Facility Responsibilities - 10-144-114 Me. Code R. § 2

A “sentinel event” is defined as any of the following: an unanticipated death or major permanent loss of function that is determined to be unrelated to the natural course of the patient's illness or underlying condition, or to the proper treatment of the patient's illness or underlying condition, or to be the result of an elopement of a hospitalized inpatient who lacks the capacity to make decisions; surgery on the wrong patient or wrong body part; hemolytic transfusion reaction involving the administration of blood or blood products having major blood group incompatibilities; suicide of a patient in a health care facility where the patient receives inpatient care; infant abduction or discharge to the wrong family; or rape of a patient.

The health care facility must file a written report with the Sentinel Event Team whenever a sentinel event occurs, no later than 45 days following the notification of the occurrence.  The written report must contain the health care facility name and address, the name, title, telephone number, email address, and fax number of the contact person designated by the health care facility, the date and time of the sentinel event, the type of sentinel event and a brief description, a copy of a thorough and credible RCA, identification of changes that could be made to reduce the risk of the sentinel event occurring in the future, a brief description of any corrective action taken or planned, and the signature of the chief executive officer of the health care facility.