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Originally printed at The Los Angeles Times
November 16, 2001
THE STATEState Fines Kaiser $500,000 Over Errors in Patient-Referral Case
Health: The HMO failed to send a man with muscular dystrophy to aspecialist, the agency says. He died days later.
By SHARON BERNSTEIN, TIMES HEALTH WRITER
California medical authorities Thursday fined Kaiser Permanente $500,000 forfailing to send a young man with muscular dystrophy to a specialist.
Timothy Joseph Waters, a 19-year-old Stockton resident, died six days afterhis mother's last frantic request for a referral to a specialist, accordingto documents filed with the California Department of Managed Care.
"This case involves multiple, egregious errors by Kaiser in its care andtreatment of the enrollee," the department said. In addition, Kaisersubsequently failed to implement a corrective plan to avoid the errors thatled to Waters' death, said Daniel Zingale, head of the Department of ManagedCare.
Junette Lalonde, Waters' mother, said her son began to have troublebreathing during the summer of 2000. When a Kaiser nurse came to check hisoxygen level during a regular August visit, it was low, according to Lalondeand the state.
Lalonde immediately phoned Kaiser, and Waters was seen the next day,according to the documents. But the doctor did not order oxygen for him. Tendays later, Waters could not sit up, and his mother phoned the healthmaintenance organization again.
The doctor said he would refer Waters to specialists in muscular dystrophyat UC Davis. But the referral paperwork never arrived, according to thestate.
Six days later, Waters died in his sleep.
"I went in to check on him at about 1:30 in the morning, to make sure hiscovers were OK," Lalonde said. "And at 8:30 when I went in to check on him,he was dead."
Said Zingale: "The mother had been very aggressive and vigilant in lookingout for her son. She had called Kaiser repeatedly."
A Kaiser representative said Thursday that it is investigating Waters' deathbut has not yet reached a conclusion. Spokesman Jim Anderson said the HMOwas "confused" about the state's action and was considering appealing thecase.
"We want to express our sympathy to the family of the young man," Andersonsaid. "He had been suffering from an incurable disease."
But Anderson said he had not seen the state's accusation, which containeddetails of the fine.