[In early September we posted a letter written by Kaiser victim Jupirena Stein, that had been previously mailed to Kaiser CEO George Halvorson. Ms. Stein’s health has literally been ruined by a botched surgery at Kaiser, and over a six year period she has collected extensive documentation supporting her claims. Halvorson’s response? Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. The man’s organization has practically destroyed this poor woman’s life and he couldn’t even be bothered to reply. Instead, she had to call him.
Former Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Chairman and CEO George C. Halvorson
Rather than a return call from the man himself, Mr. Halvorson had his senior attorney, Mary Parks, call Ms. Stein back, and all Ms. Parks would say in response to Ms. Stein’s heartfelt letter was that “Kaiser has no knowledge of any wrongdoing.” Of course they don’t; they never do. Except in this case it was an even more obvious lie than usual, because Ms. Stein has certainly informed Kaiser, on more than one occasion, of copious amounts of wrongdoing.
Mr. Halvorson has been sending out weekly email updates to all of his employees, and whenever the opportunity presents itself he makes a point of saying something similar to this quote from his 5-year anniversary post: “As an organization of caregivers, we all feel collective pain any time we mis-deliver care.” Every chance he gets, he also likes to repeat that he sympathizes with people who have been harmed when a mistake has been made. But actions speak louder than words, and the reality of how Kaiser treats everyone who complains certainly doesn’t include the kind of sympathy that involves willingly making restitution to anyone whose life has been decimated by Kaiser; or even acknowledging any wrongdoing, as Attorney Parks made perfectly clear. We haven’t been able to find one single Kaiser member who has been treated like a human being in a dispute with this “sympathetic” organization, and believe me, we have been actively trying.
Below is Ms. Stein’s latest write-up, which describes in detail the hell Kaiser put her through while trying to get her issues addressed. If you think it can’t happen to you, think again. You also might want to think twice before choosing to renew your Kaiser membership now that open enrollment time is approaching, or risk finding yourself among the future ranks of the harmed and ignored.]
The first year after my surgery
Kaiser Permanente victim, whistleblower and patient advocate Jupirena Stein
Here’s why:
ABOVE ALL DO NO HARM
For centuries those words from the Hippocratic Oath have guided physicians in the care and treatment of their patients. This Oath became the nucleus of all medical ethics. In its most compelling portions, it emphasizes the profundity of the medical covenant, patient dignity, the confidentiality of the transaction, and the physicians responsibility to guard against abuse or corruption of his knowledge and his/her art.
American Medical Association (AMA) Principal of Medical Ethics — Rule number 1:
A physician shall be dedicated to providing competent medical care, with compassion and respect for human dignity and rights.
What I am about to write is so absurd it is hard to believe it, but this is all true.
I did not see Dr. Wolgat, Kaiser’s ENT/Professor in charge of my surgery before my surgery — at all. I did not see him during my surgery because I was obviously under general anesthetic. I have no idea if he was there or not. He said he was. He did not come to see me after I woke up, nor for those 2 days that I stayed in the hospital.
The first thing I can remember after I woke up, was that I had the most devastating type of headache one can imagine, and Dr. Timoth Wild asking me to smile. “Smile. Smile. I need you to smile for me.” Later on I came to understand, if I would be able to smile at that point in time, he would know his scalpel did not “hit” my facial nerve. He was certainly worried about it.
My family came to see me and so did Dr. Wild. On the second day before I went home, I saw Dr. Wild for the very last time. I asked him, “My head hurts badly, did everything go ok?”
He answered, “Yes, with the exception that at one point your blood was squirting out of your neck.” I was so impressed with his words, it reminded me of the movie M.A.S.H.
For the next 10 months I was in and out of Kaiser doctor’s office, at my request, being sent from one to another to another doctor. All of them told me that I was OK. That I was perhaps in need of psychiatric help because I could not accept the fact that I was diagnosed with cancer.
All of them lied to me about my injury. They “worked” carefully together, and all of them hid this devastating vascular injury from me and from my family.
NOTE: Ten days after my surgery Kaiser Permanente Pathology, come up with the diagnosis of a rare type of cancer (at that time) named Acinic Cell Carcinoma. It was found in my parotid gland, and involved 1 lymph node. KP cancer diagnosis is our next subject.
THE RADIOLOGISTS:
These doctors listed bellow interpreted many of my x-rays. Two of them, taken months apart, have the exact same wording. Only the dates had been changed as if there is a format for these things. None of them ever once mentioned in their reports that my sternocleiomastoid muscle was getting atrophied and my shoulder bones had fallen drastically out of place.
Dr. Deborah Anne Kass — License G40970
Dr. Daniel Edward Siedler — LN G49122
Dr. Chi-Wai Gerry Kwok — LN A50513
Dr. Richard Joseph Gabbay — LN G37772
Dr. Larry Edward Yeager — LN C39192
THE NEUROLOGIST:
Dr. Jeffrey Javerbaum — LN G33682
ON February 28th, of 2000, he did an EMG (needle electromyography) study on me to properly diagnose and answer my questions about what was happening to my sternocleiomastoid muscle (the big north/south muscle on the neck). Was it getting atrophied? My sister was with me.
His report says, “No atrophy or weakness. Clinically, I suspect that this is quite possibly a brachial neuritis” (BN is a rare syndrome of unknown etiology affecting mainly the lower motor neurons of the brachial plexus and/or individual nerves or nerve branches), and he continues, which is reported post-op (after surgery) in any location. It amazes me how much Kaiser likes to diagnose me with rare cancer and rare nerve condition.
Dr. Javerbaum — in front of me and my sister — tampered with the computer and changed the exam printout. Then he handed me a copy of this EMG results and said, “See? There is nothing wrong with you.” He recommended a shoulder sling, and that I try Tegretol (which is an anticonvulsant often prescribed as a mood stabilizer for those with bipolar disorder).
THE RHEUMATOLOGIST:
Dr. Alan David Lash — LN A35820
Dr. Lash injected cortisone into my shoulder. I still don’t know why. I insisted that he would not. At one point he said to me, “How are you ever going to know what is causing your problems? This is a process of elimination.”
When I asked him about the missing muscles on my neck and shoulder, just a few inches away from his eyes, he said to me, “I do not see whatever you see.”
THE PATHOLOGISTS:
Dr. Sudha Krishnamurth Rao — LN A54908
DR. L.T. Smyth — LN G40382
These 2 idiots diagnosed me with cancer in one lymph node THAT DOES NOT EXIST, causing me to have radiation treatment needlessly.
THE ENTs ( Ear, Nose and Throat doctor):
Dr. Harold William Korol — LN G17963
He was Kaiser Redwood City ENT Chief at that time. One would think that he, better than anyone else, would know what was causing me to getting sicker and sicker after my superficial parotidectomy surgery. I never expected him to lie to me and on top of that be so cruel. I saw him several times. He said I was fine and insisted I should go see a psychiatrist.
Dr. Robert Alexander Wolgat — LN G47484
He is the doctor that told me before my surgery that “Your gland is swollen. This gland duct often gets clogged. It almost never gets better. There is a doctor here that can remove this gland for you.”
Dr. Wolgat was the teaching ENT surgeon for KP Redwood City, California. 17 years of experience, he said. He did not supervise Dr. Wild, and I suspect he was probably not even present during my surgery. After my surgery I saw him several times. Each and every time he lied to me about my injury. He said repeatedly to me, “You will get better, just be patient. You will get better.” Over and over, for about 10 months.
THE SURGEON — he signed my surgery report:
An older photo of Dr. Timothy Wild. Now middle-aged and as of 2019 still working at KP Vacaville
Dr. Timothy Wilfred Wild, MD, DDS — LN A61573
Was a resident at KP Redwood City, California, at the time of my surgery. It is beyond me that a dentist/doctor, specializing in ENT at KP can do such a devastating medical error. How could he have mistakenly dissected a major artery?
On his surgical report, Dr. Wild described how he “hit “my carotid artery or possibly my external jugular vein, this way: “…and then, there was a large vein sitting on top of the trunk of the nerve, I dissected it and sutured ligated it.” A large vein? Didn’t he know its name?
Mr. Bailey, my former attorney, missed this important information and ended up claiming a less important NON-EXISTING SEVERING of the spinal accessory nerve.
Today, Dr. Timothy Wilfred Wild is fully employed by KP Vacaville in Northern California as a head and neck surgeon. Dr. Wild can be reached at 707-624-3400 (ask for Head and Neck Department). Please call him and ask for his side to this story.
THE PHYSIATRIST (a doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating problems of the musculoskeletal system, except for those physiatrists that work for Kaiser Permanente):
DR. William Lawrence Firch — LN G61851
How should I start talking about this quack? Please remember that by the time I saw Dr. Firch, my sternocleiomastoid muscle was already gone. My shoulder bones had dropped, I was having problems breathing, swallowing and my heartbeat was already out of rhythm. Dr. Firch ignored me. He had in his possession all my x-rays, MRI and CTs that showed all that I have described above.
I wish you could read his report. He says, “…she has had electro diagnostic evaluation through Dr. Javerbaum [the neurologist that did my electromyography and tampered with the computer to change its printout”] which did not demonstrate specific abnormality.”
And he continues, “…this pain she feels is all in her mind.”
He recommended that I take Valium. One would think he would be interested in CCing his report to my neurologist or my orthopedic surgeon right? No. Dr. Firch CC’d his report to my physical therapist and my gynecologist. Amazing!
Last but not least,
THE ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON:
Dr. John Bordy — LN G13812
After reviewing my x-rays he recommended that I see a chiropractor.
By the time I saw Dr. Bordy I was very sick. It became clear to me that something was dead wrong with my health and it was even more clear to me that Kaiser Permanente’s doctors were NOT going to help me with my deteriorating health. I never went back to Kaiser again.
———————
On October 6, 2000, I saw Dr. Michael Cohen, a private neurologist (outside of Kaiser.) That day, Medicare started paying for Kaiser’s mistake and to date still is. I requested, crying and begging him to tell me the truth: “What is happening to my body?” He told me that my sternocleiomastoid muscle had been atrophied to nothing and that he suspected nerve trauma.
I decided to get an attorney’s opinion of this “nerve trauma,” so I called the Blackman Law Group in Burlingame, California, at (650) 692-8124. Unbeknown to me, the corruption and fraud continued.
Mr. Blackman became very concerned that I was publicly involving his law firm’s good name with the word fraud, and in my opinion he was was not able to understand my reasons behind why I never signed Kaiser Permanente’s award check for $75,000.
As per my readings of reliable resources, literally every day thousands of patients throughout our country go under this kind of abuse from Kaiser Permanente. I know many patients personally that have a similar story to tell.
Do you know why KP gets away with this type of professional behavior? Because the DMHC and the California Medical Board allows them the privilege to.
In my opinion, either ALL Kaiser Permanente doctors that I mention here are obscenely incompetent, or they normally, openly and freely use medical corruption working together among themselves, taking their questionable medical behavior to the extreme levels of patient abuse — at all costs, hiding the devastating medical errors of their colleagues.
There are just no two ways about it.
Jupirena Stein
“As an organization of caregivers, we all feel collective pain any time we mis-deliver care.”
He is half right. WE — the caregivers — do feel that pain. WE are the ones who have to deal with inadequate staffing and antiquated resources. WE are the ones who have to deal with doctors who really don’t care about their job anymore because they are so determined to make as much PROFIT as possible — not health care. WE are the ones who have to learn a new computer system every time the new (NON nurse) CEO decides they know what’s best for nurses.
And after 12 hours a day when a doctor orders the wrong dose for a patient and WE don’t catch it in time, WE — I — do feel PAIN. Not collective pain. PAIN. HORROR. That all the money is being spent on CEO bonuses and company cars and VIP perks and DOCTOR PROFIT SHARING. And since that money’s being wasted there it isn’t being spent on hiring enough nurses to catch medical errors and enough pharm techs to catch medication errors.
so please spare me the “COLLECTIVE PAIN” the “caregivers feel” speech. The CEO isn’t a caregiver. He’s a careTAKER. He can’t apologize to this poor woman who has had her life ruined. He can’t look her in the eye and say He’s sorry. Because he’s not. Because it’s his fault and he knows it.
I am very sorry for what you had to go through and what you continue to go through.
I don’t understand for the life of me how this organization can claim to be “care givers.” By the time the victims get through
sorting through the altered medical records and constantly changing “facts,” they don’t know up from down. Facts aren’t really facts if they are not actual facts, am I right? This rewriting of history is even more dangerous than what the condition would have been without having any care at all! What is the point of seeking care if the motive by the caregivers is to cover their *ss, and let’s not forget, make a profit? Where is the value in that for the patient? There is NO value in a system
like that. NO VALUE. Who wants to spend money to have their life ruined?
It is unfortunate that the good nurses and caregivers, the ones who truly are good people and who truly are trying to do a good job, get caught up in such a corrupt system. The lack of staffing and resources starts from the top. EVERYONE else has to do the cleanup and pay the price. Unfortunately, the good guys at kaiser are being taught how to be bad. And that’s what corruption does. Corruption disrupts.
“But actions speak louder than words, and the reality of how Kaiser treats everyone who complains certainly doesn’t include the kind of sympathy that involves willingly making restitution to anyone whose life has been destroyed by Kaiser”
ABOVE ALL DO NO HARM. The day this becomes the motivation for kaiser will truly be a miracle right here on earth (and I say that with hope and anticipation!!!)
First though, the weeds need to be weeded out at the root.
It is the epitome of poor taste and does show lack of proper training when any corporate representative acts pompously and affects an attitude of distance from the consumer. In this case the patient-consumer.
Mr. Kaiser would never have conducted himself in such a poor manner. Mr. Kaiser was known for personally going to the people and making sure that they were doing well, and were being well cared for, especially when serious medical matters were involved.
George Halvorson is trained first as a reporter Certainly he should want to investigate what his corporation has done to Ms. Stein.
Maybe the following will help to make it clearer to Mr. Halvorson – the reporter – in case he truly has been left in the dark or has justified his actions to himself in order to retain his corporate contract.
A number of people have seen the Stein medical documents – Kaiser’s set and sets obtained independently from Medical Authorities both within the United States and other countries which tell the true story. I believe that anyone at Kaiser would be hard put to challenge the source of these documents.
The true story is that if any Kaiser doctor accidentally created this problem, then the doctor was sword fighting with his scalpel during the surgery. But if that were true with what medical authorities have since written in documents, Ms. Stein would not be alive today. That leaves only one other conclusion and that is this was not an accident. That makes it a crime.
Here are some short facts, written here by one who has a copy of the documents and does have permission to write about some of them:
1. Regarding the alleged cancer diagnosis made weeks after the surgery – the material provided by Kaiser was found by pathologists (note the plural) to have been obtained from another part of the body – far from the neck. Also pathologists have made a point of noting that the original slides provided by Kaiser and labeled as containing tissue that is part of Ms. Stein have another label underneath. That original label belongs to a man and his name is nothing similar to Stein.
2. Dr. Wild was not Board Certified during the surgery. He did obtain Board Certification after the surgery and shortly thereafter became Department Chief. Pretty good for a physician just starting out.
3. Four arteries and veins were severed at a location remote from the site of surgery. These four vessels were repaired with four different methods. These are the procedures required for Board Certification in Dr. Wild’s field which had not been satisfied until this operation. A question justifiably arises if this was an accident or a motive to satisfy certification requirements.
4. Ms. Stein probably would never have known, nor have had a major medical problem if one of those arteries had not been put back together so poorly as to have seriously reduced arterial blood flow. That is what happens when you kink a tube inside an artery and can’t straighten it out again. You can’t just pull it out either to put in a new one without making the problem worse when it’s in such a location.
Of great interest to a number of people is why in the world this physician would have used a material to stent one artery that clearly shows up on an MRI and other modern forms of imaging that was not approved for use internally in that time period but was being used internally for experimental purposes on animals. None of those animals that had this done to them lasted very long. Ms. Stein has suffered greatly.
So Mr. Halvorson, the reporter, what do you think happened? Was it a way to satisfy a physician’s board certification or was there some experiment going on? It certainly does not appear to be any accident.
Ms. Stein wants to talk to you about this. She even would be very happy to show you the proof so you would know first hand what your company is involved in.
After the way she has been treated by your employees I think that a phone call from you is the least that she deserves.
After working in both Kaiser hospital and clinic in Sacramento, Ca., starting in the mid 1980’s to 1993 it has certainly been never ending nightmare, listening to patients and employees who are patients, that kaiser now entering into decades of operation, gets worse by the day. It baffles me that this can go on in this civilized world! What happened to Ms. Stein can happen to anyone. So far Kaiser has mananged to kill off at least 7 of my family members while charging medicare for hospice, morphine and other durable goods that were of no use to them and the same went for employees who have died because of deliberate medical neglect. Many of the ‘DOCTOR’s who worked in the hospital were interns and residents. IT was a very rare time that a staff doctor would visit their own patients upon and after admittance to the hospital. Many patients waited hours upon hours in the ER because the staffing was so poor in all departments. This has been one of the ongoing parts of the problem. Whenever the hospital staff needed extra help or anything related for the patients needs, we would be told it was “not in the budget”. I guess that has been one of ways Kaiser-a-non-profit has been able to amass billions, by denying basic needs for the patients which comes in a myriad of negligent and criminal acts. When the patient like Ms. Stein dared to ask or as Kaiser would consider an automatic rebuke or challege to them, they would automatically consider the patient for pyschiatric care-an intimidation, or acts of retaliation. Make the patients non credible to deny Kasier’s deliberate malpractice. Employees unfortunately suffered the same by sending them to psyche doctors and stuffing them with meds that would make them uncredible, immobile and unable to fight for themselves. Kaiser has a method of operation or as the police call it their MO, lie to maim and kill and then always, DENY, and of course , it is all for their profit. Medicare is Kaiser’s very own “permanente” personal ATM. I call it the kaiser killing fields #1 just to milk the public taxpayers out of billions of dollars for it’s own adminstration and it’s doctors profit.
The state of California and it’s agencies like CMS-DMHC-DOI, the judical venue and it’s legislators have turned a blind eye to the horrors like Ms. Stein has had to unnessarily endure. The people who are supposed to protect the public and patients have done an abysmal job just to have a job with benefits and hopefully they don’t or won’t depend on Kaiser for their healthcare because they are not immune to the same criminal malpractice that happened to Ms. Stein and so many others. That and maybe, just maybe, STATE EMPLOYEES WHO ARE ON on Kaiser’s hit list like the rest of kaiser patients which would be to eliminate them and or their families cause these state employees would know too much about the REAL KAISER!
I profoundly applaud and greatly appreciate her humanitarian efforts and contribution to our healthcare society for Ms. Stein’ efforts to expose the real Kaiser which is nothing but a #1 lying deceitful sieve for the obvious-billions of american tax payer funded dollars that criminally amasses more and more by eliminating patients through experimentation and flat out killing and PERHAPS most of all while enduring the repercussions of Ms Stein’s Dr. Mengele type of surgery and substandard care by Kaiser, albiet the poor quality of life that Kaiser left her with, she is still alive and perservering.
I can only hope and pray that we all like Ms. Stein, live long enough to see the United States Congress and other top gov’t officals do it’s job BY GIVING deserved restitution to the patients and their families and shut the kaiser killing field DOWN!
Dina
This part freaks me out the most. Ms. Stein was obviously an unknowing GUINEA PIG who was EXPERIMENTED ON. Why is Northern California so full of medical corruption? What Halvorson is feeling is COLLECTIVE INSANITY. Lets hope he takes his Haldol daily!
>> Four arteries and veins were severed at a location remote from the site of surgery. These four vessels were repaired with four different methods. These are the procedures required for Board Certification in Dr. Wild’s field which had not been satisfied until this operation. A question justifiably arises if this was an accident or a motive to satisfy certification requirements.
Sure looks like a motive to satisfy certification requirements.
Too bad Ms. Stein didn’t agree to being used as a guinea pig FIRST.
How noble of them to jump right in and take over her body.
That’s for the information on Dr wild, I looked up his web site, WHAT A HOTTIE!!
Hey “Julie” — next time you try to impersonate a Harvard doctor, you might want to keep in mind that I can tell when it’s the same person posting comments with multiple names & email addresses, and that your location is nowhere near MGH. Your fake comments were deleted, but I left the silly one above as an example of your superior intellect. Nice try, dear.
Let me add that your gift for remote diagnosis of a patient you’ve never even met is truly remarkable. You oughta take that act on the road. (Unless of course you have met her, which just makes you a creep).
Sounds like a lot of bogus information from people who are not even doctors. See if you publish this one, I doubt it. If anything is creepy it’s this site, I read it for entertainment. Sort of like watching the Jerry Springer show! Guarantee you won’t publish this, only what fits your agenda, right? What a hypocrite you are!!
[editor’s note: This lovely human being accessed from Kaiser Permanente IP address 162.119.64.113, via a Yahoo search for *Timothy Wild MD* at 12:33pm Pacific time. Dr. Wild himself doing a vanity search, perhaps? Or maybe just a co-worker who likes to impersonate Harvard doctors, that suffers from some sort of bizarre fixation on “hottie” Dr. Wild. Thanks “Pam” for another stunning example of the sociopathic lack of compassion Kaiser’s health care “professionals” have for their victims. Keep up the great work…makes our job here much easier.]
Sounds like another sicko on the loose! What a CREEP. Coming from KP, let’s consider the source. A person would have to be beyond sociopathic to do the things certain kaiser folks do.
Yep I’d say, this just validates your existence Admin.
Keep up the excellent work! Our safety depends on it.
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The creep is George Halvorson.
I sent him an email one time, and he actually responded. The email I sent detailed how my wife was ‘treated’ at a Kaiser facility.
His response? ‘That can’t be Kaiser.’
The sad thing is, he’s the one who is pushing for universal health care. He’s the one leading the charge. If he gets his way, we may as well all just take a cyanide pill.
Hey Ms.Stein,
I’m sorry for the way these people treated you. It is DEFINITELY against the law and DEFINITELY a criminal organization.
I can’t imagine what you went through when you found all this information out.
My prayers go out to you. I’m not like all the other people who say “we can only pray….” and they don’t anyway. I am a serious Christian and I know that my prayers get answered, so if there’s ever anything I can do for you other than pray,
please just let me know. I’m sure this website has my email address and they will let you know.
This is wrong and SOMEONE should make a stand. We need to start a RIOT against this place. I mean, your story, a story of a stillborn child because the patient wasn’t treated??? Not right. At least not according to the Constitution or Medical laws.
I hope you get the chance to read this and I hope that everyone else who reads my comment and has been a Kaiser victim will make a stand and not be afraid to RIOT outside their door.To NOT be afraid of sueing this place for all they have. You need PROOF,DOCUMENTS,(recordings would be SOOO awesome!), whatever you can get your hands on, and go to court.
This cannot go on. They’ve been in business way too long.
My deepest sympathy goes out to you,
in Him,
Hannah
Dear Ms. Stein,
Your story broke my heart. We pay our premiums in good faith. We want to trust our doctors. What happened to you is, well inconceivable. I hope and pray that you get better. I will send you good thoughts and wishes with every cell and fiber of my being. Kaiser ruined my health, as well. I have been treated and regarded as a mushroom. My story cannot compare to yours, yet. Just tonight I suffered from a serious drug interaction that was condoned by a Kaiser pharmacist. My husband is an EMT. He saved me. I have to believe that somehow Kaiser will be held accountable. Most of all, I wish you well. I wish you heal. I hope you feel better. I put this out into the universe.
Sincerely,
Glynis Tolson
I have just completed reading Ms. Stein’s story regarding her treatment at Kaiser facilities and the “qualifications” of her treating (and/or consulting) physicians. I am appalled and horrified that she had to endure what appears to be a continuing nightmare of medical treatment. That she is no longer a Kaiser enrollee speaks only to her acute sense of right vs wrong and her ability to continue to fight for her rights to be treated with dignity and respect.
I am a former Kaiser employee who wore the badge and title of “Auditing Specialist”. My qualifications for wearing this badge included the fact that I was an Registered Nurse (for over twenty years at the time of my employment with Kaiser) and a certification of CCS-P (certified coding specialist) attained through intensive studying of the codes used for diagnosis and treatment of all diseases recognized by the DSM-III manual (listing of all known medical problems/symptoms for which a person seeks medical treatment for improvement/cure of their distinctive problems that have been recognized by the American Medical Academy and the Health and Human Services department of our government. (There has probably been some changes in this manual since my employment, but the general concepts remain the same as the intended original.)
As an Auditing Specialist, I and my co-workers (some without the extent of qualifications that would seem necessary to perform this position) were responsible for reviewing the medical records for physician office visits to determine whether the documentation in the record “matched” with the patient’s presenting symptoms and/or chief complaints at the time of the visit. It may not surprise most of you that this “match” was rarely met (if you could even begin to decipher the physician’s handwriting!). Office visit notes were scribbled at the time of the visit (probably no longer than the 5-10 minutes allowed per patient to ensure that the MD could see the maximum number of patients in ant given day).
If a diagnosis was even mentioned in the record it was an unusual occurrence. Treatment plans usually consisted of “return to clinic PRN” which means “as needed”, leaving the decision of whether further medical testing and/or treatment was “needed” to the discretion of the patients and significant others rather than to the physician to whom this responsibility is given at the time they take the Hippocratic Oath to “at first, do no harm.” While giving this responsibility to the patients, Kaiser was able to delay, postpone or make extremely difficult, the ability for the patient to make return appointments or receive a referral to appropriate consulting and treating specialists. Urgent Care employees, when questioned about the lack of appropriate documentation in the medical record, were not surprised, nor were they the least bit supportive of, the manner in which the physicians conducted and documented these office visits!! Given the opportunity to vent their opinions, it was apparent that most of the employees had very little faith or confidence that the patients were receiving the appropriate care in a timely manner (remember, each “visit” was limited to 5-10 minutes — if a patient could not express themselves clearly or did not have the ability to speak quickly and to the point about their symptoms, they were in the hallway, after seeing their doctors,looking dazed and perplexed about what to do next!!).
In many instances, they were not even seen by MD’s, but rather by the Nurse Practioner in that particular MD’s office. (Drop by the Kaiser outpatient offices at The Orchard Medical Offices in Downey, CA (Southern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group) and you will see a steady stream of patients at all hours of the day and night!)
It would take reams of paper to even give a synopsis of the types of “errors” noted in the medical record and the corresponding charges requested by the MD. Yet, when these discrepancies were addressed in our audit reports, we were instructed by our supervisors and upper management (including the esteemed Medical Director of the group practice) to “find a way” to justify the charges or “look at it another way”. It is my firm belief that Kaiser has charged for services that were either not provided or where shabbily done. Let’s not even address the co-payments required by patients, to be paid at the time of the visit, or be charged an additional $15.00 for the privilege of being billed at a later date.
As you may have gathered by now, I am no longer employed with Kaiser and if I had not resigned my position, would probably have been fired for my thorough review of the records I reviewed. I did not hesitate to speak loudly and frequently about the discrepancies I had found — and, as such, was not viewed as a valuable asset! (In fact, I had been “disciplined” and given poor performance evaluations for essentially doing the job that was required of me — audit for the complete and accurate documentation in the medical record).
I had been, until 3/1/08, also been a Kaiser enrollee, receiving all my medical treatment from Kaiser physicians. I remember one time very clearly, after one of my “scheduled” appointments with a primary care provider, literally screaming at him regarding his lack of attention, while he showed me to the door. Didn’t do much good anyway — I had joined the Kaiser sheep fold and literally had no real recourse available to me. I admit that I held on to my Kaiser benefits for a long time simply because my employee benefits far surpassed any other type of insurance I could have obtained. My co-payments were ridiculously low!! I had surgery 3 times for recurrent bladder tumors, and paid only $5.00 for all of the inpatient services I received — including surgeon fees, anesthesia, medical supplies, and any other associated costs. How did Kaiser manage to keep my charges so low?? They were able to do so only because of the majority of their enrollees were paying upwards of $700 per month for their insurance benefits. To say that my health care was subsidized by the silent majority says it all!!
I must apologize for generalizing and making it appear that ALL Kaiser physicians acted as depicted above, for I was fortunate to receive treatment from some very qualified and professional physicians — but, because of my auditing experiences, I knew which MDs met their responsibilities and could selectively choose whom I entrusted to care for me. It is with deep regret that I acknowledge that the majority of Kaiser enrollees do not have the advantage of this knowledge, and are made to endure the horrific experiences as outlined by Ms. Stein and others who have posted comments on this invaluable Web site.
I am afraid to say that the only ones who “THRIVE” at Kaiser are the physicians who comprise the FOR PROFIT medical groups!!
I also apologize for this lengthy post and would like to thank everyone who had the patience to read it in it’s entirety–
I wish all current and past Kaiser enrollees the opportunity to have their medical needs addressed in a timely manner by professional and competent health care individuals. Alas, I cringe to admit, this may be possible only OUTSIDE OF KAISER!!
Best wishes to you all,
CTJ
I have been a northern Calif. Kaiser pt. for over 30 years and must agree the quality of care sucks. It sickens me the way they forcibly schedule appointments then you see a Dr. for less than 5 Minutes..most of the time they spend putting data in a computer. I have several non lifethreatening health issues..chronic.. that may well be treatable. It always amuses me that none of the Drs. ever scan charts before visits and act so surprised when I bring up the issues.So they really have dropped the ball on patient care. I too believe the Thrive solgan is a bunch of crap/\.
Also, several years ago my husband had surgery for an encapsulated appendix..which they first diagnosed as pancreatitis. They assured us both a biopsy would be done while he was on the operating table. They lied. We waited 4 days while he was in the hospital for the results. On the last day a Dr. walks in chats with us and on the way out the door says,” oh, by the way the biopsy results were negative.” It was straight out of a soap opera. This was a turning point in my respect for Kaiser. Today I have empowered myself to take control and manage my care my way. I pick and chose who I see and when I see them. I complain when my medications are screwed up and I remind everyone to be self-reliant about their health care especially with Kaiser.
Previous responders! You have my heartfelt sympathy. I wonder why some law firm isn’t collecting information for a class action suit. No one individual can effectively confront this giant.
Kaiser Permanente has been my trusted care provider since the early 70s. I checked into their San Diego Hospital on 23 March 2007 for a routine and low risk colonoscopy because I had justifiable concern about cancer. An possibly overworked ER nurse placed an IV at my right elbow, insuring it would be repeatedly exercised. It seeped blood almost immediately and the next day the floor nurse where I had been moved redressed it to no avail. The night nurse tried again by shoving the external plastic end of the IV catheter into the insertion hole in my skin. The next morning the day nurse removed the catheter to get me ready to go home. She conveniently didn’t note my elbow being a little inflamed around its entire circumference. I was too ignorant at the time to make an issue of it. Later in the day of discharge I noticed pus at the IV insertion site, treated it with Polysporin, and forgot about it. Two days later I couldn’t walk or talk and my wife called 911 which got me promptly to the ER and life saving treatment for sepsis at a Scripps Hospital. A Kaiser mandated move to its hospital followed by six weeks of IV antibiotics failed. As soon as the antibiotics were stopped around 10 May 2008 I descended again into sepsis to finally spend more than 13 touch-and-go hours in surgery and 3 more months in the hospital.
My health and vitality are gone. Kaiser caused that for me.
The protocol followed for my IV at Kaiser was obviously stupid, an almost guaranteed recipe for sepsis.
Being human I have asked for an apology and have been stonewalled. I have also asked for some verifiable evidence that the situation has been reviewed and some corrective measures have been instituted. Kaiser’s answer is that it cannot answer. It hides behind “legally mandated confidentiality” and privacy requirements. Very useful!
They have billed me for hospital admissions necessitated by the illness. I have asked them to suggest some compensation. Denied.
Kaiser put out a socially responsible document in 2003:
Patient Safety, Just compensation, and Medical Liability Reform,
Kaiser Institute for Health Policy, 2003
It’s on the Internet
One has to wonder what went wrong.
I am so sorry for your troubles. I too am dealing with a kaiser nightmare. My mother has stage 4 cancer because of medical malpractice. I wish someone could do something to stop the madness. Once in, you can’t get out. good luck to all who get sick and have kaiser insurance.
Barb
Barb, I feel your pain, my mother was lucky in thee fact that her oncologist was only a part time Dr. with Kaiser and had a top notch oncology practice at another local hospital so he was not your typical Kaiser Dr. He pushed with us for treatments and though he ultimately failed, it was not for lack of trying, caring, or pushing for resources for her. However, most other Dr.’s I have dealt with at ANY Kaiser facility have been pieces of work. Arrogant, uncaring and they know everything. (supposedly). I actually was able to prove a Dr. lied to me in the last three weeks of my mothers life and if I had not gotten her the hell out of the rehabilitation center they had sent her to she would have died there. it’s nice when you can prove the lie and hold the Dr. by the proverbial “nuts” but the best part was the reaction when she realized it… “uh, uh, you cant do that” exact words. I know there system pretty well and dont ever want to see someone else suffer because of a system that only cares for money. If you need help finding where to go to get things taken care of i will pass on any information i have that may help. nothing in return, just knowing someone is actually getting help and not going thru what my brothers and I did with Kaiser is satisfaction enough. I will check back for any questions every couple days. Good luck!
I am very sorry to hear this.
Kaiser has many incompetent doctors
Dr. Zemmar Lenoir misdiagnosed my uncle with arthritis 6 months ago. My uncle complained for 8 months and got regular checkup. He couldn’t walk and Dr. Zemmar Lenoir of Kaiser in Panorama City, Ca said that he had severe arthritis and prescribed him Vicodin. My uncle died last month of bone cancer, he had no arthritis. We have tried to sue Kaiser but so far they destroyed most of the records. All of the records that go back last year that have my uncle complaining were removed. Dr. Zemmar Lenoir is the most incompetent doctor and a big liar. I know of. He failed to do any tests on my uncle like a bone scan, MRI, Xray, nothing. I don’t know how this Dr. Zemmar Lenoir can sleep. Stay away from Dr. Zemmar Lenoir in Panorama City.
Kaiser? are they in the business of health care? Really?
I am in San Diego and find the care patient driven-to mean a patient has to self diagnose, go outside of the plan to get better if walking into Urgent Care or the ER does not work or go through so many doctors that you don’t even recall a name.
I have a question. What does it take to get surgery in one’s own area and have a board certified doctor do the surgery? I live in San Diego and they want to send me to Los Angles for a back surgery. Why, they don’t have a board certfied dr that will do the surgery in SD. But hey, papers for the BC are in the mail…they even asked me if I wanted to wait for it. I have had a lower back pain problem for 2 years. this is the very end before I think nerve damage will set in. I am paying a specialist out of my pocket for a consult. I am so outraged at what I read on this site but I belive it all. My own cousin almost died while on Kaiser. She had cancer. They kept nuking her forever and I went with her to ask, where is her cancer. The reply from the top oncologist “Good question” I don’t know. (you’d think he would have read the records and did a little testing now and then in between the years of nuking her with chemo. She had ovarian cancer, breast cancer.
After asking questions we already knew and Kaiser kept falling short, she was able to leave Kaiser,go to another plan and today she is cancer free after an immediate PET scan Kaiser refused and surgery, also refused. She has the tape recording of the Q & A with Kaiser.
Years after she dumped Kaiser, her mother got a short form letter, saying something to the effect that her daughter had died. She is still alive and all that was at least 8 years ago.
I am glad to heard I am not the only one that is being treated like a pile of discarded crap b/c I chose an HMO that is only worried about money and not health care. I have been trying to get my back fixed for 5 months now and ironically today (10-21-08) my job was featuring a benefit seminar and when I was hung up by a scheduler Christina Burns who apparently schedules for all the surgeries hung up on me! She basically told me i had a bad attitude and this wouldn’t help me get schedule. Thank God for Stephanie Woodword for being present during this very mentally distrubing situation. I was at work and I am a receptionist and was brought to tears by this. I am just trying to get my back fixed, but seeing and reading all these horror stories, is making me have second thoughts and deciding to go w/another provider. I am glad we have choses where I work!
Renee Jonson
Westminster Colorado
I am glad to heard I am not the only one that is being treated like a pile of discarded crap b/c I chose an HMO that is only worried about money and not health care. I have been trying to get my back fixed for 5 months now and ironically today (10-21-08) my job was featuring a benefit seminar and when I was hung up by a scheduler Christina Burns who apparently schedules for all the surgeries? She basically told me i had a bad attitude and this wouldn’t help me get schedule and than hung up on me. Thank God for Stephanie Woodward (a Kaiser Associate Account Manager)for being present during this very mentally distrubing situation. I was at work and I am a receptionist and was brought to tears by this. I am just trying to get my back fixed, but seeing and reading all these horror stories is making me have second thoughts and deciding to go w/another provider. I am glad we have choses where I work! This is hopefully the last phase of a terrible experience dealing with this system and I pray for all the other victims that have had to endure worst situations than me! Too bad they have the money to fight the legal battles and maybe if we start to look for other health care that will treat us properly and professionally and correctly this HMO might come back to the passionate side of customer service!?
Renee Jonson
Westminster Colorado
I just want to add that I believe complaints on this page; I go to the Kaiser in L.A. and have experienced similar situations. It seems to me like every time I’ve gone to Kaiser within the last 10 years with symptoms, the doctors don’t have any idea of what diagnosis to come up with for the symptoms. It’s always me who has to suggest diagnosis to be tested for. If it weren’t for me who likes to inform herself about different illnesses I wouldn’t be able to contribute towards the diagnosing for the doctor. I am also currently on psychiatric medication and it seems like when the physician realizes this he/she disqualifies any of my requests. There attitudes seem to be – now that you have a mental illness you can’t come up with reason and therefore your comment does not count.
Oh my god, it is like reading about myself. Except I am still “kind of” healthy. I have experienced ineptitude, stupidity and the “referral to mental illness professionals when they can’t come up with a routine diagnoses” syndrome repeatedly at Kaiser. I actually did that and discovered that the shrink they sent me to doesn’t diagnose a thing. All she does is write a scrip. Which, in my opinion, makes her a licensed pusher. Thanks for the info, I’m going to change my provider the next change I get. I mean, these morons can’t even get an eyeglass prescription right. My last visit involved a gyn who squeezed my nipples so hard in her “breast exam” they almost bled, and then professed to have never heard about MRI exams as an altnernative to squashed-boob mammography. (Not good for women with highly sensitive breasts.)
It never ends. Don’t bother with arbitration, it’s bogus and rigged. The judges get paid by kaiser. We’ll all get em another way. This can’t go on forever.
It makes my blood boil when I hear people suffering from the cruelties of Kaiser Permanente. It’s a big scheme. Although they say they care about their patients, all they care about is $$$. They spend more time teaching their new doctors how to talk to their patients. Wait!! I thought doctors already knew how to be empathetic and how to express themselves. The problem is that the docs become stuck in the whole system. By the time they realize that this is no way to practice medicine, they cannot find another job that pays as much and lets you work as little as Kaiser.
Even among the Kaiser docs, there is a great unfairness levied against primary care doctors. They work like dogs and they have to see patients every 15 minutes. It’s just like a factory. A lot of Kaiser doctors are foreign medical graduates with questionable medical training and many suffer from inadequacies as human beings. Kaiser system has to be abolished or we will be better off driving/flying to Mexico or Canada to see a “real” doctor.
i would like to know how i can file a complaint to kaiser … my husband and i are very disappointed with their services
Sorry to hear about all this stuff with the KP docs. I’ve never had a problem with anything or anyone at KP in GA. I dont live in an area anymore where KP is offered, if I did I would sign up for medical services. I do hope that anyone with med issues do receive the best care and hopefully things will work out for the best in the end like my experiences did.
Well,
Kaiser is not a Care Giver!. It is a For-Profit-Farm. All iot cares about money. You have to go there wait 30 to 45 minutes then you may be called. However, Once I was 10 minutes late – shame to to DC traffic. The Nurse Practioner told me she can not see me as I was late. I complain to Kaiser have not heard back. Obviously, nothing happened.
I tried to change my personal policy from a higher rate to lower rate. I got a response saying that I have pre-existing condition and I have to pay more than twice what I am paying now. I am complaining to the Byreau of insurance.
I have to say that my heart goes out to all of you after reading every story on this site. I am not even sure how I ended up on this site. I am currently a nurse at Kaiser and have worked there for 11 yrs. I am originally from a small hospital in upstate N.Y. and I will say that the system at Kaiser is not even close to what I was use to in NY.
I can’t speak for anyone else that works at Kaiser, but I want to share with all of you what I am all about..I am currently in the pediatric clinic dept. in southern, CA. I truly do care about all of you that come under my care. What keeps me going sure isn’t the money…(There are plently of less stressful jobs out there that pay just as much!) For me, its a feeling of knowing that I have done the best I could to help my patients. Seeing that smile on my little patients face, etc. I have held the hand of a teen telling me she’s pregnant and doesn’t know what to do…I’ve cried with the family that just found out there baby has leukemia…
I am not trying to make you think that I’m some hero because I surely don’t think of myself that way at all…After hearing all these Horror stories, I want you all to know that some of us at Kaiser really do care about you and what happens to you. It really makes me sad to hear your nightmares.
I do also want you all to know that I truly believe eaach and every one of your stories, and am appauled as an employee to know that this is going on…I could also write a book on what I see wrong with Kaiser…I have though about going somewhere else many times because of what goes on and maybe at some point, I will. For now though, those little faces that I have come to know so well in peds are the sole reason I stay. I want to keep giving them the very best I have because they so deserve the best…
I hope if nothing else, you all will feel my heartfelt apology for my fellow Kaiser employees behavior, its inexcusable and astounding and it never should have happened.
Yup. Kaiser Permanente Sucks. Anyone who’s dealt with them for any significant amount of time knows this. They are:
SLOW
Takes FOREVER to see a doctor (for 5 minutes)
EXPENSIVE
And they have no interest in actually delivering care. For God Sakes, they don’t even give you the doctor’s phone number!
Fuck Kaiser.
I feel like all of you. My father was refused medical care because he was misdiagnosed and Kaiser won’t revisit any mistakes. Here is the lesson we have paid dearly to learn: If you are caring for someone, be sure to get a record of every visit, every time (it is too late later, Kaiser works the file over.) If it is incorrect, or you want something to add, do it. Ask the member services department for the procedures to put your input into the file. Just be nice. This is more work than we are used to doing. It’s something so time-consuming that we want to put it off. But don’t put it off. Maybe most importantly, take pictures, if there is anything to take pictures of. Take pictures of the doctor standing by the bedside, take pictures of the nurses and the aides. Ask to see sores, have them take bandages off for your pictures. Always carry a camera anyway, so you will get used to thinking about taking pictures. It’s all an act of love. And you are protecting doctors from having to lie. We want happy doctors, don’t we? Get the drop on them while the problem can still be solved. So they can sleep at night.
My son passed away April 24, 2008, after his primary care physician kept calling his pain “acid reflux”. When he refused to give him any more pain pills, my son went to ER and discovered he had lymphoma. They would never surgically remove the tumors on his kidneys, told him his cancer “of all cancers” would be the one you’d want because it’s 100% treatable, drenched him with chemo until he was too weak to get out of bed…claiming they would send him to City of Hope for a bone marrow transplant, then stated they couldn’t even remove the tumors because, “look at him, he’s too unhealthy now”. His oncologist refused to refer him stating, “we can do anything City of Hope can do for him here.” When he went to ER the last week of his life at another hospital, I begged the hospital not to let Kaiser send him back to the one in Fontana – I had a grievance against them, and Kaiser refused to send him to Orange County, stating “all of his paperwork is in Fontana”…The other city hospital said that his blood count was too low and how did Kaiser expect to treat his cancer, since you need BLOOD to be healthy. He was sent to ICU on the 22nd of April, his fiance and him did have a chance to be wed by a Catholic priest, thought the County of San Bernardino wouldn’t acknowledge it because they didn’t run a get a marriage license filled out (of course he was bedridden during all of this and one doesn’t think of paperwork, especially when you get a call saying, “your son is going to have a heart attack or stroke”. There were a couple of times other family members would go into the room and find the air unplugged. I would stay on the floor and hear other rooms alarms go off and no one respond to them. It was a horrible, horrible hospital and I try to tell everyone I know to get rid of their Kaiser. I had a Doctor tell me that “they are only good at Kaiser, if you don’t get sick!” I could go on and on, but the main thing (since they almost killed my mom too with a surgical slice of an extra vein during an angioplasty), someone has to get a class action suit against them and not for the measely 250000 “cap”. They need to be punished. I hate them and yes, that earlier person said it perfect—“F” Kaiser!
I can’t help but feel sickened by all that I have read here… I am a career physician assistant who ALWAYS, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay, seeks the truth in a complaint. I almost took a job in 2006 at Kaiser, I consider it a BLESSING I looked elsewhere, because my natural truth-seeking patient care philosophy would have surely been stifled. I wish all of you who have been injured in some way by Kaiser peace and retribution, and I pray that the madness is stopped. I am not a Kaiser employee, I am not a beneficiary of their health care, but I am a medical professional whose eyes have been opened, and I promise to not only carry your words to other health care professionals, but to always remember to DO NO HARM when caring for my patients. Thank you–
I’m so sorry to read what you have gone though.
It makes what I’m going though look mild. But I’m not going to shut up about it. From the first phone call to kaiser I knew I was in for a Mr. Toads Wild Ride. They have lied to me since day one.
I hope you can have some kind of peace in your life. And I would suggest to you Acupuncture.
It helps my spinal injury.
Sending you healing vibes.
Thank you for sharing your story.
HI
kaiser has breached my privacy and they have admitted it after 8 month when human right office investigated. i dont know how to get restituition from hospital. i cant find any attorney in north bay area. please help
As far as I know there is no private cause of action for a privacy breach. Maybe if there were some economic damages, but you’d have to contact a civil rights attorney to find out. Call the Bar Association to get some names to try.
My heart hurts and my story is not unlike yours… I only pray that the President of the USA does not ask Kaiser to be the mainstream medical for all the poor people out there since no one can help us because we have Kaiser how can they help the people that do not have health insurance. I was having seizures because I was being over medicated and they kept saying that all my problems were in my head and sent me to a Shrink who believe it or not did NOT agree with the doctors… and after many EEGs they found a seizure and I was not faking it. I think if I were faking it I am in the wrong field and should have been an actress. hummmm I think that is the point most doctors were fake doctors, I do have a great doctor now and I am very glad for it. I do not go to Kaiser in the ER any more unless I have no other choice. I just stay home and hope for the best at least I am not a guinea pig and and have to suffer at their and hand and actually pay them to do so. I go when I think I can nto help myself. and at least I am alive to talk about it unlike some families here that are no longer with us..
my heart goes out to you!!!
Janet
I have had it with my HMO, they ridiculed me, made fun of me and said I can’t have any side effects from pegasys interferon/ribavirin combo treatment. Then my dr. said he would give me some testosterone cream if it warranted it then refused when my tests show that I am very low and that is why I am having problems, I can lose my job if I don’t get stronger and back in fit again. But because of the interferon treatment it has effected my body in a negative way and my dr. said I should not have any side effects from it cause it is a natural treatment, I think I am a victim of malpractice cause of this. My doctor wanted me to get a colonoscopy and said I should get it on my birthday cause it would be a good present, and I found that to be appalling and very unprofessional, I was shocked. Then the nurse told me I must be faking it, cause she never heard of anybody having problems with the pegasys treatment, so then I joined a support group and they couldn’t believe the treatment I have been receiving and told me to make a grievance, well I did and 15 grievances later nobody has contacted me and the dr. still gives me bad advice or does not know what to do with me, I find that very difficult to take, I never heard of dr.s treating there patients this way, I am 50 and never had it happen to this degree in my life. Please help me so I can get better. thanks. One of my dr’s yelled at me when I needed short term disability and ridiculed me and told me that he can’t go home and I shouldn’t be allowed to go home. I think this type of treatment is serious when it is to this degree.
My dr.s: Dr. Shvartsmann, Dr. Pagel, Dr. Parks in palm springs!
I was told I was a faker and liar and they told my fiance the same thing that the treatment can’t harm you, boy were they wrong still suffering the effects of the treatment and now my testosterone is very low so he said he would give the treatment then today he said I can’t justify it and that was it, they won’t treat me but they will give me a bunch of tests, weeks of tests and they won’t help me, they know what is wrong but won’t do it. this type of abuse should be illegal at the very best I should have a law suit cause I could lose my job over this, cause I am still very weak and having muscle problems and fatigue. Not sure what to do yet except to notify everyone I can think of newspapers, lawyers, congressperson.
The bad thing is that they have way too much power you have to go through the HMO help center in california if you are from california or similar in another state. Try the insurance commissioner and try your local newspaper. I am not afraid to tell my story cause this has gone on for over a year for me now.
Hey everyone, I’ve currently been on hold for 2 hours w/ Kaiser, trying to schedule and obtain important medicine for a cyst that is getting worse and worse by the day. My current ENT doctor is completely incompetent and is not helping, this is literally being dragged out, and I’m getting afraid for my health, I’m a young guy, 25, college student and I can’t get adequate healthcare from Kaiser! If anyone has any advice for me, or any helpful information please email me at hkp71984@yahoo.com,
thanks james in atlanta
First let me apologize for the length of the following..but I feel that it is a timely comment.
That said..
I feel for each & every one of you folks here.
Now..
Due to an Insurance change by my spouses employers..In Dec, 2008..I lost all my former Specialists and coverage..in one day!
Effective Jan, 2009, I signed up with Kaiser “Senior advantage” program in Los Angeles County, Ca.
I had a Dx of autoimmune overlap disease..MCTD..very serious, as it is all systemic.
Kaiser promptly threw out this Dx..and have said for one year now, “That they don’t treat this, go have a blood test, and contact my primary.”
In these last nine mos.I have progressed to a walker, a c-pap breathing machine, partial hearing & sight, as this goes untreated.
I have four “sub-specialists and 6 MD’s..”supposed to be” specialists.
