Trinitas Regional Medical Center Gets 'D' Grade In Patient Safety

ELIZABETH, NJ — Trinitas Regional Medical Center earned an "D" grade in safety, according to a new list of grades released by The Leapfrog Group.

Trinitas Regional Medical Center was one of just two hospitals in the entire state to get the low grade. This is a downgrade for the hospital that earned a "C" grade in 2016.

The goal of the rankings is to determine a patient's risk of further injury or infection if they visit a certain hospital. Medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections are taken into account by Leapfrog when calculating the grades.

The hospital scored "below average" in several categories, including infection in blood during intensive care unit(ICU) stay, infection in the urinary tract during ICU stay and surgical site infection after colon surgery.

Leapfrog assigns A, B, C, D and F letter grades to general acute-care hospitals in the United States. Leapfrog explains that the safety grade includes 27 measures that are taken together to produce a single letter grade representing a hospital's overall performance in keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors.

Earlier this month Trinitas Regional Medical Center made headlines after a lawsuit was filed by Antonio Teixeira after his wife died following the February birth of his twins.

In the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the Elizabeth hospital, Teixeira says his wife, Marlenes, suffered a "preventable" brain hemorrhage within hours of the birth of their twin sons.

• See Related: Union County Hospital Sued After Woman Dies Following Twins' Birth

Trinitas Regional Medical Center did not respond to Patch's request for comment regarding the low safety grade.

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