UC Davis Hospital fined for endangering patients

SACRAMENTO

• Three died following experimental operations
• Fighting brain cancer with a deliberate infection

The University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, is being fined by the California Department of Public Health for violations of patient care policies that saw three patients die following experimental operations.

The fine imposed on Davis relates to an effort by doctors, whose names were not released by the state but who have been identified in other reports as J. Paul Muizelaar, former chairman of the neurological surgery department, and Rudolph Schrot.

The patients were suffering from aggressive brain cancers called glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain tumor in humans, when the operations took place. Conventional treatments had failed to stop the cancers.

In the cases cited, the doctors deliberately infected the brains, placing bacteria from bowels on the tumors. The idea was to trigger the body’s natural defenses that, in theory, would act against not just the infection but also the cancer.

But the experiments failed and the patients died.

The state says Thursday that the hospital ‘failed to ensure the health and safety of patients when it did not follow established policies and procedures related to patient care” and has fined it $50,000.

Download the CDPH report here (2567UCDavisMedCtr-1K5X11-SacramentoCounty.pdf, 5.25 MB)

[Source]: Central Valley Business Times