I now have a case manager for pain classes.
I have literally begged for help,only to be sent to Psychiatry & told I needed classes for anger management!
I am preparing to expose these “Kaiser Kid Docs.”
I have figured it out..kaiser Permanente has become a training facility. These so called “Specialists” are not even board certified for their specializations yet.
They have to meet certain criteria including treating a set amount of patients.
Often I feel that I know more than they do! I do my research, as I do not trust ANYONE with my life.
It took 40 years to finally get this Dx.
My former Double board certified Specialists had to go to my DNA with my blood work..then started the appropriate treatment, that saved my life.
Now I have NO meds (after a year of tests)..and am sicker than I have ever been in my life.
I am leaving Kaiser this month, to save my life.
Bless all that have to continue suffering the Medical abuses & neglect.
I will update as my journey progresses.
Do not point out your Kaiser psychiatrist’s lack of compassion or medical skill, because they will 5150 you on the spot.
If you are stuck with Kaiser as your insurance, don’t relay on them to help you in any way. Find alternative low-cost therapists, support groups, etc.
I sought treatment with Kaiser’s psych offices for 20 years — help never arrived, just pills & pills & pills and several bonehead psychiatrists who really couldn’t have cared less.
I feel so much better now that I don’t use Kaiser for anything other than filling the ONE prescription recommended by a non-Kaiser psychiatrist.
I agree.Try Kaiser on Maui=OVERT corruption; unchallenged.They are evil.They have ruined my life and continue to mistreat me.
Can’t we take these THOUSANDS of complaints to the gov’t to get action?
Or am I just too naiive?
My story follows the same story after story on this blog. Although I am a many year Kaiser employee, and I depend on the medical care I have encountered over 5 “incidents” where there is/was gross negligence and their cure was either more pills, psychiatrist, go to gym (127 lbs/ 5’7), they wrote drug seeking behavior on my chart due to a complete avulsion of a quad muscle accident, misdiagnosed for 2 years they kept telling me it was nothing,,exercise more, it must be a hematoma, it will take months to go away and they were not the least bit interested in helping me or finding out what was wrong.After I started to research my symptoms and reviewing my care , I first told the doctor what I thought it was after doing all my homework he laughed and me told me to lose weight and that he would order a mri just to show me I was wrong..turns out total avulsion of muscle,,,couldn’t be repaired, no one in kaiser had done it. Well we found one kaiser doctor who had done ONE, after mine, he had done two…mine didn’t work and 2 months in a wheelchair later,,I was told we could try it again.Kaiser denied me going to another surgeon who actually had experiance,,yes they love to practice and try new things on us as patients, without the expertise…I wont even go into the breast lump that I talk to 3 of my doctors about, no one, thats right not one “touched it” they all said it was scar because I had breast augmentation and revision 3 times. finally after mammogrom over and over i refused to leave the room until my primary touched what I felt,,,oh its nothing..yep and added “you are such a cry baby” I will send you to a surgeon just to prove it is nothing, The surgeon said the same sentence,,,your such a cry baby and it is just a scar, gee you had your breasts done 3 times?,,,well, the ultrasound found what I felt, after two years of complaining.To make it short, and it wasn’t, the metastatic breast cancer that spread into my lymph nodes was treated with a bilateral mastectomy and six long months of chemotherapy, complete with all the side effects that I was told, never happen, and they say,,we are really sorry. Me Too. but after the incisions infected and my doctor was on another vacation the vascular surgeon covering wants to take me to surgery again I asked him how many of this type of case he had done,,,that answer was none so..I asked for a plastic surgeon,,too bad not available,,it was said well it is friday.I had to stop chemo and then thank goodness I worked for a local wonderful plastic surgeon who took me to surgery the next morning and fixed the Kaiser Mess… I healed quickly, lost all confidence in Kaiser and I know they do not write the truth in the computer. I ask to see it when I go in and I ask to see what they write. for my leg they called it a minor repair of muscle,,on my mri complete avulsion of muscle, I asked them to change it,,and he did,,,so how is that done,,I will tell you, they can go back and add anything they want and they love the computer now because the handwriting was really a problem when you try to adjust the chart to keep yourself out of trouble.
My daughter was treated for sore ankles , they told us it was nothing at age 14,at college scholarship acceptance and entrance a chiropractor was looking at her ankles and asked why she hadn’t had her “tarsal colition” repaired prior to college. When we went back to the podiatry, same doctor he said oh she will grow out of it..not….now another podiatrist at kaiser wants to fuse her ankle, she will never bend it again and the first podiatrist retired early after some other incidents and complaints,,,very timely. That is the same daughter of mine who had a miscarriage at week 14, D and C and two days later complains of belly pain,,,back to kaiser ultrasound and I see something,,me a novice,,Dr. says oh that will pass, antibotics and lots of sickdays with belly pain,,week after week calling to talk to dr, worried that she was not getting better,,,,really badly bleeding and THREE MONTHS LATER
Dear everyone:
I am Jupirena Stein and I need to say this to all of you:
Kaiser Permanente is a multi-disciplinary teaching hospitals chain spreaded throughout our United States.
Kaiser, as other teaching hospitals, have a GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION (GME Program.) Their GME program accepts doctors from anywhere in the world who wishes to became board certified. Kaiser’s own doctors are board certified at 82%. Quite amazing isnt it?
So far … pretty normal right?
Well, … here’s how Kaiser differs from all other teaching hospitals:
-They are independent (i.e. not like an University that actually MUST obey the rules)
-They do “things” among a very tightly closed medical environment.
-They will change your medical records, add or take away as needed to get them out of trouble.
– They have an arbitration system and the Department of Managed Health Care under their commend, at all times.
-They are ruthless, cruel criminals.
Now, … we, the patients pay Kaiser every month for their deliver of our healthcare which includes:
1-pills, colds, emergencies of sorts, birth, x-rays, etc…
2- the “previlege” of allowing their GME physicians to use our body parts as needed.
They CAN and WILL use our body parts as if they (the GME Program doctors) have been exonerated from liability, accountability, medical ethics, respect and regard for human lives.
Please see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRVT3N7eFhk
So… get out if you can. But if you MUST stay, -protect yourself, your friends and your family.
DO NOT BLINDLY TRUST KAISER PERMANENTE.
Expose, Confront and Change!
JS.
“Kaiser’s own doctors are board certified at 82%. Quite amazing isn’t it?”
CORRECTION:
Kaiser’s own doctors are board certified at 96%
not 82% .
My mistake, my apologies.
JS
MY GOD…..I am so sorry for everything you have been through. I actually cried reading this because I too have been treated badly by Kaiser doctors a time or two. Not nearly as horrible as what you went through, but enough to where my health suffered as a result of their “we dont see anything in your CT scan….and perhaps the pain is ALL IN YOUR MIND” comments. Really….WHO wants to have pain? Trust me…if I could think of anything else, I would have. Unbelievable. I hope that somehow you and your family have been compensated.
My mother is at Kaiser right now. I LEARNED from when they almost killed my husband! When she was in the hospital in critical condition, I PAID for a private care giver to sit with her day and night. My mother was treated well. Now mom is back with an infection. Those doctors said she didn’t have an infection, the nurses didn’t bathe her, etc. I have sued Kaiser before and I have made it known to the people who take care of my mother right now, after they were somewhat negligent. Surprise: They are watching out.
BTW: They wanted to send mom to a rehab place after surgery:
1. On the US government watch list for abuse
2. 90% of short term patients come out with bed sores and double the amount of patients are in restraints
3. Poor quality of care
So, I passed. I hired more private care givers (am going broke doing it), moved in with mom (and have to leave my own family during that time)
OH yeah, and when I mentioned it to doctors, nurses, clinical social workers and member services they are ALL like:” Oh my God, which homes are those – I don’t know anything about that” BULLSHIT!!!! They are all complicit – be it only through their silence!
Some nurses were telling me hush, hush:”We knew, but we aren’t allowed to tell the patients. We strongly suggest that family members take care of the patient, but we can’t tell”
I am going to the newspapers, to the radio, to the insurance commissioner, etc……
MORAL of this: Pay for someone to sit with your family member or do it yourself if you can, take photos, take notes, even secretly tape them!
Oh, I also brought food for the nurses, etc –it ALWAYS helps to have them on YOUR side.
“…82%…”, “…96%…”.
What’s the difference, when it’s not a full 100%??? A recent Kaiser/Colorado “Thrive” from 2009 claimed 90%.
Is that supposed to reassure? Not me! It takes a descent into Hell for a board to decertify a doctor, making that stat. all the more meaningless.
Jack S.
MY MOTHER WAS TAKEN TO KAISER ER IN HAYWARD ON 6/24/2010.SHE WAS KEPT THERE OVERNIGHT DUE TO A STRESS TEST SHE WILL BE ON, THE NEXT DAY.6/25/2010.I WAS TOLD BY THE DOCTOR THAT SHE HAS TO UNDERGO THIS BEFORE SHE CAN BE DISCHARGED.AFTER HER STRESS TEST AND ALL THE ECHOGRAM, SHE WENT BACK TO HER ROOM AT THE ER AT AROUND 4:00 P.M..6/25/2010 A DISCHARGED NURSE BY THE NAME OF CHRYSTAL CAME IN TO HER ROOM AND TOLD HER IN A COMMANDING VOICE SHE NEEDS TO GET READY. MY MOTHER TOLD HER, TO WAIT BECAUSE HER RIDE WAS NOT THERE YET. AND HER IV WAS STILL ON. CHRYSTAL TOOK HER IV OUT AND JUST LEFT MY MOTHER WITHOUT ANY GAUZE TO PUT ON WHERE SHE TOOK THE NEEDLES OUT. SHE TURNED HER BACK AND LEFT. MY MOTHER BLED , HER GOWN AND PANTS WAS SOAKING WITH BLOOD AND DOWN TO THE FLOOR. MY MOTHER SAW A NURSE HELPING A PT ACROOS THE ROOM. SHE CALLED HER AND HER NAME WAS SONYA. SAW MY MOM BLEEDING AND ASKED HER WHO DID THAT. MY MOTHER TOLD HER THAT IT WAS CHRYSTAL. AFTER CLEANING UP MY MOTHER AND THE FLOOR SONYA LEFT AND SAID THAT SHE WILL LOOK FOR CHRYSTAL. SUDDENLY CHRYSTAL CAME IN AND SAID WITH A LOUD VOICE, WHY WHATS WRONG,SONYA HELPED YOU ANYWAY AND IT’S DONE AND OVERWITH.THEN LEFT.
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN UNCARING NURSE.THERE IS NO PATIENT CARE.MY MOTHER IS ON COUMADINE AND EVERYONE KNOWS THERE THAT SEEN HER THAT DAY. IF MY MOTHER WAS NOT CAPABLE OF CALLING SOMEBODY TO HELP HER , SHE WOULD HAVE BLED TO DEATH.
MY MOTHER IS NOW AT HOME BUT WITH A BIG BANDAGE ON HER ARM AND STILL BLEEDING.
I WILL BE CONTACTING MY LAWYER ABOUT THIS INCIDENT. WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM WHO EVER WILL EXPLAIN TO ME HOW YOU CAN HIRE NURSES LIKE CHRYSTAL. NO PATIENT CARE.
Most people don ‘t have an idea what HELL is like , unless you are/were and employee or a patient and all related families of Kaiser. Another sad part is that the medical industrial complex, HMO’s, other health care plans, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, chemical and bio tech companies have a great military influence(many from the military worked at kaiser and also in workers compensation and in the VA-KAISER) and the treatment or lack thereof nowadays, is all the same.
FrankenKAISER and the Dr. Jekyl & Mr Hyde or NAZI care is what we have to look forward to. All real doctors have to stand up together for themselves as CARING & COMPASSIONATE PHYSICIANS FOR THE SAKE OF ALL OF THEIR PATIENTS.
GOS BLESS us all in our endeavors to demand real medical care, that we are not consumers but and humans who meed real medical care. A
former employee/union steward and patient who saw fAr too many horrible things ABOUT THE MALPRACTICE AGAINST PATIENTS including knowing about the many employee suicides and a murder all here in Sacramento.Ca. The FBI helped cover up the murder. What and who is Kaiser? It’s called HELL! We need God’s help on this because no public official has even tried to go after kaiser much less succeed in closing them down like it should have been done 25 years ago when I worked there. Kaiser gets billions on medicare alone and no audit or accountability from our government. Even the govt is held accountable at some point but why not
THE KAISER HELL?
