Food Deaths Result in Dismissals

A food poisoning incident that resulted in three patient deaths at Central Louisiana State Hospital in Pineville cost two top administrators their jobs. The incident this past May, which also sickened 42 patients and a dozen staff, was traced to improperly stored chicken salad infected with a common pathogen, clostridium perfringens.

A subsequent investigation by state health officials uncovered “serious operational process and management deficiencies” in both the dietary services department and in the hospital's senior administration.

That led to the dismissals of the hospital administrator and associate administrator. CLSH could also lose its Medicare certification.