In Copyright Since September 11, 2000 This web site is in no manner affiliated with any Kaiser entity and the for profit Permanente Permission is granted to mirror this web site - Please acknowledge where the material was obtained. | ABOUT US | CONTACT | MCRC kaiserpapers.com/californianews "Corporations can be charged with crimes," Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School.
Selected California News Stories About Kaiser Permanente INDEX
October 30, 2013 - Kaiser Nurse Diagnosed with Breast Cancer Was Harassed, Refused Treatment and Finally Fired -- by her Hospital
Aug 9, 2013 - Patients rated seven HMOs including Kaiser's Southern California system as poor, or just one star, on whether they were able to get care easily. Whistleblowers Chris Rauber Coverage with the SF Business Times 06/26/2012
Feb 28 2011 - California orders Kaiser to stop denying physical, occupational and speech therapy to certain patients mirrored for historical purposes here
Kaiser Fresno Stories
Kaiser canceled patient after payment - 02/12/2009
Medical Board and DMHC and other State Regulatory Agency Stories
Hospital/Medication Excuse of Error
Corporate Cost Saving which resulted in patient death or injury stories
Hospitalization Cutting Stories
Patient Disease related to unclean practices at hospitals or unsterilized equipment
Sarah Nome Stories - Elderly patient evicted from hospital stories
Kaiser employee molester stories
Kaiser and DHS/HHS/CMS Stories (10)
Kaiser Profits and Price Gouging Stories
Kaiser employee perjury stories
Patients and employees that got a tad bit upset with Kaiser Stories (4)
KaiserPharmacist/Pharmaceutical Stories
Physician Financial Incentive Stories
Kaiser trying to convince the country that they must provide national health care stories
Kaiser Casualty of The Day from CNA
Patient Confidentiality and IT stories at the National Page
Equipment malfunctions that harmed patients
Please notice the years of repeat patterns of inappropriate behavior.
October 29, 2013 - LOS ANGELES (CN) - When a nurse needed time off and other accommodations for breast cancer treatments to save her life, Kaiser demoted and transferred her, assigned her to work in the flu department although her doctors warned that an infection could kill her, forced her to work through her lunch hour to "make up" time she spent at chemotherapy appointments, and ultimately fired her, she claims in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. See: http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/10/29/62427.htm
October 5, 2012 Kaiser's Colleen McKeown: Correcting the record about Kaiser's new hospitals Mercury News Kaiser Papers Opinion of above article - McKeown explains that Kaiser Oakland will have yet another Oakland hospital that will be used for the children in Hayward and other areas in Northern California. That is quite a distance for children to be from home needlessly. There is no mention of accomodations being made for parents to stay with the children nor anything else that would make them more comfortable. Centralizing inpatient children is not necessarily a good thing to do as a matter of routine. It is one thing for those with specialized needs but quite another for more routine hospitalizations. It is simply too far from home, especially with heavy traffic in the areas, and the idea of centralization of pediatric patients sounds too institutional for American tastes when done without true need. According to this article it really appears to be nothing more than another way for Kaiser to save money by having the medical staff and equipment located in one place. More revenue for Kaiser, more expenses for the parents and certainly more traumatic for the children. But then, doesn't Kaiser count people only as numbers and not as humans? The down side to it probably doesn't matter at all to Kaiser.
February 28, 2012 From the Mercury News California orders Kaiser to stop denying physical, occupational and speech therapy to certain patients State regulators on Monday ordered Kaiser Foundation Health Plan to stop denying physical, occupational and speech therapy to certain patients. Mirrored here for historical purposes: https://kaiserpapers.com/fines/kaiser-deny-speech-therapy.html
Kaiser has declined such therapy to members who lack a "physical condition," according to documents filed by the state Department of Managed Health Care.
September 18, 2011 From The Los Angeles Times State Senate Health Chairman Doing Business With Kaiser Mirrored here for historical purposes: https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/senator-ed-hernandez.html A Southern California lawmaker who helped defeat legislation opposed by Kaiser is benefiting from a business relationship with the nonprofit health group.
October 19, 2010 Kaiser Permanente in Fresno has terminated the hospital privileges and credentials of Dr. Hamid Safari after a nearly three-year fight by the beleaguered perinatologist to keep his job following allegations of negligence.
Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/10/18/2123224/fresno-kaiser-hospital-parts-ways.html#ixzz12pZJT0vH
California looks into HMO medical claim denials Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, September 4, 2009
The state attorney general has launched an investigation into how health maintenance organizations review and pay medical claims, the office announced Thursday.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/03/BUFB19ICL2.D
Probe faults Kaiser for leaving brain-injured man on Sacramento streets cpeytondahlberg@sacbee.com Published Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 The Kaiser hospital in south Sacramento failed to follow state law when it discharged a brain-injured young man to the streets outside a closed homeless services program, a state investigation has concluded.Kaiser's vital signs defy ailing economy April 1, 2009 - Kaiser overtook Boeing as the county's top private employer at least seven years ago. As if to underscore the shift, Kaiser plans to open a medical center this year on a Downey plot once used to assemble space shuttles and Apollo rockets.
Comment - April 5, 2009 - This article about Kaiser is a slap in the face for its patients who have died or are suffering from chronic conditions such as cancer and kidney problems. Kaiser's financial success is largely due to finding loopholes to prevent these expensive patients from receiving the care they require.
