification.