New Report Sheds Light on Reservation Hospital’s Woes

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A recently released Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report sheds more light on why the agency earlier this month warned the Rosebud Indian Health Service hospital to fix problems or lose critical funding.

The Argus Leader reports the federal agency released inspection reports from a July probe of the hospital on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

Among incidents cited were a drunken 12-year-old girl who tried to hang herself while left alone and a 35-year-old man who died of a heart attack in the emergency room after being pepper-sprayed and restrained.

The inspection determined the hospital didn't give patients appropriate medical care or ensure their safety.

Hospital administrators say they take the report "very seriously" and have submitted an improvement plan.

The notice comes more than two years after the hospital was cited for similar shortcomings.

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