Hillarie Levy Simi Valley
Distraught Wilmington dad Ervin Lupoe likely shot wife Ana and kids day before killing self 01/28/2009 BY NANCY DILLON DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
Suspected Wilmington gunman, wife had lost jobs at Kaiser Permanente 01/27/2009 https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/wilmingtongunman.html Family of CA man awarded $319K in insulin overdose https://kaiserpapers.com/legalstuff/california-kaiser-lawsuits Peter Lakos 02/06/2008
Kaiser Permanente Fresno STATEMENT OF DEFICIENCIES AND PLAN OF CORRECTION
Nonprofits' tax breaks questioned - State probes Kaiser, Sutter The state is investigating 15 nonprofit healthcare organizations for excess profits, as legislators question whether they deserve to keep the tax-exempt status that saves them millions of dollars a year. The list includes Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, which potentially means closer scrutiny of the healthcare giant's 30 California hospitals, even though a legislative hearing on the matter in Oakland last week put the heat on Sacramento-based Sutter Health instead. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10527697/ mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/stateprobe.html
HOSPITAL ERROR STORIES Kaiser Santa Clara Death of infant from hospital error probed Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer Saturday, March 10, 2007State and federal authorities are investigating a medication error at Kaiser Permanente's Santa Clara
hospital that led to the death of an infant, Kaiser officials confirmed Friday.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/10/BAGILOJ3D11.DTL mirrored for historical purposes at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/march10.html From: http://www.kcra.com/news/9765692/detail.html
Legislation Targets Hospital Errors Goal Is To Increase Public Awareness Of Medical Mistakes POSTED: 4:33 pm PDT August 30, 2006 SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- State lawmakers are working on legislation to improve hospital safety in response to recent patient deaths in Northern California. State Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, said she wants to pull back what she sees as a veil of secrecy over hospital errors.mirrored for historical purposes at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/aretheyreallyerrors.html
Former Kaiser Doctor Talks To ABC7 Claims Many Medical Mistakes By Debora Villalon From: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=3626588 Nov. 11 - KGO - A doctor who once worked at Kaiser Permanente in South San Francisco claims preventable medical mistakes happened too often at that hospital. He says cost-cutting moves put patients' lives in danger, and when he tried to warn Kaiser, he was fired. mirrored for public information at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/abc7.html
Department of Health Services Sanction Against Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara https://kaiserpapers.com/pdfs/kaiserDHSReport.pdf 21 pages
Nov 10, 2005 5:37 pm US/Pacific Kaiser Inspection Records Show Signs Of Danger Tony Russomanno Reportingfrom: http://cbs5.com/health/local_story_314204226.html mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/dangerouskaiser.html
Thu, Nov. 10, 2005 Hospitals blamed in more deaths By David L. Beck Mercury News Kaiser Permanente officials have confirmed the deaths of two more patients caused by staff errors at its South Bay hospitals. The deaths bring to at least four the number of fatal incidents at Kaiser facilities during the past 13 months. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/13129841.htm mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/avoidkaiser.html
Wed, Nov. 09, 2005 Kaiser patient dies after getting wrong medication Associated Press SAN JOSE, Calif. - A Kaiser Permanente patient died after receiving the wrong medication at one of the company's hospitals, the second patient recently reported to have died under similar circumstances at the facility, state health regulators said. from:http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/13124008.htm mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/kpabovethelaw.html
Nov. 08, 2005 Kaiser confirms third patient death By Julie Sevrens Lyons - Mercury News Kaiser Permanente officials on Tuesday confirmed a third case in which a patient at a South Bay hospital died after a medication error. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/13117889.htm text mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/thethirdone.html
November 4, 2005 ‘Psyche’ patient escapes By Bill Silverfarb A Kaiser Medical Center patient is in custody following a bizarre incident that left a security guard hospitalized and a pregnant woman traumatized. .....“If he is mentally ill I’m more angry at the people that allowed it to happen,” Singh said. “If he was on a suicide watch they weren’t doing a very good job of watching him.” http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=49612 text mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/poorsecurity.html
Please notice the years of repeat patterns of inappropriate behavior. Nov. 04, 2005 In July, a 12-year-old girl hospitalized at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center-Santa Clara was mistakenly given a double dose of epinephrine, which speeds up the heart rate, state records show.Josephine Frances Hart, a San Jose resident who loved to play with marbles, died July 26, the same day of the error. Her official cause of death is still being investigated by the county coroner's office, but state health investigators determined that a nurse failed to check the medication label. See: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/13079133.htm text mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/josephinehart.html
Wed, Nov. 02, 2005 Medical mistake may have killed man By Julie Sevrens Lyons Mercury News A 21-year-old San Jose man underwent chemotherapy in August hoping it might cure his lymphoma. Instead, it may have killed him -- as human error at Kaiser Permanente's Santa Teresa Medical Center led to the man being injected with the wrong medication, state investigators have found. Originally Posted at: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/13058936.htm and mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/chemogoof.html
Widow sues Kaiser in delivery room tragedy - A widowed mother of two sued the Kaiser hospital system alleging her husband fainted while helping her give birth and fatally struck his head when he fell......The first attempt to inject her failed. During the second, Passalaqua saw the needle enter his wife's spine, said "here we go again," released his wife, lost consciousness and fell backwards, hitting his head on an aluminum cap molding at the base of a wall, according to the suit.Passalaqua suffered a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain that worsened and he died two
days later, the suit said. See story at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/bumphead.html
3.3 million dollar award against Kaiser for performing heart surgery on the wrong patient! A Berkeley man who was left nearly blind following heart bypass surgery he did not need has been awarded $3.3 million in one of the largest malpractice decisions against Kaiser Permanente in recent years. https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/azari.html
Oceanside man died after appendectomy in 2003 - A 54-year-old Oceanside man bled to death after a routine appendectomy at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in San Diego because his doctor made a mistake, according to a Medical Board of California accusation filed against the doctor. https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/paopao.html
Mother blames Kaiser for son's deathWhen Linette McCan's 7-year-old son Gregory came to her complaining of a stomachache last Saturday, she never dreamed her child would be dead the next morning.
She says doctors in the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente's Walnut Creek hospital ignored Gregory as he suffered from what turned out to be meningococcal sepsis, an infection that led to his death Sunday morning.
https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/gregorymccan.html
Demonstrations against Kaiser Baldwin Park over death of child - The Baby Ryan Huff Story https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/ryanhuff.html
People are dying in California's hospitals because of medical errors http://eastbay.bcentral.com/eastbay/stories/2001/07/23/focus3.html?t=printable
Kaiser Employee Perjury Stories
SAN FRANCISCO Surgeon indicted on perjury charge He's accused of offering false alibi at gunman's trial Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, October 13, 2006 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/13/BAGVULOS931.DTL
A San Francisco surgeon was indicted Thursday on charges that he committed perjury during a federal trial in 2002 in an attempt to win an acquittal for a man he had sponsored in a drug rehabilitation program.
Dr. Bruce Barker, a 50-year-old physician for Kaiser Permanente, was the key witness in the trial of Marvin Washington, who was accused of illegally possessing a gun outside the Holly Courts public housing project, where he lived, in San Francisco.... follow above link for complete story.
Dr. Barker was found guilty of perjury and on November 2, 2007 the San Francisco Chronicle Reported: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/02/BASQT4UO3.DTLDoctor admits to perjury in trial of man he sponsored in drug rehab Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, November 2, 2007
............
Prosecutors said Barker's account was impossible because the doctor had been performing surgery at the time - 4 miles away at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center on Geary Boulevard. Hospital records showed he'd been working in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit until 5:35 p.m. that day.
Washington's trial ended when he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a gun with an altered serial number. A judge sentenced Washington to more than eight years in prison.
The FBI began an investigation into Barker's testimony. A federal grand jury indicted him last year on three counts of perjury and one count of making a false statement to law enforcement.
Barker pleaded guilty to one count of perjury on Wednesday, admitting he knowingly and intentionally provided false testimony in Washington's trial.
The sentencing of Barker is scheduled for 11 a.m. Feb. 8 He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Barker is not in custody pending sentencing.
Kaiser spokeswoman Meg Walker said, "Dr. Barker does practice here at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, and we are reviewing this latest development."
