St. Charles patient death spurs federal investigation, citation

In December 2014, 65-year-old Loretta Macpherson of Sisters went to the emergency room at St. Charles Bend with anxiety symptoms. She later died because she was administered the wrong drug.

For Macpherson’s son, Mark, it all seems like yesterday.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her,” Macpherson said Tuesday.

A report by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released in January states that was not the only mistake from the hospital.

The federal investigation found that St. Charles also violated patient rights and nursing protocols.

“It’s horrifying, what they did,” Macpherson said.

According to the report, a nurse in the emergency room did not follow the orders from the doctor to hook Macpherson to a heart monitor.

Macpherson’s lawyer said Tuesday the finding further validates potential legal claims against the hospital.

“No matter how small of a town you live in, you’re accountable if you kill your patient,” said Jennifer Coughlin with Brothers, Hawn & Coughlin.

The federal report also states that “(…) an audible alarm would have sounded and alerted staff at the nurse’s station when the patient’s cardiac status declined.”

Macpherson said he was shocked by the report.

“They not only administered the wrong drug, but if they followed their own procedures, drug recommendations and their hospital policy, our mother would be alive today,” he said.

In a statement, St. Charles Bend Chief Nursing Executive Pam Steinke said, “St. Charles and external experts determined that having the patient on a cardiac monitor would not have changed the outcome.”

“It’s very clear that it would have had a different outcome if she had a monitor,” Mark Macpherson said. “She was right across (from) the nurses’ station and alarms would have gone off that her health was declining.”

Steinke also wrote: “Loretta Macpherson’s death was a terrible tragedy that still weighs heavily on our caregivers.”

For Macpherson, it won’t bring back his mother. Asked what he would say to his mom if she was alive today, he said: “I’m sorry I ever brought you to that hospital. I love you and I miss you and I wish we could have brought you somewhere better.”

Macpherson said he is still weighing the option of filing a lawsuit against St. Charles and for now is keeping all his legal options open.

On Wednesday, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel told NewsChannel 21 that he is still investigating the case.

“I don’t know if a crime was committed, and won’t know until the investigation is completed,” Hummel said, adding that it should be finished by the end of the year.