In September of the year 2000 my father, Adam Wesley Arnold was euthanized by Kaiser Permanente staff in Los Angeles, California.

My family and I witnessed the cruel acts that were committed against our father  in the name of saving a corporate buck so administration would have a few more pennies in their coffers.

We were devastated by the Kaiser attitude which was basically "Tough Toadies People". I began studying the workings o Kaiser Permanente and discovered a group of wonderful, supportive professionals on a list serve operated through -

HARP - The Health Administration Responsibility Project, which is hosted by Dr. Harvey Frey, who is a physician, and an attorney.  The function of HARP is self explanatory.

During this same time period I met Mr. Ronald Panzer, LPN, President of  Hospice Patients Alliance.  HPA promotes quality end  of life care and has taken a stand against imposed killings in the medical setting.  HPA provided to me  information regarding the  financial incentives of HMOs in general, Kaiser among them.

Both groups were extremely supportive of me and both groups shared enormous amounts of information regarding the financial  incentives of Kaiser Permanente to deny care, avoid diagnosis and outright eliminate the patient in any way possible if they are  going to be expensive to treat medically.

Dr. Charles Phillips, a former Kaiser Physician and who I believe is the foremost authority in this country on the inner, convoluted  workings of Kaiser Permanente steered me in the right direction.  He trained me to focus my anger and use it constructively and  believe me after what I have seen and learned about Kaiser I have more than enough anger.

It was suggested by a Florida physician, that since I was receiving numerous letters of support from members of the public, who  also were sharing their stories with me that I organize the data that I had already acquired.  That way we would be providing  documentation of what is taking place in the Kaiser Permanente environment.

Thus the Kaiser Papers were born from the most painful, eye opening experience I have ever had.

We try to provide to the public information that will alert them as to what to watch out for in this new type of Discount Department  Store Medical Care. Whenever possible, we advocate for the patient.  Whenever possible we also assist the Kaiser victim in  receiving decent medical care outside of Kaiser and assist them  in obtaining legal assistance.

In the beginning we had people under cover at Kaiser.  These were patients that wanted to fight Kaiser  legally through their own  channels of operation and they obtained much evidence that is currently very  useful to law enforce­ment and our legislators.

We seldom do this any longer because it has proven to be physically dangerous  to the patient.  Instead we encourage people that  can , to please obtain medical care just about anywhere else.  We would prefer if at all possible that they avoid any HMO just because  of the manner such organ­i­za­tions are run.  HMO's are in existence for the personal benefit of the owners, the stockholders or who ever  is running their show. We acknowledge though, that not everyone has the opportunity to obtain medical care elsewhere.

HMOs and Kaiser in particular  are not in business to help the patient with anything that is long term, potentially life threatening or  just plain complicated. They are good for cheap co pays on prescriptions and general  minor ailments.  Someday, everyone is going  to have a serious, life threatening illness.  When they do, they will  not want to have an HMO, especially Kaiser Permanente, for their  medical coverage.

There are now many people that contribute to the Kaiser Papers data.  Not all of them are listed here though someday I hope that they  all can all be publicly recognized.  All of us work on a voluntary basis.  No one accepts any financial payment in any form for their work.  Any and all donations are accepted with no strings attached.  We are clean, untainted and pure of any influence from Kaiser Permanente.