Read the rest of the story at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/02/BASQT4UO3.DTL
MEDICAL BOARD, DMHC and other State Regulatory Agency STORIES2009 - September 4 - Sponge left in patient ends in fine for Kaiser - by Shauntel Lowe/Times-Herald, Vallejo The Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Vallejo has been fined $25,000 after staff members last year left a sponge inside a surgical patient. The mishap necessitated a second surgery for the patient and the removal of a portion of her bowel. http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_13268617 Mirrored for historical purposes at: https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/sponge.html State regulators widen probe into Kaiser's ills San Francisco Business Times - November 10, 2006 by Chris Rauber
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/11/13/story6.html?b=1163394000%5E1374648 State health regulators have widened a probe of Kaiser Permanente's process for handling complaints beyond its ill-fated kidney transplant unit and into other operations of the health-care giant.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/valley/la-fi-kaiser22nov22,1,4539465.story?coll=la-editions-valley State Faults Kaiser DoctorsRevisiting the case of a woman whose cancer was misdiagnosed, medical regulators decide to censure five more physicians. By Debora Vrana - Times Staff Writer - November 22, 2005 The Medical Board of California, reversing an earlier position, has decided to publicly censure all six Kaiser Permanente doctors involved in the death of a Woodland Hills woman whose case has sparked a debate about state oversight of California's largest HMO. Mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/kaiserstillwontobeythelaw.html
October 31, 2005 Los Angeles Attorney - B. Casey Yim, of the law firm Murchison and Cumming accuses Los Angeles Times reporter of misquoting. Was the intent of Mr.Yim's writing to cast a shadow on the veracity of the entire article? See: https://kaiserpapers.com/yim.html in the October 23, 2005 - How Many Doctors Should Be Blamed? Originally from: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-newkaiser23oct23,0,1538660,print.story?coll=la-home-business mirrored at for public information historical purposes: https://kaiserpapers.com/hillarieandrobyn.html Related story at: http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2005/1028/Community/031.html and https://kaiserpapers.com/robynl.html
Three Kaiser Patient Victims Stories aired by station KEYT Santa Barbara https://kaiserpapers.com/video/Kaiser Permanente victims.wmv If using Firefox please right click and "Open Link In New Window"
From The Simi Valley Acorn http://www.simivalleyacorn.com/news/2005/1028/Community/031.html and https://kaiserpapers.com/acorn.html October 28, 2005 - Simi Valley woman wants daughter’s doctors publicly named for misdiagnoses By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com
October 23, 2005 - How Many Doctors Should Be Blamed? Originally from: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-newkaiser23oct23,0,1538660,print.story?coll=la-home-business mirrored at for public information historical purposes: https://kaiserpapers.com/hillarieandrobyn.html A mother whose daughter died after Kaiser physicians missed her cancer is fighting to change a law that let the HMO report only one of the practitioners to the state. By Debora Vrana Times Staff Writer
Death sparks Simi mother's mission By Adam Foxman, afoxman@VenturaCountyStar.com Following her daughter's death from cancer earlier this year, a Simi Valley woman has launched a campaign seeking more accountability for healthcare providers. Hillarie Levy, whose daughter Robyn Libitsky https://kaiserpapers.com/robyn.html died in February at age 29, has contacted state legislators in hopes of interesting them in her cause.Libitsky died after a five-year battle with Ewings sarcoma, a rare form of pediatric bone cancer. Levy said a misdiagnosis of her daughter's tumor as psychosomatically induced back pain and the later denial of certain treatments increased her daughter's suffering and led to her death.
April 07, 2004 - LOS ANGELES - Kaiser Baldwin ParkJudge suspends license of ex-Santa Teresita nurse Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - LOS ANGELES -- A judge Tuesday suspended the license of a former Santa Teresita Hospital nurse accused by the state attorney general's office of negligence that resulted in two babies being born with severe brain damage.
Evidence presented in the hearing showed that nurse Vynola E. Gadsby demonstrated a serious disregard'' for state, California board of registered nursing and hospital regulations on at least two occasions, said Administrative Law Judge H. Stuart Waxman.
To adequately protect the public, Waxman said Gadsby's license must be suspended on an interim basis, while the nursing board proceeds with legal proceedings to try and revoke it. Gadsby is currently on paid administrative leave from her position at Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center, according to court documents. https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/licensegone.html
Oceanside man died after appendectomy in 2003 - A 54-year-old Oceanside man bled to death after a routine appendectomy at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in San Diego because his doctor made a mistake, according to a Medical Board of California accusation filed against the doctor.
Kaiser says it will finally pay fine of $1,000,000.00 levied by Department of Managed Health Care in 2000./Nov. 2002 https://kaiserpapers.com/fines/kaiser1milliondollarfine.html
CORPORATE COST SAVING WHICH RESULTED IN PATIENT DEATH OR INJURY STORIES$903,000 awarded to councilman's widow By Cheryl Clark UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER August 31, 2007 SAN DIEGO – The late San Diego Councilman Charles Lewis was never told by his longtime Kaiser physician Willie Thigpen that he had a serious liver disease and that drinking alcohol would hasten his death, an arbitration judge has ruled. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070831-9999-7m31lewis.html
mirrored for historical purposes at: https://kaiserpapers.com/horror/lewis.html
Also found at Kaiser Permanente THRIVE Exposed! - http://www.kaiserthrive.org/2007/08/31/903k-awarded-to-widow-of-government-official/
June 26, 2005- TRAGEDY AND TRAVESTY AT KAISER HOSPITAL - A letter from Dr. Nayvin Gordon regarding the substandard care his daughter, a twenty year old San Francisco State University student received at Kaiser. Were it not for the Kaiser diluted, overly managed, corporate cost cutting features of standard, accepted by the entire world life saving procedures this young lady may well have not suffered permanent brain damage. Kaiser really botched this case but instead of owning up to it pulled strings all over the State of California with every government agency in existence to not be held accountable.
Kaiser Cited By State for Poor Care Criticism in deaths of 2 emergency patients Kaiser Permanente's Walnut Creek Hospital has been cited for deficient care of a 7-year-old San Ramon boy and a psychiatric patient, both of whom died after going to its emergency room and being transferred to other hospitals. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/09/04/MN52892.DTL&type=printable
Kaiser Settles Suit Alleging Denial of Care - Debora Vrana Kaiser Permanente has settled for an undisclosed amount a lawsuit filed by Chant Yedalian, a La Crescenta man who became a lawyer to launch a legal crusade against the HMO to avenge what he alleged was the wrongful death of his mother.
Dr. Robert Pearl, chief executive of Kaiser, said at a private meeting that "we chose not to provide our patients with what they desired," The paper's staff reviewed Kaiser documents, including e-mails and notes of private meetings, and found Kaiser encouraged its doctors in Northern California to make themselves as unavailable as possible to their patients in an effort to lower patient demand and costs.
Ebony Howard was denied a needed operation at the Kaiser operating room door. World Class surgeons came forward and helped this young athlete receive outside of Kaiser needed medical care. Story by Ramona Shelburne https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/ebony.html
Man denied medical care, complaint alleges https://kaiserpapers.com/banda.html
Kaiser rejects costly treatment for sick children An Amador County couple whose three youngsters suffer from a fatal genetic disorder have lost the first round of their battle to obtain a costly treatment that could save two of the children.A panel of medical specialists from Kaiser Permanente has ruled against John and Alicia Bennett's request for insurance coverage for transplanting healthy umbilical cord cells into their sons Hunter, 4, and Tommy, 2.
The boys and their sister, Ciara, 6, suffer from a rare condition known as Sanfilippo syndrome, which causes progressive damage to the heart, bones, joints and respiratory and central nervous systems. It is usually fatal by age 13.
https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/reject.html
Kaiser Gift Stirs Hope for 2 Ill Brothers https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/brothers.htmlBecause of a $1-million research donation from Kaiser Permanente, two Amador County boys with a rare genetic disease may soon get experimental transplants that offer the only chance to save their lives.
Kaiser, the state's largest HMO, had refused for months to pay for umbilical cord-blood transplants for Hunter Bennett, 4, and his 2-year-old brother, Tommy. Their 6-year-old sister, Ciara, also has the disease, but is not eligible for the transplant because the illness has progressed too far.
The HMO argued that the transplants themselves could be life-threatening and had not been proved to work. But, after an onslaught of media coverage, Kaiser agreed to donate $1 million to Duke University in North Carolina for research into the children's condition, known as Sanfilippo syndrome. Duke can use the money to cover the boys' medical costs there.
