http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article31786419.html
August 20, 2010
By Sheila Hagar, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLA -- A Washington state Department of Health investigation
found procedural problems at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in a
death that Walla Walla County Coroner Frank Brown has listed as a
medical homicide.
The department launched its investigation when a caller to the state's complaint hotline alleged that a 60-year-old patient at the hospital died March 1 of accidental acute morphine overdose. The caller, who is not named in the report, pointed to a forensic pathologist's autopsy, health officials said.
Brown labeled the death "medical homicide," a decision agreed with by Dr. Carl Wigren, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy. Wigren is paid by the county for his services.
The department launched its investigation when a caller to the state's complaint hotline alleged that a 60-year-old patient at the hospital died March 1 of accidental acute morphine overdose. The caller, who is not named in the report, pointed to a forensic pathologist's autopsy, health officials said.
Brown labeled the death "medical homicide," a decision agreed with by Dr. Carl Wigren, the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy. Wigren is paid by the county for his services.
