Clinic affiliated with Toledo’s faces shutdown

4/23/2013

A Summit County abortion clinic that is connected with a Toledo abortion clinic that lost its transfer agreement from the University of Toledo is facing a possible shutdown because of deficiencies found during a February inspection, including allowing underqualified persons to administer drugs and using patients’ blood without their knowledge.

Terrie Hubbard, director of the Capital Care Network in Cuyahoga Falls, was notified on March 5 that the Ohio Department of Health would issue an order that the center at 2127 State Rd. could no longer perform surgical procedures.

Ms. Hubbard also is director of a local Capital Care Network facility, also known as the Toledo Women’s Center on Sylvania Avenue in Toledo. However, the center is still in operation, according to health department spokesman Tessie Pollock.

The inspection of the Summit County facility listed 18 violations ranging from documentation shortcomings to unsanitary practices. Ms. Hubbard declined requests for an interview by telephone and email from The Blade.

Last month, University of Toledo President Lloyd Jacobs announced he would not approve a renewal of the Toledo facility’s transfer agreement with the Toledo Capital Care Network when the agreement expires on July 31.

State health department regulations require all ambulatory surgical facilities in Ohio, including abortion clinics, to have such an agreement with a hospital that can accept patients in an emergency.

The former Medical College of Ohio Hospital has said that it will accept emergency patients from abortion clinics regardless of whether they have a transfer agreement.

According to the inspection, a staff member with a medical-assistant degree gave narcotics to five patients on Feb. 21, including sedatives and pain drugs that should have have been administered by a physician.

The inspection also found that the clinic had a practice of drawing a test tube of blood from patients who were known to have “Rh-negative” blood to use for clinic purposes later with no documentation that the patient’s blood was being taken for this purpose. Obtaining a control sample of Rh-positive blood is a requirement in some instances, and the clinic said that it had some recurring patients whose blood type was already known.

“Staff [said] that many of the facility’s patients underwent frequent surgical procedures at the facility. ... Staff would draw a test tube of blood instead of just a finger prick to obtain a blood sample,” the inspector, known as a surveyor, reported.

According to the survey document, the clinic had no record of a physician ordering the drawing of a test tube of blood or of the patient being made aware of the blood sample’s use.

Other findings included:

● Four staff members had no record of required tuberculosis screening, and three staff members had no record of having an annual TB screening.

● An inventory of Schedule 2 controlled medications, including Versed and Fentanyl, were supposed to be conducted daily and witnessed, but records showed instances when the count was not witnessed by another person.

According to the clinic’s policy, the count is supposed to be completed by the registered nurse and witnessed by the managing physician.

● The facility’s Ohio State Board of Pharmacy license and its Drug Enforcement Administration license were expired. And a portable medication box contained six syringes containing Fentanyl even though the record showed no Fentanyl in the facility.