Technically, the HMO's decision does not set a precedent or change its position on covering the experimental treatment--but it allows the family to pursue its only hope.
HMO benefit reductions put seniors at risk https://kaiserpapers.com/ventura.html
SF Times Article on how Kaiser legally murders patientsLicense to kill
Hospitals reserve the right to pull your plug Wesley J. Smith Sunday, December 2, 2001
Originally posted at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-010202kaiser.story Cases Reveal Lapses in Kaiser Emergency Care Health: Nine arbitration proceedings offer a rare look into HMO. It denies any pattern of negligence. By CHARLES ORNSTEIN Times Health Writer https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/arby.html
Fools' rush in after cancer shock https://kaiserpapers.com/foolcan.html
Infant Anesthesia Problems Spark Debate - Feb. 2003https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/debate.html Infant Anesthesia Problems Spark Debate By Charles Ornstein, Times Staff Writer February 24, 2003 The soul-searching among anesthesiologists at Kaiser Permanente's Woodland Hills hospital began in 1999, after 2-month-old Grant Wray nearly died as he was being sedated for hernia surgery. Doubts grew the following year when 19-month-old Jose Fajardo III suffered throat spasms during anesthesia, then died.
General anesthesiologists at Woodland Hills questioned whether they could safely care for children so young; they implored hospital leaders to send these patients elsewhere or hire pediatric specialists.
Hospital administrators said the two cases were aberrations and strongly defended using general anesthesiologists for pediatric surgeries. They did, however, make some changes, such as enlisting neonatologists, who specialize in caring for newborns, to help sedate the youngest infants.
Kaiser settles family's lawsuitHis parents blame the hospital for their son's permanent disability after birth.
By Ramon Coronado -- Bee Staff Writer - (Published October 10, 2002) A Kaiser hospital in Sacramento has agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging its staff neglected to tell a Carmichael couple their newborn son had a treatable medical condition that later injured him permanently. https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/coronado.html
High Court OKs Reduced Malpractice Sum in Girl's Death State's $250,000 limit applies in suit over hospital `dumping' Harriet Chiang, Chronicle Legal Affairs Writer Friday, March 26, 1999 She arrived at 5:30 p.m. and was examined by a staff physician, Dr. Trach Phoung Dang, who wanted to do blood tests to determine whether she had a bacterial infection. But a doctor at Kaiser Permanente Hospital told him not to do so, saying that the tests could wait until she was transferred to Kaiser. The girl was enrolled in Kaiser's health plan. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1999/03/26/MN102692.DTL
(Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 1997all Rights reserved) Federal investigators have released a critical report detailing patient-care problems at Kaiser Permanente's hospitals in Oakland and Richmond discovered during a surprise inspection in March. The inspection followed reports of deaths of three patients transferred from Kaiser's Richmond hospital last winter. Among the report's findings were inexplicable delays in transferring patients, short staffing and inadequate quality-control procedures. Kaiser, which faced the possible loss of federal funding at the two hospitals, has taken corrective actions, said officials of the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration. A follow-up inspection is scheduled in the next several weeks.
(Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 1997all Rights reserved)Three HMOs--Kaiser Permanente, Pacificare and Health Systems International--will soon control health care for 9 million of the 13 million Californians in HMOs. Kaiser is singular among these titans in receiving an annual tax break of more than $200 million because of its nonprofit status. Such status requires the provision of charity care, but does not preclude Kaiser from diverting profits to the doctors who own Kaiser's for-profit medical group and receive dividends for Kaiser's penny-pinching.
While Kaiser was once the gold standard for affordable, high-quality HMO care, it has recently led the race to the bottom in health quality, clinging to its tax break even as it acts like a for-profit company. Kaiser has been the leader in reducing patient stays and has steadily cut back on preventive services by limiting mammograms, pap smears and prostate cancer screenings.
An infamous Kaiser memo announcing an eight-hour discharge policy for newborns and their mothers (since outlawed) was called "Positive Thoughts Regarding the Eight Hour Discharge." It encouraged staff to offer such justifications as "hospital food is not tasty" and "unlimited visitors Authorities investigate allegations that a Kaiser surgeon in San Luis Obispo hastened a possible donor's demise.at home."
The state Department of Corporations, which oversees HMOs, has done an audit of Kaiser, released in August, and found that medical decisions at Kaiser do not appear to be "independent of fiscal and administrative considerations." In other words, money is dictating medicine. This is against the law.
Specifically, auditors found that "clinical financial review nurses have the authority to overrule physician decisions." Bureaucrats can, in effect, practice medicine without a license. The auditors also found that 25% of non-network emergency room treatment for Kaiser members was denied unreasonably.
Kaiser has been ordered to answer for these abuses by February, but it will no doubt resist. Kaiser's own 1995-97 Southern California strategic plan, which includes such reckless care-cutting as replacing skilled nurses with unskilled attendants, is based on a financial goal that amounts to being able to quote the lowest price to all corporate and individual purchasers. Prevention, which used to be the signature of HMOs, is barely mentioned in the document, which reads more like a corporate prospectus than a plan for health policy. This "nonprofit" company has made more than $2 billion in net operating income, i.e. profit, over the last three years. Today Kaiser spends $60 million annually on advertising and marketing, more than a 700% increase over four years ago.
While the state has tried to resolve cases with Kaiser and other HMOs "quietly," only a forceful and public response will prevent the kind of reckless indifference that threatens patients like Charla Cooper. Cooper will lose her ability to have children if Kaiser does not provide $70,000 in specialist care, available only outside the Kaiser network, that she requires for a pre-cancerous cervical condition and ovarian complications. HMOs like Kaiser do not like to provide such out-of-network care, even when no qualified specialist exists at the HMO, because of cost.
Cooper has stated: "Kaiser missed a diagnosis, did not return my phone calls, scheduled procedures three months after they were needed and returned test results up to two months after the tests were performed." Fertility specialists whose advice Cooper sought on her own have urged that she receive special surgery and fertility treatment unavailable at Kaiser, but Kaiser bureaucrats have steadfastly refused to authorize such treatment. Cooper's chances of becoming a mother fade every day. Her complaint, marked "urgent" by department investigators in July, is still sitting on the desk of Department of Corporations Commissioner Keith Bishop.
Bishop has charted a harmfully cautious course with HMOs since his appointment by Gov. Wilson. And indeed, the Department of Corporations has issued only one fine in its 20 years of HMO oversight for improper denial of health care. But HMOs like Kaiser understand money most, and that is what they must be forced to pay when they violate state law and abandon patients like Cooper. The penalty should be enough to give a billion-dollar behemoth an incentive to live up to its obligations under the law and its debt to taxpayers who underwrite that $200-million annual bonus.
Credit: Jamie Court is the director of Consumers for Quality Care, a Los Angeles-based watchdog group
(Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 1996 all Rights reserved) November 21, 1996My thanks to Ellen Goodman for "The Latest HMO Outrage: Drive-Thru Mastectomy" (Commentary, Nov. 18). Last week I became an uninformed victim of this inhumane practice at Kaiser-Permanente, Los Angeles.
I want to acquaint women with my firsthand experience of this degradation and urge my fellow HMO patients to contact their Washington legislators.
