Eighteen California hospitals were fined for placing patients in serious jeopardy, the state Department of Public Health announced on Monday.

It is the fourth time the department has disciplined hospitals since a state law went into effect in 2007 authorizing the agency to fine them for placing patients’ lives at risk.

California Department of Public Health’s spokesman, Ken August, said hospitals are fined $25,000 for each incident that “has caused, or was likely to cause serious injury or death to patients.” Sixty-one such penalties were issued to no less than 42 hospitals since the law was enacted last year.

The hospitals fined this year include Anaheim General Hospital, Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana, Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Los Alamitos Medical Center, Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo, Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Riverside, Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Fresno, Los Angeles County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Palomar Pomerado Health System in Poway, Promise Hospital of San Diego, St. Agnes Hospital in Fresno, San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning, and Scripps Green Hospital in San Diego.

The latest violations include a person dying at a La Mesa hospital, drug overdoses, forgetting things inside patients after completing the surgery, lack of medication needed for emergency and others equally dangerous for the patients’ lives.

“The number of penalties will decrease and the quality of care will dramatically improve as hospitals take action to improve. The entire intent of these fines is to improve the overall quality of care in California,” Kathleen Billingsley, director of the health department's Center for Healthcare Quality, said.