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Report: SF General Nurses Didn't Follow Orders To Watch Lynne Spalding

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) -- The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that nurses at San Francisco General Hospital didn't heed a doctor's orders to maintain a constant watch on a patient who ended up leaving her room and was found dead in a stairwell 17 days later.

Citing the results of a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services investigation, the Chronicle says a doctor had instructed hospital staff in writing never to leave Lynne Spalding unattended.

Spalding was admitted on Sept. 19 for a bladder infection and disorientation. A day later, after the 57-year-old woman had wandered into a nursing station, a doctor reminded a nurse that the patient needed around-the-clock observation.

The report contradicts the account hospital officials gave after Spalding's body was discovered. They said nurses were instructed to check on Spalding every 15 minutes.

© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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