My mastectomy and lymph node removal took place at 7:30 a.m., Nov. 13. I was released at 2:30 p.m. that same day. I received notice, the day before surgery, from my doctor that mastectomy was an outpatient procedure at Kaiser and I'd be released the same day. Shocked by this news, I told my surgeon of my previous complications with anesthesia and the fact that I have a cervical spine condition, which adds an additional consideration for any surgery. The pleasant doctor assured me that I'd be admitted, for the night, if I experienced excessive pain or nausea. This was noted in my chart.
In the recovery room and the holding area, I felt like a wounded soldier in a hospital tent during the Civil War. I was surrounded by moaning patients and placed directly next to a screaming infant. When I finally found a voice, I shouted, "Get me out of here!" A nurse flitted by, shot me a disapproving glance, and commented, "Some folks just don't know when to be grateful." This was the ultimate humiliation.
While in a groggy, postoperative daze, swimming in pain and nausea, I was given some perfunctory instructions on how to empty the two bloody drains attached to my body. I was told to dress myself and go home. My doctor's written chart instructions for a room assignment, if I developed acute nausea or pain, were ignored by the nursing staff. Obviously, the reassurance had been given to placate me at the time of my discussion with the doctor but everyone knew an overnight stay was against Kaiser hospital rules. Everyone knew, except me. I had no time to mourn the loss of my breast or regain a sense of composure.
This experience was especially shocking because four years previously, I had undergone a hysterectomy and received excellent treatment and a four-night stay at the very same Kaiser facility.
We women can allow ourselves to be discounted or we can demand more from the HMOs. No civilized country in the world has mastectomy as an outpatient procedure.
VICTORIA BERCK
Los Angeles
* In Goodman's excellent column, every word of which I endorse wholeheartedly, she quotes Cindy Pearson of the National Women's Health Network as implying that women receive second- class medical treatment just because of their sex, by asking, "What part of a man's body would they amputate in same-day surgery?" I can answer that one from experience: the testicle(s).
When I had my testicle removed for testicular cancer it was admittedly not as serious a surgery as radical mastectomy, but it did involve general anesthesia, surgery and the loss of a body part to which I was deeply attached. And it was only covered as outpatient surgery by my HMO, male though I be (still).
MICHEL MASSON
Santa Barbara
DAY OF MOURNING, PROTESTS - Julian Guthrie, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF Saturday, December 2, 1995 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/e/a/1995/12/02/NEWS1071.dtl ACT UP Golden Gate held simultaneous noontime rallies in San Francisco and Oakland calling on Kaiser Permanente to improve care for HIV patients.
This article is from the San Francisco Chronicle from 2003 and written by David Lazarus. The title is Medical Charts Not All That Private. http://tinyurl.com/dvffc I think that today with the rush to outsource everything the warnings in this article are even more important to heed.
So much for the great Kaiser computer system. They can't even track who writes what prescriptions.! KTVU - Fox Network A Danville couple whose two children were killed by a hit-and-run driver wants new controls on how doctors prescribe drugs. Bob and Carmen say Kaiser permanente shares the death of their two children. A woman charged with being drunk when she hit and killed the children back in 2003. The Packs believe Baretta was under the influence of painkillers at the time prescribed by several different Kaiser doctors. The month of the accident, a Kaiser doctor prescribed 50 vicadin pills without knowing that six days earlier another doctor gave her 50 prescriptions for 50 pills.updates to this story:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/4516615/detail.html
April 27, 2005 - Hit-And-Run Nanny Sentenced To 30 Years To Life http://www.ktvu.com/news/4422543/detail.html
Regulators Fine Kaiser Unit $200,000 - June 21, 2005 The state imposes the penalty for breaching patient confidentiality in exposing health records on the Web. by Debra Vrana - Times Staff Writer
The council contends that when Kaiser learns of a suit or potential suit by a patient, its legal department opens and studies that patient's private medical records without notifying the patient. This alleged review by Kaiser's legal department is inappropriate, said the council, because Kaiser's legal employees have no role in the patient's health care.
"If a patient has a claim against Kaiser for negligently cutting off a little finger, why should a clerk in Kaiser's legal department be able to review the patient's entire medical file, which might include information on unrelated sexual, psychiatric or personal problems ...?" asked Martin Blake, one of the lawyers who filed the suit in Alameda County Superior Court for the council on Monday.
John Metz, the chairman of the council, said that Kaiser has put its own legal interests above the protection of its patients' privacy. "It is just wrong," he said in a statement
If Kaiser Permanente is your health care provider and you live in Petaluma or other North Bay spots, your bill may be a little late this month.
A box of 1,200 September account statements sent by Kaiser's Southern California data processing center to its direct mail company somehow ended up all over the streets of San Francisco yesterday. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1998/09/19/BU70537.DTL
PATIENT DISEASE RELATED TO UNCLEAN PRACTICES AT HOSPITALS OR UNSTERILIZED EQUIPMENT
Some Kaiser patients positive for hep - April 9, 2005 Equipment wasn't sterile but may not have been source of hepatitis There have been "a small number" of positive hepatitis test results from Kaiser patients who were alerted that unsterilized equipment was used during procedures in South Sacramento and Redwood City, a hospital official said Friday.
https://kaiserpapers.com/kpgvethemhep.html
SARAH NOME STORIES - ELDERLY PATIENT EVICTED FROM KAISER HOSPITAL
Kaiser to auction former patient's home to pay bill By Nancy Isles Nation MEDIANEWS Article Launched: 10/08/2007 01:58:12 PM PDT http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7119358?nclick_check=1
The house of a woman who refused to leave her hospital bed at Kaiser Permanente for more than a year will be auctioned by the Marin County sheriff's office Tuesday.If the home at 77 Alder Ave. in San Anselmo sells, the proceeds will be used to cover the bill for a 14-month hospital stay by former resident Sarah Nome, who now lives at the Lafayette Convalescent Hospital .
The cost to Kaiser was $1.4 million based on the $3,200 per-day price for the hospital bed, according to a court ruling.
Kaiser has not determined the value of the house because officials have not had access to the property, but it is believed to be in substantial disrepair. mirrored for historical purposes at:https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/outinthestreet.html
Final update on Room 502 - 82-year-old woman who refused to leave hospital placed in Marin County guardian's care and shipped off to a home. Eviction Day for Sarah Nome news coverage
Kaiser losing patience with patient By Nancy Isles Nation San Anselmo firebrand Sarah Nome, often at odds with City Hall, now is taking on Kaiser Permanente from her hospital bed.
Oakland -- Oakland couple has filed a lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente Hospital claiming that the HMO lost the body of their stillborn daughter. URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1999/04/21/MNR3BA6.DTL
To Stewart, an anesthesiologist, it seemed a classic case of medical malpractice. After the operation, his mother developed sharp abdominal pain that she described as "10 on a scale of 1 to 10," according to her medical records.
Read more at:
"The whole body, my shoulder my hands, everything aches," Pellini said.
He even needs help breathing. For John's family it's a 24/7 job.
"I feel guilty because I have always been the type of person to do things by myself," Pellini said.
John's family said he could walk fine just over a year ago, when he checked into the emergency room at Kaiser in Hayward, complaining of a pain in his leg. A few days later, it became even worse.
mirrored for historical purposes at: https://kaiserpapers.com/pellini.html
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_NEWS_nkaiser28.58021.html mirrored and preserved at: https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/newborn.html
Kaiser loses ruling in death of newborn ARBITRATION: An attorney says the doctor used standard procedures to treat the birth defect.
