State health officials announced Friday they have fined the operator of Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta $100,000 for a violation involving a fetal death in 2010.

The fine against Southwest Healthcare System was the highest among penalties levied by the California Department of Public Health on 13 hospitals around the state as a result of Southwest having incurred numerous violations over a three-year period.

The most recent fine resulted from the failure of a nurse to notify a physician of an abnormal fetal heart pattern shortly before a woman was to give birth, according to the health department's report.

Upon delivery, the baby was not breathing and lacked a heart beat, the report states, and resuscitation efforts failed.

The doctor who performed the delivery told state investigators there was a partial separation of the placenta that had disrupted the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus.

Riverside County coroner's officials determined the delay in notifying the physician and in performing emergency measures contributed to the death.

The health department concluded the hospital was at fault.

"Based on interview(s), record review and facility document review, the facility failed to ensure the labor and delivery nurses provided emergency measures in order to sustain life," the report states.

In response to the incident, the hospital's Women's Services management introduced an educational program for nurses on fetal assessment and instituted stricter monitoring in advance of child birth.

Also, the report states the nurse responsible for the error resigned after going through educational counseling at the hospital.

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MURRIETA: Health-care provider fined $100,000