I have my own stories regarding Kaiser misdiagnosis regarding multiple family members and culminating in the death of my son. Right now a dear family friend is fighting Kaiser to authorize treatment for her mother at UCSF. This has been going on for months, delays, lies, ignorance…EVERYTHING as I read above in so many stories. I am ready to stand up, be counted and DO SOMETHING there certainly seems to be enough people out there who have been victimized by Kaiser…to the excellent administrator of this site….if you hear of something where they need a show of people to protest, write letters..please let me know. Thank you for this site it shows others they are not ALONE !!
My Kaiser PCP TOLD me how to kill myself with my meds after I told him my pain is not the “livable” type (UNtreated), after another “doctor” told me “most of us just get used to it and live with it”(the pain).I doubt he had 2 failed back surgeries with a durotomy that nicked my L-lateral L4-5 nerve root,causing 4 days of clear fluid (CSF)leakage for which they pulled chucks several times per day,caused me a 5 day spinal H/A and left me with a permanently numb left foot,which I thought i could live with,but over about a 5 year period of time I developed scar tissue IN my arachnoid space,creating what is called “arachnoiditis”,which has NO cure, is a 10 on the pain scale, never goes away,and has evry bad pain label plus the one I use most=HIDEOUS!Kaiser NEGLECTED to file this as a Workers’ Comp case, which it was(IS), and I told them,with my ex-wife as witness.My PCP said “well, all they’re going to need to know is that we’re controlling your pain with meds”. My hearing came around,and all was settled in less than an hour,kaiser not even mentioned.Medical CLOSED because Kaiser did NOT do their legal duty! AND,I had an attorney!He said “he couldn’t MAKE him enter it into WC if he didn’t want to(LIE-HAS to by LAW!)…Hawaii is a very corrupt place.So I’ve been paying all my co-payments myself, which should have been WC.Now Kaiser says I owe them $6000 and sent collections after me.They also completely botched an abdominal surgery.They knew for 13 yrs that I needed a part of intestine cut out,”eventually”.”We just wait until it’s bad enough, then we cut it out”.I told them when it was bad enough-they denied it.I had an emergency bowel obstruction,they decompressed it with an NG tube-NOT fun with a broken nose and deviated sceptum!Blood and cracking bones in my face everywhere!Then they blamed it on the opiates I’ve been on for a decade(STILL with diarrhea from the stenotic terminal ileum)-it CAN’T be ileus if I have diarrhea!I told the “doktor” he was mistaken and why(I was a Paramedic for years)-you’d think they’d give me some cred-Kaiser NEVER did!The doc ignored me and let his erroneous Dx stand!My 2nd B.O.resulted in “emergency surgery”,AFTER 10 HOURS IN the ER! They gave me a “Barium-type enema” immed. prior to surg-it LEAKED all over me and the table!Told them=IGNORED all the way to the OR.I told the anesth. last,with tears in my eyes,knowing it was going to infect badly.BTW-I looked up to see how the tech was going to clean the Xray table-she just used MY sheet and gave it a quick wipe!That is raw sewage!And that is how I was cut on in Maui Memorial Hospital by a Kaiser “surgeon” named “Doctor” Sakai,the one who told me we “just learn to live with our pain”. My old Pain management doc died; now I have a new grad, passed off by Kaiser as a PAIN MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST!-they LIED! He is NOT! They are GIVING him that title ILLEGALLY for now until he puts in enough time,then legally by letting him work there as one while doing his Fellowship! He will pass our lax state boards after his req’d time spent,but he has NOT demonstrated ANY interest in learning (I am exactly twice his age)-my pain is older than he is,yet he won’t listen to this old man of pain-even old, medically trained man! He pegged me with about 6 erroneous Dx over 1.5yrs.Addict=NOT;(Even IF, Kaiser created one).MY meds are causeing my pain=NOT! They call that “Hyperanalgesic Induced Pain”,or a variation thereof.He cut my meds by 2/3!!!…50% in 2 months;knowingly&wilfully putting me into withdrawals by titrating my meds down way too fast!I told him so, but he ignored me.It happened.I asked to be hospitalized.I was told “we don’t feel comfortable managing pain in the hospital(MauiMemorial)…yet they feel good about leaving me home ALONE, withOUT medical supervision, in withdrawals, dehydrated,malnourished, dizzy & falling down, etc.,and he replied”…unless you want to be admitted to the psych ward”.!!! IS KAISER PSYCHOTIC? Geoffrey Sewell,M.D.is the head of kaiser in Hawaii.He has gone on record as stating “ALL of their ‘partrners’are board certified in their specialty.As stated before(above)by others, this is blatantly not true.I can also state it is patently UNTRUE. I’ve already written a book here, and that’s the TIP of the iceburg! I had an outside Kaiser MD state “Kaiser is so big now they are above the law”. He is a 75y/o MD here that is VERY highly respected,compassionate,and can’t get kaiser to even send records over for his 2nd opinion!I HAVE TO QUITE-MY PAIN IS MAKING DO SO. I’VE BEEN FIGHTING IT FOR A LONG TIME.IF ANYONE HAS ADVICE,I NEED IT.MY EMAIL IS . Please someone tell me there is an answer,somewhere! Isn’t there an attorney among us that will make a class action suit out of all this abuse and early death(I never got to that part).Some of you PLEASE remind me to come back-I am in so much pain I can’t remember follow-up to anything anymore!Thank you, and may GodBless you all!WE NEED AN ANSWER TO THIS CORRUPTION! All these CRIMES Kaiser has perpetrated against customers, or “patients” have been POSITIVELY addressed to the contrary by Kaiser personnel, usually high-up individuals,in writing,in their own publications.It is IN WRITING! HOW can they get away with doing the exact opposite of what they have claimed they practice and believe in and follow IN PRACTICE!? The end result=they are TORTURING me and KILLING me! Nither is an exaggeration. I know my medicine. I can’t believe young kids fresh out of medical school would hire up with them and so quickly adopt their “philosophy” in direct contrast to the OATH they just took, which means apparently NOthing nowadays, so quickly and so completely, assimilating themselves into the Kaiser “FOR PROFIT” half of the system so willingly doing ill to people can only mean ONE thing-GREED/VANITY. Giving them a TITLE straight out of med school strokes their “God Complex” egos,which are HUGE, and giving them $$$,which,for this system to work so negatively for the customers(I ca’t even call us “patients” anymore;we don’t fall under any category of “Standard of Care” that I have ever heard of,nor do they treat us as individuals and consider our “Quality of Life”. These are both well known medical terms. PAIN was also becoming known as “The 4th Vital Sign” toward the end of my Paramedic career. You don’t hear that anymore. That “10”Scale for pain is all but useless, but that’s a whole other subject. NO one at Kaiser has treated my pain seriously. They treat me as it I’m “The Bad Guy” for having intractable pain. I’m NOT apologizing for it anymore. I wore out my body serving mankind. What else can anyone want from someone? Sorry, I’m rambling. This was written in several sittings, as i can’t site for long. Yes, too many Kaiser employees, ex-employees and “patients” and ex-patients have comitted suicide from lack of appropriate care. When Kaiser wants you GONE, they want you GONE, and it doesn’t matter how. They even FIRE their own top surgeons; heads of their SAME departments for 24 years rather than pay a pension. Yet they’ll defend the malpractice of their own (ALWAYS settling out of court WITH gag orders)to keep their low level of care alive and financially THRIVING. Many think Kaiser is a “non-profit org)! NOT. They are 2 parts. A “non-profit” part, and a HUGE FOR profit part. Guess which one rules?
I quit. For the few of you that made it to the end of this desperate & painful rambling, I thank you for your patience. I apologize. I used to be a decent writer. Pain will take everything away. Eventually even life.
God Bless You All! I pray we come up with an answer to this horrible, tortuous health”care” crisis ASAP!
Paul
Maui
Sorry, I forgot-The last gag pulled was “Think of pain as just a concept”.!!!
I later told him I NEVER wished this pain on anyone until now. I wish it on YOU, and other PMS for ONE WEEK ONLY-he cut me off with an angry well thanks a lot! I should have thought fast and said “I thought pain was just a concept, why are you angry”?-But I told him to relax and not take it the wrong way, as first, it has a finite ONE WEEK period of time. Second, I’m NOT wishing you ill, I’m wishing you an education! People w/o REAL severe, chronic pain can NOT relate to those of us who have it. I see it everyday. “You can’t SEE it; how can it exist”? Like my quad friend from back in high school-he’s a high-vis disabled person. I’m “just” fat and old with several forms of walking aids,including wheelchairs, which don’t work on Maui. Enough. Just HAD to get that CONCEPT thing in there.
Paul
When I went on the web and searched for “Kaiser Complaints” I certainly didn’t know what I was in for. Totally unbelievable! I joined Kaiser in 1966. Back then they gave a lot better care then they do now. I have really seen a huge difference.
My current problem is severe left shoulder pain for five months. First, I saw my GP who seemed content in just saying to take pain meds, use ice, bla bla bla. “I” suggested at least xrays to which she said we could do that if I wished. The xrays showed “mild artheritis” and she suggested PT. I said this hurt way too much to be considered “mild” and I refused PT and she went on to her next patient. I made another appointment with her and she said she still wanted me to go to PT. Then, I said I wanted a referral to Ortho. She casuallly said, “Yes, we could try that.” So, I waited for that appointment. That doctor agreed with my GP re PT. “I” (again) requested an MRI. The MRI showed a torn supraspinatus tendon and the doctor called me the same day saying I needed surgery. BUT, he was an Ortho doctor, not an Ortho surgeon, and I needed to see an Ortho surgeon. So, another long (2 month) wait for that appointment.
In the meanwhile, I was in so much pain and not sleeping so my daughter took me to ER. We explained everything to the ER doctor and he said, “well, what do you want me to do for you?” He volunteered to call the surgeon to see if I could get a sooner appointment with her. He said he talked to her and she would call me the next day. You got it; no phone call. So I called Ortho and was told there were no notes saying anything about anything–zip, nada, nil, nothing!
During this entire ordeal I have made about 30 phone calls for help. All they offer me are different pain meds to no avail. The meds work a little for 2 hours at the most. Trying to sleep is the worst — agonizing pain!!! Putting a little pillow under my arm helps but not much.
I called Ortho again and the receptionist said to call at 8:30am the next morning to see if they had a cancellation. “Walla”, they got me in to see another surgeon a week earlier than with the first surgeon.
On that visit, the surgeon said I needed an Arthrogram to see if the tendon was actually “torn” to see if the got the big surgery or the little surgery. He said I would have dye injected for that procedure. I told him of my kidney problems (which were in my Kaiser records on his computer. He then looked at my records, and said I had to have the big surgery with 8 months recovery time.
I contacted my nephrologist (kidney dr.) and he talked to the surgeon. Together they decided there wasn’t enough dye to do real harm to my kidneys and I could do the procedure and I would be getting a phone call from Radiology the next day for scheduling. You guessed it; no phone call. I called Radiology and the receptionist said she would put the referral “on the scheduler’s desk” and I would be called the next day. You guessed it again; no phone call.
So now I sit in severe pain and wait some more. I have taken almost 300 Darvocet-N pills since this started. Last night I took one at 7:30pm, 10pm, 3am, 6:30am then 10am. The limit is 6 daily but what can I do?
My surgery is scheduled for the end of November. I cannot stand this pain but they don’t have the pain so they don’t care!!! I’ve contacted Member Services and filed two (2) complaints — both were “denied”.
I am 72, live alone and fall a lot. The pain med is making me real dizzy, upsetting my stomach and I can’t sleep. Is there anhyone out there who has some advice for me?
KP is hideous and has been for decades.
However, KP paitents are not captives. If you are not getting the care you need, go outside the Kaiser system. Or better, let your PCP know that you will be seeking an outside second opinion and if there is a signigicant difference in diagnosis and/or treatment plans, you will esclate this from a medical issue to a legal issue. Be sure to let KP know that you’re not going to limit your recourse to just a civil action. Based on what I’ve seen here, it would not take a huge effort to make some of these acts of neglect a criminal matter.
I know many people will claim they can’t afford outside second medical opinions.. YES you can because the only other option is long-term suffering and/or death.
Right now a close relative, who has been a KP patient for decades, has spent the last 10 years being treated for COPD when KP medical personnel knew he was suffering from congestive heart failure. They never told him he had CHF and they never treated his CHF until he had to have emergency open heart surgery last year. And he’s still in the hospital. They keep trying to discharge him to his home and his family has been diligent in making sure that he stays in a hospital setting until his medical issues are under control. We think KP is trying to get him out of their hospitals before he dies so they can clain he was well enough to go home so whatever happened after he left the hospital isn’t their problem.
COPD is cheaper to treat than CHF. I believe that KP was betting that he would die of CHF before he even knew he had CHF because heart failure in patients who really do have COPD is not uncommon. As it turns out, this guy may not even have COPD.