12/28/2002
By DOUGLAS E. BEEMAN THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
A Murrieta couple has won a $1 million arbitration case against Kaiser Permanente stemming from the death of their newborn daughter nearly three years ago. An arbitrator ruled that the doctor who performed the surgery to repair a birth defect used poor judgment when complications arose after the operation.
Under California's law limiting general damages in medical liability cases, the award was reduced to $250,000.
The couple, Rachelle and Leon Phillips, say the award is small compensation for the loss of their child. More important, Rachelle Phillips said, is that Kaiser has been held responsible for its error that cost Renea Phillips her life.KAISER EMPLOYEE MOLESTER STORIES
http://www.kcra.com/news/9379863/detail.html Accused Doctor Makes First Court Appearance Attorney Questions Kaiser's Failure To Act SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A plastic surgeon charged with sexually exploiting his patients and stockpiling military weapons in his Carmichael home made his first court appearance on Thursday.In a civil lawsuit filed Thursday, an attorney for one of Takasugi's alleged victims reports suspicious conduct by the doctor dating back to 2001. READ More - mirrored for historical purposes at: https://kaiserpapers.com/takasugi2.html
Dr. Scott Takasugi, known by neighbors for his lavish Halloween parties, dapper clothes and luxury car collection, was being investigated for sexual exploitation of patients when the cache was found.
Complete story at above link and mirrored for historical purposes at:
https://kaiserpapers.com/rocketlauncher.html
"After receiving patient care complaints, we contacted the sheriff's department and have cooperated fully with their investigation. We encouraged the patients to file police reports as well. We have begun the process to terminate the physician and to report him to the medical board.
mirrored for historical purposes at: https://kaiserpapers.com/takasugi.html
IMPROPER PROCEDURES FOLLOWED IN PELVIC EXAMS, SIX WOMEN ALLEGE
https://kaiserpapers.com/raul3.html
Julius Ariston Villareal, 32, of Chula Vista is accused of fondling and committing other sex acts on two men in their hospital beds who were drugged and unable to resist.
Male nurse guilty of fondling patients
San
Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA)
August 20, 2005
Estimated
printed pages: 1
A nurse who cared for patients at hospitals in San Diego and North County has been convicted of six counts of sexual battery for fondling several patients.
A Superior Court jury Wednesday found Julius Ariston Villareal, 32, of Chula Vista guilty of sexually touching three male patients in September 2003 and June 2004. He could be sentenced to up to nine years in prison at a court hearing scheduled for Sept. 20. He is free on $50,000 bail.Prosecutors say the incidents occurred at Sharp Coronado Hospital and Healthcare Center and Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Diego. He was fired from both hospitals after the patients complained.
Villareal was also fired from a nursing job at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas in 1996 after he was accused of similar acts. He did not face charges in connection with that incident because the statute of limitations had run out, a prosecutor said. Edition: 1,2,6,7 Section: LOCAL Page: B-2 Column: AROUND THE REGION Index Terms: CRIME; HOSPITALS; SAN DIEGO; SEX; TRIALS; VERDICTS Copyright 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Nurse who fondled his patients gets 240 days
Man
also receives 3 years' probation
San
Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA)
November 9, 2005
Author: Dana
Littlefield; STAFF WRITER
Estimated
printed pages: 2
A nurse convicted of fondling patients at two local hospitals was sentenced yesterday to 240 days in jail and placed on three years' probation.
A jury found Julius Ariston Villareal, 33, of Chula Vista guilty Aug. 17 of six counts of sexual battery on an unconscious person for inappropriately touching three male patients. He had worked as a licensed vocational nurse at hospitals in San Diego and North County for a decade.San Diego Superior Court Judge Peter C. Deddeh also ordered Villareal to work 20 days in public work service and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Villareal, who had been free on $50,000 bail, was taken into custody immediately after the hearing.
Deputy Attorney General David Songco said the incidents occurred at Sharp Coronado Hospital and Healthcare Center and Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Diego between September 2003 and June 2004. Villareal was fired from both hospitals after the patients complained.
He was also fired from a nursing job at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas in 1996 after he was accused of similar acts. However, he did not face charges in connection with that incident because the statute of limitations had run out, Songco said.
According to court documents, a 28-year-old patient who had been admitted to Sharp Coronado for severe pneumonia reported that Villareal touched his genitals twice during sponge baths and also sexually propositioned him.
The victim did not immediately report the incident because he was embarrassed, according to court documents.
Another male patient who was treated for an infected dog bite at Kaiser told authorities that Villareal sexually touched him on several occasions during his hospital stay last year. A third patient, also from Kaiser, came forward after seeing news reports of Villareal's arrest.
All of the patients told authorities they were heavily medicated when the incidents occurred.
Villareal repeatedly denied the accusations to his employers and investigators, according to court documents. He told a probation officer that his immediate goal after the sentencing hearing was to get a job.
The prosecutor said he plans to immediately initiate proceedings to revoke Villareal's nursing license.
Dana Littlefield: (619) 542-4590; dana.littlefield@uniontrib.com Edition: 1,7 Section: LOCAL Page: B-3 Index Terms: ABUSE; CRIME; FIRINGS; HOSPITALS; MEDICINE; SAN DIEGO; SENTENCES; SEX; TRIALS Copyright 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Record Number: UTS1911355
RH doctor faces sex charges - Sampras' former coach accused of molestation Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA) July 18, 1997 Author: The Associated Press A doctor from Rolling Hills who once coached tennis star Pete Sampras faces 16 charges of molesting boys he met through his medical practice, authorities confirmed Thursday.
The allegations against Dr. Peter Fischer, a pediatric endocrinologist, involve four boys who were 13 to 15 years old at the time, said Deputy District Attorney Eloise Phillips. https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/peterfischer.html
SAMPRAS'
EX-COACH IN TROUBLE
Times
Union, The (Albany, NY)
July 23,
1997
Author: Associated Press
Estimated printed pages: 1
DOWNEY, Calif. -- A doctor and former coach of tennis star Pete Sampras was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges that he molested young male patients.
After a preliminary hearing that included testimony from the alleged victims, a Downey Municipal Court judge ruled prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed with the case against Dr. Peter Fischer.
Fischer, who is free on $460,000 bail, was ordered to appear Thursday in Norwalk Superior Court for arraignment.
In a separate case filed in February, Fischer, a pediatric endocrinologist from Rolling Hills, is charged with three counts of committing a lewd act on a child and three counts of penetration by a foreign object.
HOSPITALIZATION CUTTING STORIES
Kaiser struggles to cut cost of care - Lisa M. Krieger, EXAMINER MEDICAL WRITER Monday, September 25, 1995
CALIFORNIA -- Kaiser Permanente, once the undisputed leader in low-cost health care, is struggling to stay competitive by hospitalizing fewer patients and rewarding cost-effective doctors, internal documents show.
"We're competing in a very hot market," said David Pockell, executive vice president and regional manager of the Kaiser's Northern California region. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/e/a/1995/09/25/BUSINESS9917.dtl
In Northern California, Kaiser doctors operate under a different incentive program. It includes modest bonuses to physicians if the facility where they work meets certain budget and quality goals.
