WARNING - THIS PAGE CONTAINS GRAPHIC PHOTOS.  DO NOT LOOK IF YOU ARE EASILY UPSET, DO NOT WANT TO FACE REALITY OR WANT TO BELIEVE KAISER IS YOUR FRIEND!!!!!

For years Kaiser Permanente denied that Mr. Marin Pitu had anything wrong with him. 

(Often when physicians have a financial interest in ownership of an insurance company/program this type of action is often considered "intentional delay in diagnosis".  Very rarely is it considered an oversight or error.)

Then one day, just out of the blue, without any warning, Kaiser Permanente claimed that they had discovered that Mr. Marin Pitu needed an emergency, experimental, life saving liver transplant.

Mr. Pitu, was a 15 year paying patient of Kaiser. 

Liver transplants cost all insurance medical programs a lot of money.

When a medical insurance program acts dishonestly, it is more cost effective for them to allow a treatable disease or illness to develop to the life threatening stage when an outside entity or third party such as our government or a drug company will pay for the treatment, and then also assume responsibility for the resultant long term financially expensive care.

Note: Insurance companies sometimes receive money from the government or a drug company for emergency experimental programs. It appears that is why Kaiser did not discover this long developing disease sooner.   In general, if a disease is allowed to develop to the life threatening stage before formal discovery, requiring a transplant and expensive follow-up care, the Federal Government will assume responsibility for treatment.  This is a cost effective, and dishonest practice for insurance companies.   It is also very damaging and very expensive for the patient.

Medicare then becomes involved in paying for the patient care. So the citizens of this country are then responsible for the medical care and maintenance of patients that medical insurance companies have denied their paying patients. In many circles, this is often referred to as a scam.

As it turned out, if only those people at Kaiser had diagnosed this developing disease before it became life threatening, Mr. Pitu might never have needed any type of transplant at any time.  Nor would he be going through this mess that Kaiser created today.

Even though California resident Mr. Pitu had medical insurance coverage that did cover transplants, it was only when his condition became life threatening and was within the criteria of an experimental program at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, did Kaiser bother to mention that there was a problem. 

Kaiser had joined with the Mayo in contract to provide liver transplant services in Jacksonville, Florida.  Mr. Pitu and other patients that did participate in this experimental program state that the care at the Mayo  is superior to Kaiser on any day.

Mr. Pitu and the other Kaiser Liver Transplant Patients that the Kaiser Papers does know of  are very grateful that they were able to extend their lives with the Mayo Hospital's Assistance.  They are also very unhappy that Kaiser Permanente couldn't bother to diagnose and treat them before their conditions became life threatening.  Certainly most of them would never have had to go through this ordeal if they had received a diagnosis and medical treatment.

Anyway, here are two photographs of what happens to a patient at Kaiser that has a delayed diagnosis and ends up needing an emergency experimental liver transplant.  These photos are graphic, you are warned, and still have the opportunity to not look.

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As you can see, Mr. Pitu's feet are quite swollen as a result of this operation.