For those of you who are on the older side, BEWARE. For KP, it’s not about providing appropriate medical care it’s about whether or not you’ll stay alive long enough for KP to recoupe the cost of your medical care through your preimum payments.
I know this sounds very paranoid, but just look at all the KP horror stories on the internet. Yeah, I know anyone can put anything they want on the internet and there’s no way to verify whether is fact or fiction.
I know it’s fact because I’am withnessing it first hand.
For anyone who has to stay with KP..be your own advocate and take the time to check out the info you are getting from your KP meidcal service providers.
And may God protect you.
Threatening legal action is NOT the way to get what you want out of KP, but it is a good way to get them to circle the wagons and never help you again. And by never help you again I don’t mean being a little bit unhelpful — they will actually go to extraordinary measures to deliberately HARM you, both medically and legally. I’ve heard from several people about KP even going so far as to report diligent relatives to child or adult protective services with trumped up charges, just to get rid of them.
If you don’t want to be held captive by KP, you have to change health plans. Period.
Best wishes to your relative.
Ms. Stein, Kaiser is an organization that has many problems. MY wife was happily continued on methadone for her chronic pain of fibromyaligia since 2000. Dr. Geroge Fong, of Kaiser Martinez was writing her Rxs. She then went to the CD in Walnut Creek and the Physchiatrist continued to write the drug for her CHEMICAL DEP. no less. WHen she was unable to comtinue to compoly with a strict program with no emotional support, she was 86’d from the program and forced to go the BAART Clinic in Antioch to continue the therapy “at our expense – on fixed incomes -.
In January 2011 she decided to go COLD TURKEY off of the methadone and received ZERO support, either medically or emotionally from her doctor, George Fong. She has been in ab solute wracking and wrenching pain since then and still they refuse to offer any compasionate medical care. As per the Medical Board of California Guideline for Prescribing Pain Medication, revised in 2007, a physician cannot withhold pain relief medication from an addicted patient. Well Kaiser continuly does that. MY poor wife (OH YES, did I mention that she is DEAF and has been put into restraints -by 6 burly security people, and she only weighs 125 lbs- at the Walnut Creek ED because she was in so much pain she was signing large and overwhelmingly?????), she has been in so muchpain she would prefer to be dead then to continue to suffer like this.
THe story goes on and on and now she is looking for a way to give Kaiser a taste of their own pain right back. SHe needs an attorney who will accepot a case on contigency and willing to take on the army of lawyers that Kaiser has as on organization which has iron-plated themselves.
I’m so utterly appalled by these complaints, yet I am so not surprised as I have been a “victim” of Kaiser for the past 26 yrs. Just yesterday, I had an appt. with my “newly assigned” PHP, as my previous dr. retired late last year. He knew me and my chronic life-long medical history, had a pretty darned good repore with each other and he truly believed in my chronic pain, knew all about my two past separate cancer diagnosis’ and surgeries, treated me with my chronic kidney disease, diagnosed me when I experienced my very first T.I.A. episode-small mini-strokes(have had 5 more TIA’s since 2009), he knew I suffered with a bleeding ulcer as I had gone to the ER to have the dark red blood pumped from my stomach.He believed & trusted my word of my debilitating pain & did not hesitate to prescribe me with all the proper needed pain meds and muscle relaxers I so much needed just to take the edge off and try to manage and function with my daily functions. He “saw it, believed in it & treated me accordingly!” I also have Mitral Valve prolapse, severe Raynaud’s Phenomenom, chronic fatigue, chronic wide-spread pain, a history of stage3 cancer; twice!, have chronic kidney disease with left kidney failure, depression!..from all my chronic pain that adversely affects everything in my daily life, etc. etc.!! I am 43 yrs old and have had a Handicap parking placard since 1998 when I was 31! Also, when I was 17 I had Toxic Shock Syndrome, severe sepsis with my lowest blood pressure reading at 62/34..pretty much on my death-bed, double kidney infections, etc. At that age with all those health problems and multiple hospitalizations, I sure missed a great deal of school in my Senior year in High school. Who would’ve known then in 1985 the rest of my life would be riddled with even more chronic health problems?! I am a “frequent flyer” at any and all Kaiser facilities!…So much so, I should have my own reserved parking space, as I’ve spent a large portion of my life, time and $$ at Kaiser over the years.
So, getting back to my doctors visit yesterday with this newly assigned rookie physician who knows nothing about my colorful medical history background, I had made the appt with her to discuss my need to finally seek Disability Retirement from my 21yr career employment from the US Postal Service. Even my supervisors highly recommend that I go out on Medical Disability as my obvious declining health problems are adversely affecting my job performance; chronic tardiness as a result that I can’t even get up out of bed or much less move quickly enough to get myself to work on time; “failure to be regular in attendance, perform my certain job duties dubbed as “poor work performance” etc! Bottom Line: I KNOW I can no longer be in the regular work force because my health steadily continues to decompose, and I do not need to be wrecking my health even further and faster by trying to keep up with the things I clearly can no longer do.
The idiot(new) doctor I saw yesterday was adamant about refusing to support me in acquiring Disability Retirement and said, I quote “you just don’t meet the criteria for disability..I’m sorry, but you just don’t. There are so many people out there who legitimately need to be on disability and social security such as very over-weight people who aren’t as mobile as you are–after all, you got yourself here to this appt. without requiring aid or a wheelchair, etc” Needless to say, I was seething!! I asked her, “so in your opinion, what does a chronically ill and handicapped person supposed to “LOOK LIKE” to you?” Basically, she was telling ME that I wasn’t that bad off and the most she could do was give me a work acommidation letter. REALLY? So basically she was telling me by the looks of my outward appearance, that I wasn’t even close to being a candidate to file for Disability Retirement. Again, REALLY? Am I supposed to have a large tumor growing out of my ear, or 2 heads or look like my face and body was attacked and scarred-up by a pack of wolves?! Should I go out and get hit by a car and walk in there looking obviously mangled? Disabilities AND pain ARE OFTEN,if not always, obviously visible! and a GOOD doctor would recognize this!! As for me, look at my medical records charts which PROVE my bad prognosis’, blood tests,biopsies, surgeries, counless dr. visits, etc!! My medical record chart is NOT a typical chart; I’m on Volume3,which is also as thick as a phonebook just like Volumes 1 and 2!! OMFG!! AS IF I don’t already have sucky issues with my employer; the Postal Service who attacks and hounds me and my every move for being late due to chronic pain,etc. calling in sick, leaving work for dr. appts. Well YES YES YES…Kaiser has proven themselves at failing to provide me with even sub-adequate health care, and my employer..the USPS is just as bad. I’ve been associated with BOTH institutions for a very long time and I think both agencies should under-go the scrutiny of microscopic investigations! They FAIL people!! Unfortunately, both are highly recognized, demographically well-known associations. Yes, I’m thankful for a paycheck and for providing for my 2 sons (divorced/single mom) and having a decent paying job, especially in these rough economic times. Yet, I am admittedly & obviously a chronically ill, unhealthy person– a single mom of 2 sons and I NEED to be “PUT TO PASTURE” so I have a chance to live longer and pace my life around my sons and my relentless diseases and illnesses.
In Summary: KAISER PERMANENTE SUCKS SO BAD. Where I live, even the Yellow pages under Attorneys and Lawyers specialize SPECIFICALLY against medical malpractice for guess who?…KAISER patients!!!!
Believe me, if I had extra Money sitting around, I would go to a non-Kaiser doctor and pay out of pocket for proper, superior medical care and treatment…and then hire a lawyer against Kaiser’s nationwide negligence of proper adequate healthcare so me nor anyone else would have to suffer further heartache and loss over their disatisfactory, run-the-patients-thru-like-a herd-of-cattle, only to repeatedly return for MORE appts HEALTHCARE System!!!!!
Open-Season…I can’t wait for it to come. Even if the premiums cost more, it’ll be far more cost-effective and worth it in the long run compared to my thousands of hours and $$ wasted on Kaiser’s less than mediocre healthcare. Kaiser does NOT treat people with multiple or chronic ongoing health problems; they only give flu shots and prescribe cough medicine.
And that’s MY rant about Kaiser! -Karen
If you have any questions about Kaiser’s incompetance I suggest kaiserpapers.org
makes interesting reading
How does one sue Kaiser? How long of time do you have? Kaiser abused me for over foruteen years, I almost died because of the terriblr care I received, wrongful diagnoises,wrongful surgery,. Fourteen years of pure hell, and life lost. Still suffering from their mistakes. Have not been well since 1983, when the Kaiser nightmare began.
I can’t get any other healthcare mue to pr-existing conditions, created by improper care.
Paying 740.00 plus a month for nothing. I go to the Doc, to afraid too. I have lost all trust.
Regarding your ability to sue Kaiser you need to consult with an attorney.
There are options for people with pre-existing conditions through the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan provision of the Affordable Care Act. If you are eligible you can most likely get in for much less than $740/mo., but I believe you have to be uninsured for 6 months before you can sign up.
More info here:
http://www.healthcare.gov/law/provisions/preexisting/index.html
I believe the link below lists 2011 rates for the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. Might be a better alternative for those not receiving the proper care through Kaiser.
http://www.pcip.ca.gov/Publications/PCIP_Premiums.pdf
Out of curiosity, why even mess around with malpractice lawyers if none can take on your case? I mean, why not go directly to the CA Insurance Commissioner and the State Attorney General? The medical boards are useless. Seems to me that the insurance companies have made it so difficult for attorneys to recoup the funds invested in these cases (they have families to feed & mortgages, too), which means so many victims are left to suffer in silence. There must be some degree of protection still left, or have all regulations been torn down in Kaiser’s favor?
Forgot to mention that my link above for CA state PCIP premiums only. There are many states that have lower rates, as they’re run by the federal government. I don’t know why CA instituted their own, more expensive state-run PCIP program. Thoughts anyone?
Anyhoo, as mentioned in post #62, kaiserpapers.org is an interesting read. Particularly disturbing is the scan of Kaiser’s physician handbook: http://selfincrimination.kaiserpapers.org/pooldoc.html
Pretty sick stuff, if you ask me.
Scanned docs of legal filings against Kaiser can be found here: kaiserbadnews.com
Corrected link: http://www.kaiserbadnews.com/
What I just read is what I have been going thru for 3 years. Now I have to start from scratch jumping thru hoops. I am so sorry you went thru this as I know how u feel but with my experience I know for a fact reports have been changed I have seen the MRI and spoke to a friend in the medical field and cannot even get medication that helps my pain. I am treated differently here by them in Oregon because I have non member financial assistance thanks to their refusal to fill out paperwork for my job and then the Drs note they did on my condition got me fired from my job. And now I have had to file disability but they wont even look at the papers for my lawyers.
OMG I feel like I have been reading complaints written by me. The poor person with the shoulder problem and the many chronic pain sufferers could be me. I have had 6 knee surgeries with more needed and recently have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome. Note they are chronic pain conditions. I was sent to the pain mgmt program by my doctor. What hell that has been. I only saw a nurse practitioner and I never want to see her again. She told me there is no medical reason for me to be in so much pain that I am missing work. Her other comment was that I am too young to have the symptoms. Go figure. Guess I will go back home and come back in 20yrs eh? I was,on Darvocet for 4 yrs and Tylenol 4 for the last two. She said that since the codeine wasn’t working no other narcotics would. How does a pain mgmt program np not know that a body builds up tolerance after too long on a opiod. Hence the need for a stronger medicine. She also told me to provide her with scientific proof of that fact and the fact that narcotics work for chronic pain. Go figure…according to her narcotics don’t work for chronic pain. So what the hell are narcotics good for if not pain. She treated me so rudely and had me sobbing in tears. She made it seem as though their orientation classes and physical therapy were the answer. Well how the hell or why the hell would I do something that causes more pain when the medicine I am on does nothing to help me. Of course to hear her talk I should have no pain. Go figure…so attention all with Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain Syndrome you should not expect pain with your conditions or to be sick at all…certainly not to miss work, which is why the lovely Darlene at South Sacramento Kaiser’s Pain Mgmt Clinic would not give me a dr note for missing work. So I filed a grievance asking for stronger meds, a note for work, and an appt with Rheumatology. They only approved the appt request. Doctors I have never seen said that since 2 pain meds didn’t work no stronger ones would…the drs who said that were the Chief of Chronic Pain and the Chief of Medicine. So they too don’t know your body builds up tolerance?? Well I have til the end of Oct. to switch insurance and I will be doing so first thing Monday. Screw you Kaiser!
Take heart all you folks who want to sue Kaiser. After not being able to find a lawyer to take my case ( unfortunately, I lived… I didn’t die ) – I did it all by myself and WON a settlement!