The giant Oakland-based HMO denied the move was intended to placate critics of the bonus plan, who had said the system essentially rewarded doctors for rationing care. Instead, officials said the budgetary goals were met for 1995 -- so the incentives were not necessary for 1996.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1995/12/20/BU72074.DTL
At least that's the impression staffers got when they heard Kaiser attorney Alice Barkley's voice- mail message to San Francisco's city planning office, warning that if she didn't like the agency's forthcoming environmental ruling on Kaiser's Geary Street project, ``you may have a staff that is dead by tomorrow.'' http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1996/09/27/MN72628.DTL
A Los Angeles group called Consumers for Quality Care, interpreting a Kaiser business plan, charged that the HMO plans to dramatically reduce the number of patients hospitalized, limit prescriptions of high-cost drugs and continue to prescribe more medication, apparently in lieu of needed treatment. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1995/09/27/BU11469.DTL
KAISER AND DHS/HHS/CMS STORIES
October 19, 2006
State regulators for the first time have ordered a health plan to reinstate the insurance coverage of a patient whose policy was ruled to have been illegally canceled.
In an order posted Wednesday, the Department of Managed Health Care ruled that Kaiser Foundation Health Plan illegally canceled coverage for a Northern California woman in urgent need of medical attention for large kidney stones. The cancellation was illegal, the agency ruled, because there was no evidence the woman intended to deceive the health maintenance organization about her medical history.
https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/oct192006.html
Walnut Creek -- Kaiser Permanente has 10 days to correct long emergency room waits that may have contributed to the death of an 84-year-old man in December, a state health regulator said yesterday. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1998/01/31/MNR6CO11.DTL
Kaiser nurses, regrouping after a two-day strike last week at Kaiser-Permanente Northern California hospitals and clinics, have fired off a letter protesting the findings of a study that cleared the big health maintenance organization to continue as an East Bay Medicare provider. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/e/a/1997/07/23/NEWS2690.dtl
KAISER PROFITS AND PRICE GOUGING STORIES
California's Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, reported a $38.9 million, or 228.5 percent, increase from $17 million
A consumer group disclosed that Kaiser's corporate investment portfolio included a $5 million stake in cigarette maker Philip Morris Cos.
Consumers for Quality Care, based in Los Angeles, charged Kaiser with hypocrisy for running high-profile anti-smoking campaigns while at the same time quietly loading up on tobacco investments.
Kaiser spokeswoman Beverly Hayon confirmed that Kaiser held $5 million in Philip Morris bonds as of Dec. 31, 1996. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1997/06/26/MN54171.DTL
PATIENTS AND EMPLOYEES THAT GOT A TAD BIT UPSET WITH KAISER STORIES
Eugene Guevara - Why did he shoot a physician on the day he was discharged from Kaiser hospital?
September 21, 2003
The media was very brave and did the right thing in presenting this story, but now that Mr.Guevara, who apparently was denied appropriate medical care while a Kaiser patient, has died, the story is fading away.
People have been saving copies of this story and would like an update on it. To Kaiser - this story is not going to go away. https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/eugeneg.html
NOTE regarding the Guevara Case: Mr. Guevara first lost his wife to Kaiser late diagnosis and difficulty with treatment issues, then he developed and illness, finally when it was too late to save him was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Mr. Guevara had been in the hospital as a patient when the doctor just dismissed him and sent him home while letting him know that was all they were going to do for him.
Mr. Guevara's conduct of violence was inappropriate and certainly should never be condoned. Kaiser's physician didn't have to be cold and callous to pour salt in the wound.
Mr. Guevara was simply pushed too far and he reacted inappropriately.
Investigators had been looking for Eugene Guevara, 73, in connection with Friday's shooting of a doctor at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, police said. Guevara was once a patient there.
Dr. Reynaldo Hernandez, who works in the hospital's urology department, was in stable condition at the hospital Sunday after being shot three times, said Kaiser Permanente spokeswoman Reyna del Haro. https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/guevara.html
September 23, 2003
Baldwin Park, Calif., Hospital Seeks Normalcy after Doctor Is Shot
Police say two family members, a neighbor and the victim, told them Guevara was unhappy with his medical treatment.
Guevara was being treated for diabetes by Hernandez when it was learned he had prostate cancer.
https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/guevara2.html
Responding to a recent federal lawsuit charging that the Solano County Sheriff-Coroner's Office intentionally has covered up medical errors causing the death of a patient, Sheriff Gary Stanton on Friday denied the charges as "absolutely false."
Stanton, and Contra Costa County Sheriff-Coroner Warren E. Rupf, on Monday were named in a federal civil rights suit charging that they misused their coroner positions to assist hospitals - specifically Kaiser Permanente medical centers - in covering up treatment errors that resulted in death. - Read More at:
http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_5350122
mirrored for historical purposes at: https://kaiserpapers.com/contracostacoroner.html
In 2002 J. Neal Purcell retired as Vice Chairman, National Audit Practice, KPMG, Intl. In 2003 Purcell joined Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's Board of Directors. He was appointed Chair of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's Audit and Compliance Committee in 2004. His duties include supervision of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's independent auditor, KPMG, whose contract with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan was awarded in 2003.
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan retained KPMG to be its independent auditor as a direct consequence of its decision in 2003 to voluntarily comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
On October 28, 2003 Purcell, Halvorson and other individuals implemented the illegal agreement through illegal and unethical acts, including but not limited to bid rigging, in order to enable KFHP to retain KPMG as KFHP's Sarbanes-Oxley Act independent auditor to perpetrate racketeering enterprise predicate acts.
Read the documentation here http://www.hmohardball.com/sox.htmlWake Up and Smell the Fraud
mirrored here for historical purposes from:http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/02/20/ letters/337fraud.txtTuesday, Feb. 20, 2007 | What is it going to take for this city to wake up and smell the fraud?
Maybe this will help: In 2002 J. Neal Purcell retired as Vice Chairman, National Audit Practice, KPMG, Intl. In 2003 Purcell joined Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's Board of Directors. He was appointed Chair of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's Audit and Compliance Committee in 2004. His duties include supervision of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's independent auditor, KPMG, whose contract with Kaiser Foundation Health Plan was awarded in 2003.Kaiser Foundation Health Plan retained KPMG to be its independent auditor as a direct consequence of its decision in 2003 to voluntarily comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
On October 28, 2003 Purcell, Halvorson and other individuals implemented the illegal agreement through illegal and unethical acts, including but not limited to bid rigging, in order to enable KFHP to retain KPMG as KFHP's Sarbanes-Oxley Act independent auditor to perpetrate racketeering enterprise predicate acts.
Read the documentation here.http://www.hmohardball.com/sox.html
KAISER PHARMACIST/PHARMACEUTICAL STORIES
The Guild for Professional Pharmacists set a strike deadline of June 5, delivering a 10-day strike notice on Friday.
During recent contract negotiations, the Guild has asked Kaiser to fill 250 positions currently vacant, about 20 percent of the pharmacist positions in Kaiser’s northern California facilities, said vice-president of the union, Howard Hertz.
“This shortage has lead to essentially unlimited overtime at every Kaiser pharmacy,” Hertz said. “Working conditions and patient safety are threatened by this continuing shortage of pharmacists.” - MORE Mirrored At: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/pharmacist/striking.html
Hoi-Chi Cheung, who admitted he stole the drug and sold it under the table to support his gambling habit, was handcuffed and taken into custody immediately after Judge Barry Plotkin handed down the sentence in Fontana Superior Court. "What he opted to do in the end was gamble with Kaiser's money,'
March 17, 2003--On Thursday, March 13, Kaiser Permanente Northern California's pharmacy computer system experienced a power outage that may have resulted in labeling errors on some of the medications dispensed that day. Almost all of the 4,700 patients issued prescriptions that day have been reached through extensive efforts over the past few days.
