EDITORIAL:

Something very un-Hoag like happened back in April.

According to the state’s Department of Public Health, a patient at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian had a retractor blade left in his abdomen after surgery. A second surgery, in which doctors removed the blade, was necessary.

Here’s what went wrong: Doctors and the nursing staff failed to complete an instrument count before the patient’s assistive breathing tube was removed and before doctors closed the patient’s skin over his stomach area, where the surgery was being performed, according to a report issued by the Department of Public Health.

Both items were a violation of hospital policy, according to the report.

During the instrument count — after the operation was completed — nurses learned a Bookwalter retractor blade was missing, according to the report. Doctors determined the blade was within the stomach area after an X-ray. Another surgery was performed to remove the blade. The state department determined the violation “has caused, or is likely to cause, serious injury or death to the patient.”

A $25,000 fine is being assessed under an administrative penalty, a law that went into effect in 2007 giving the department the authority to do so.

In California, 18 hospitals were hit with fines of $25,000 from the state department, with five of those coming from Orange County.

Hoag, with a stellar record and thriving reputation as one of the best hospitals in the country, should not have been one of them.

Furthermore, Hoag officials, who declined to comment on the story reported in the Daily Pilot Aug. 20, should set the public’s mind at ease and talk about this issue.

What’s being done to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

Will doctors and nurses involved in the violation be punished?

We have a right to know.