PHYSICIAN FINANCIAL INCENTIVE STORIES
A portion is forgiven for doctors who stay on for at least five years. For those who leave before then, the principal and accumulated interest is due immediately.
Patients Criticize Kaiser the Most according to State Survey
KAISER SHAM PEER REVIEW STORIES
By Charles Ornstein, Times Staff Writer June 3, 2006 A Los Angeles County jury found Friday that Kaiser Permanente retaliated against one of its emergency room physicians after he raised concerns about the quality of care at Kaiser's Bellflower Medical Center. For historical purposes mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/dirtyhospital.html
[Friday's courtroom verdict was unusual, because Kaiser and its affiliated Permanente physicians group generally try to force lawsuits into binding arbitration, which is not open to the public. The judge in Woods' case, however, ruled that the arbitration agreement was unconscionable" and unenforceable. The arbitration provision has since been changed.
The case publicly spotlighted the problems at the Bellflower hospital. In one e-mail from May 2003, Woods wrote that a patient found a urinal containing someone else's urine on a nightstand in his treatment room.
In other e-mails, Woods detailed bloody instruments left in the sink of a treatment room and a shortage of nitroglycerin, epinephrine, resuscitation bags and other supplies.]
Click on above links for full story.
Doctor slandered and fired for blowing whistle on Kaiser Permanente insurance fraud
Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Baldwin Park is under lockdown, officials said today. Reyna Delharo, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said police were in the medical center and that a patient was being investigated, but it's not clear why. A Baldwin Park police dispatcher said the hospital was under lockdown, but would not say why. ABC7 reported that the lockdown was related to a possible gang shooting, but Delharo said there had been no shooting inside the hospital.
mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/lockdownatbaldwinpark.htmlGunman Threatens Patient at Kaiser Permanente Hospital Police Search Facility
10/28/07 - BALDWIN PARK, Oct. 28, 2007 (CNS) - An anonymous caller threatened to attack someone inside Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Baldwin Park Sunday, prompting police to guard the hospital and monitor patients and staff.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=5730966
mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/lockdownatbaldwinpark.html
10/28/07 - Threat made to hospital leads to police lockdown By Brian Day, Correspondent BALDWIN PARK - Police surrounded and apparently locked down Kaiser Permanente Medical Center late Sunday after receiving threats of violence, officials said.http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_7308883
mirrored at: https://kaiserpapers.com/californianews/lockdownatbaldwinpark.html
Kaiser Santa Teresa flesh eating bacteria patient story
" The project was to build 21 Kaiser Hospitals over the next decade" "Kaiser had completed an analysis that indicated they were losing approximately $8 million per month per hospital as a result of sending clients to non-Kaiser hospitals."
A "same-day" appointment is for members who have something wrong with them, can't wait the two or three weeks it may take to get an appointment with their regular doctor, but are not sick enough to go to the emergency room.
Unfortunately "same-day" appointments aren't always same day. I called on Friday at noon; I got an appointment for 8:30 a.m. on Monday.
https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/smallpox.html
California’s Ailing System of Caring for Children with Special Health Care Needs
https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/childlrenspecial.html
The California Department of Managed Health Care is looking into whether Kaiser misled members into believing that they could continue seeing their current primary care doctors when, in fact, that will no longer be the case after June 30.
"We are investigating the situation for a potential violation of the Health and Safety Code," managed care agency spokeswoman Lynne Randolph said...... MORE
Flowers, joggers, kids, talking dogs, acrobatic senior citizens and not a sick person in sight.
Welcome to the world of health care as viewed through the lens of advertising.
It's a softly lit, warm and friendly world. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/1995/10/23/BU17473.DTL
KAISER TRYING TO CONVINCE EVERYONE THAT THEY NEED TO PROVIDE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE STORIES
NOTE: What Kaiser does not mention in this article is that they don't allow what they are proposing themselves without a court or government agency forcing them to. Kaiser calls in the feds - EXAMINER EDITORIAL WRITER Sunday, September 28, 1997
What Kaiser proposes - along with Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound (a Washington-based group recently acquired by Kaiser) and New York-based HIP Health Insurance Plans - represents a healthy start toward protecting 140 million Americans enrolled in managed care plans. Among the national standards suggested by the three HMOs:
From: http://kcbs.com/pages/40527.php Kaiser Pharmacists Deliver Strike Notice SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KCBS) -- Some 1,200 Kaiser Permanente pharmacists have threatened to walk off the job, calling on Kaiser to improve staffing levels at its 60 northern California pharmacies.
The Guild for Professional Pharmacists set a strike deadline of June 5, delivering a 10-day strike notice on Friday.
During recent contract negotiations, the Guild has asked Kaiser to fill 250 positions currently vacant, about 20 percent
of the pharmacist positions in Kaiser’s northern California facilities, said vice-president of the union, Howard Hertz.
“This shortage has lead to essentially unlimited overtime at every Kaiser pharmacy,” Hertz said. “Working conditions
and patient safety are threatened by this continuing shortage of pharmacists.” - MORE
Mirrored At: https://kaiserpapers.com/news/ca/pharmacist/striking.html
CONTAMINATED AIR PUMPED INTO KAISER'S BABY INCUBATORS SACRAMENTO BEE November 30, 1984 Author: Ted Bell Compressed air contaminated by oil fumes was accidentally pumped into baby incubators, the neonatal intensive care unit and the adjacent hallways in Sacramento's Kaiser Hospital for several hours in September, a hospital official acknowledged Thursday.
Kaiser spokeswoman Susan Pieper said that none of the nine infants being treated in the unit was harmed by the accident.
But 52 hospital employees, almost all of them nurses, have signed a petition demanding the facts behind the accident and what hospital administrators plan to do about it. https://kaiserpapers.com/contaminatedair.html
The parents of an ailing baby boy born in Kaiser Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit in September hired a Sacramento lawyer Friday to investigate whether an air compressor malfunction in the unit may have caused the child's recurring respiratory problems.
Lawyer Allan Owen said the parents, whom he would not identify, believe hospital officials gave them an incomplete account of what happened in the+ unit late Sept. 12, when several nurses noticed a strange odor and... SACRAMENTO BEE - December 11, 1984 THREE NURSES TREATED AFTER FOUL AIR PUMPED INTO KAISER NEONATAL UNIT SECOND INCIDENT A second incident in which foul-smelling air was pumped into Kaiser Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit sent three nurses to the emergency room for treatment. But two infants in the unit were left hooked to the compressed air system that carried the foul smell because the hospital didn't have enough backup equipment to supply the babies with clean air, The Bee has learned. The second incident occurred on the overnight shift of Sept. 14-15, just two days after air...
A Sacramento nurse filed a $25 million lawsuit Thursday, charging that Kaiser Hospital officials failed to tell her and other nurses that compressors used to pump air into infants' intensive care units were faulty. Gail Kleve, who specializes in neonatal intensive care, filed the suit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. Kleve has said she became ill during the evening of Sept. 12-13 when nurses discovered a foul smell coming from the system that mixes compressed air with oxygen and...