No lawyers, no help and I am not a legal person… just one mad-as-hell patient who wasn’t gonna let it happen to ME. My Kaiser injury occurred in 2002 and by 2004, they settled. I let the facts speak for themselves.
Do your home work, follow through and refuse to be bullied, belittled or excused. Get all the free legal resource help you can and go after them! I did… and won. I may be going after them again, regarding a recent ER visit for my mother.
Even though my settlement was low… Kaiser paid! The biggest perk, however came from Kaiser’s own lawyer who said she had never seen a case like this win before… and with zero legal help. She said she was impressed and I felt vindicated.
I keep a copy of the settlement check as a reminder to NEVER accept one inch of crap from Kaiser or their current herd of idiots.
It CAN be … and has been done.
GO FOR IT!!!!
p.s. So sorry to all you folks who posted your horror stories… I wish I could help all of you! But.. hopefully knowing it has been done with NO lawyer… can give you inspiration. 🙂
NEVER give up and NEVER say “Die”
This is a transcript of the 1971 conversation between President Richard Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman that led to the HMO act of 1973:
John D. Ehrlichman: “On the … on the health business …”
President Nixon: “Yeah.”
Ehrlichman: “… we have now narrowed down the vice president’s problems on this thing to one issue and that is whether we should include these health maintenance organizations like Edgar Kaiser’s Permanente thing. The vice president just cannot see it. We tried 15 ways from Friday to explain it to him and then help him to understand it. He finally says, ‘Well, I don’t think they’ll work, but if the President thinks it’s a good idea, I’ll support him a hundred percent.’”
President Nixon: “Well, what’s … what’s the judgment?”
Ehrlichman: “Well, everybody else’s judgment very strongly is that we go with it.”
President Nixon: “All right.”
Ehrlichman: “And, uh, uh, he’s the one holdout that we have in the whole office.”
President Nixon: “Say that I … I … I’d tell him I have doubts about it, but I think that it’s, uh, now let me ask you, now you give me your judgment. You know I’m not to keen on any of these damn medical programs.”
Ehrlichman: “This, uh, let me, let me tell you how I am …”
President Nixon: [Unclear.]
Ehrlichman: “This … this is a …”
President Nixon: “I don’t [unclear] …”
Ehrlichman: “… private enterprise one.”
President Nixon: “Well, that appeals to me.”
Ehrlichman: “Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. And the reason that he can … the reason he can do it … I had Edgar Kaiser come in … talk to me about this and I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because …”
President Nixon: [Unclear.]
Ehrlichman: “… the less care they give them, the more money they make.”
President Nixon: “Fine.” [Unclear.]
Ehrlichman: [Unclear] “… and the incentives run the right way.”
President Nixon: “Not bad.”
Thanks Cindy Lu for your encouragement!! I’ve just begun my nightmare with Kaiser and I would truly appreciate some advice on how to go about the process by yourself. I too have been unable to find a lawyer to take my case so I will have to go it alone too….Please please, if you could guide me I would be eternally grateful….from one who has gone before to the next on the path….please help guide me!!
Vicky… first,refer to this, from a website. You don’t have to go to it, I’m just listing it for info purposes. It’s just one of the best “sound bytes” of info out there to explain the process to you guys.
(http://www.kaisermalpracticedoctorlawyer.com/Kaiser_Malpractice/Kaiser_Arbitration.aspx)
Here’s what it says, in part –
California Kaiser Arbitration Lawyer
Medical Malpractice Lawyer Dr. Bruce Fagel
If you are a Kaiser member, you may not be aware that Kaiser policy limits your options for recovery for injuries sustained due to medical malpractice. Kaiser Foundation and Kaiser Permanente include group health insurance policy provisions that prohibit policyholders from filing a civil lawsuit in court for medical malpractice. Consequently, arbitration is the only means a victim or his or her family can use to seek and recover financial compensation.
Arbitration is a legal term that refers to a form of alternative dispute resolution that seeks to resolve a dispute out of court. This system was originally abused a number of years ago in Kaiser malpractice claims and victims were treated unfairly. As a result, a system was set up to help ensure that a neutral arbitrator is chosen to oversee proceedings. A semi-independent administrator selects 12 names from a list of approximately 200 names of retired judges and attorneys in either Southern or Northern California. From that list, the defense attorney and the plaintiff’s (victim’s) attorney can strike four names each. The attorneys then rank the remaining eight names, and the arbitrator will be chosen from this list. Each side then has the ability to choose a party arbitrator, or may remain with the single arbitrator whose decision will be legally binding for both sides.
Statistics show that arbitration proceedings are often difficult for the plaintiff, as from 1999 to 2007 there were only 366 cases where a monetary award was given to the victim in a Kaiser malpractice case. The average award in these was approximately $500,000. There have been only seven instances where the arbitrator awarded in excess of $2 million to the plaintiff in a Kaiser malpractice case.
– – – – –
Here is a link to the OIA ( Office of the Independent Administrator )
http://www.oia-kaiserarb.com/
From there you will find instructions on what and how to do next.
—–
Basically, due to your membership in Kaiser, you can not sue them civilly – you must bring up ARBITRATION. Once you start the process, which starts with a demand letter to Kaiser, the office ( OIA ) will contact you next on where and what to do next.
Kaiser will summon you ( you will receive a court summons ) for a deposition or two, where they will ask you questions which are recorded. After the depositions are given ( the other side responds too ) the OIA will decide if you have a case. If you do, they will again, tell you how to proceed.
Once an arbitrator has picked up your case, the depositions are the main area from which info is pulled, at the arbitration meeting.
At the arbitration meeting, you will be in a conference room with the arbitrator, Kaiser’s lawyers and a recorder at a table. ( No court rooms )
Just have all your information together, timelines, list of damages, etc always available to you. Do your homework BEFORE the depositions and get as much of your side of the story, out at that time.
** Lawyers tip – walk into the deposition with just your shoes and clothes on and your documents. NO phones, purses, briefcase, or anything else. Once you bring an item into a deposition, it CAN BE open for investigation. Be smart, leave everything in the car or with a friend.
Request copies of all documents from Kaiser, regarding your case and go over them with a fine tooth comb yourself. Most of it will be “hospital-speak”… but you can always gain more info from having the documents, than not – you should be able to find something in THEIR records that may help you and your case.
GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE WHO TRIES THIS!!!
( was done in state of California, btw )
I’ll keep checking back, in case there are more questions.
Vicky, if I help you win, I will be eternally grateful that I was able to help you. 🙂
My name is Lawrence Bucher and like many who find themselves in the position of electing (choosing) from a multitude of providers in which Marriott (like many other corporation in CA) leaves employees and their spouses to select from, the best bang-for-the-buck was, without fail was KAISER PERMANENTE.
From the beginning; signing up and under the not-so user friendly and deeply disconnected routine of KP.ORG, the process from the word “go” I felt little other than a car going through a Jiffy Lube, being routinely asked questions like, “how many days a week do you work out” from the nurse with the glossed-over catatonic look on their face– which came from asking this routine question over and over again.
Indeed there was something missing. My story (upon request) was this first of many incidents which left me coming to a rather quick and disturbing conclusion: Kaiser’s business plan is to maximize the amount of patients doctor can see and to detour and cut expenses; deeper patient evaluation, scans, etc. KAISER PERMANENTE is little other than a classic case of a corporate push for market dominance/power and this push is made through many of the local corporation in the State of California and Kaiser members’ premium dollars ultimately pay for that corporate expansion.
And while there is no way to end KAISER PERMANENTE, we can however, as a community force a greater health care system to the surface, as opposed to what’s been brought to the surface through said corporate take-over: Another self serving Insurance company.
Please, if you or your spouse, or if you know someone with a not-so great story of a KAISER PERMANENTE or if you are simply tired of corporations who look out for their bottom line and in turn render employees with this not-so option of sub-standard Health care, please sign this petition.
KAISER PERMANENTE SHOULD NOT BE AN ELLECTIVE IN YOUR CORPORATION OR OTHERS~ Lawrence
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1197142/ http://www.facebook.com/Lawrence.Bucher
http://www.change.org/petitions/kaiser-permanente-not-for-profit-or-not-for-patients-end-corporate-push-for-market-dominance-of-kaiser-permanente
I had a very bad experiance with Kaiser my self. I took my son to DR. Scott Chiang Who is an ENT for breathing problem. He looked at me and told me that he could make my breathing better and could shave the hump I had on my nose and will make my tip a little narrower. He told me that the changes will be so minimal and no one will notice it. I end up with severly crooked nose, My tip is shifted to one side. My left nostril is almost gone. I got over 8 pumps all over my bridge. My nose is short and over projected. When I confronted my doctor about it he told me that they were all pre existing conditions. He insists that my nose was crooked before the surgery. I have lived with this nose for over 37 years one one including me ever noticed these issues about my nose. Instead of appoligizing he is making me think that it was not his fault and I was born like this. I hate dealing with this doctor. I called kaiser and complained about him. I asked to be sent to an outside kaiser doctor for a second opionion, but they cant see the problem. this experiance has changed me so much. I have been in deep depression for the past year.
Kaiser doctors are trained to deny responsibility for any problem. Never forget: they don’t work for you, the patient; they work for the health plan that pays them and their malpractice insurance premiums.
I have MS and have been having trouble getting the mental health care I need. In the past few years I have had a lot of losses in my life, including the progression of MS, with included mild diminished cognition.
A few weejs ago I found out my service dog in training turned up with a disability himself, I have been crying uncontrollably for days, after raising him for 10 months and practically killing myself in the process. At 70 pounds and a puppy, I finally had to give him up to my trainer. I’m also applying for SSDI and nothing but hassles, rudeness and lies for them. Nice way to treat disabled people.
I really need to see a counselor on a regular basis to work out these problems and serious problems from the past (family abuse for just one) that keeps surfaces now. They said they were short staffed and could only see me ONCE a month. I went through the complaint process, and of course everyone says the same thing, including the doctors, “The Psych department is short staffed and the counselor can no way see you once a week. She can see you once a month” So, I tried the once month approach. the counselor even had to cancel one month. so in 4 months I had 3 appointments. I finally told the counselor that this was not helping me -a once per month appointment, and again, “we are sorry, but we don’t have anymore time available” and so I told her this was wasting my time and gave up. Trying to work out my greif and depression on my own with drugs and books. I also complained to Kaiser and the same response, like a well rehearsed talking point, “we are sorry we are so short staffed.”
Here I am again, in the same place, desperately needing mental health care. The only thing they respond to is if you say you are thinking about killing yourself. But that only gets you ONE appointment or you can call a hot line. I think maybe they HAVE to respond to this, or they would not. When I ask my primary care doc -who is a pretty good doctor and caring person – he says lots of nice things to me and does not answer my question of WHERE is the care I am needing.
I went noticed I was being ignored, and the doctor began to authorize my medications too late, and when I’d miss a day of pills. I complained and the situation only got worse. I had Kaiser for only a few months, and began to get very high bills for treatment they gave me, then when it came to get the bulk of my treatment, they denied this to me. This would have got me better, but instead, the psychiatrist only delayed refills, tried to market me into many different groups, ignored my emails as if he thought I meant to seduce him: Nothing was even going on with me like this.
I was then told I was too unstable, which I wasn’t, for the DBT treatment!! I didn’t by this for a moment. I’ve quit kaiser. To heck with this stupid psychiatric system. Meanwhile, while I was in their IOP program, the behavorial workers on strike, making excuses that they are too stressed and being short with people needed emotional suppport – isn’t this strike similar to another one I read about in here. During this strike, my treatment basicallyl stopped, the doctor was out, and I couldn’t get my refills this time either. I’m told I’m addicted to one drug, which I wasn’t. All this bullshit. Never ending. I have depression. I believe this Kaiser was only marketing psych drugs more than it wanted to really treat and get better all these patients I saw suffering horribly from the medication. All these patients being fooled. Two were enticed into receiving electroshock. I worry what happened to them. Meanwhile, while the therapists are trying to counsel us in IOP, some of them just couldn’t contain their disapproval and lack of concern. I was out fast. i’m okay now., I’m a survivor of psychiatric abuse. No. I’m not really crazy at all. I just wanted emotional support, but never found it, and only found worse problems starting at Kaiser.
I had an appointment at Kaiser in Santa Ana on Macarther yesterday.. The ultra sounds tech, I wish I had gotten her name but oh well. She was Indian and extremely rude. I felt my visit extremely rushed, I felt very uncomfortable. I just had a mini surgery on my cervix so it’s been very sensitive. She puts the camera in me and it hurt a lot, I said “omg ow” She annoyingly replies “this feels like an ordinary cramp” giving me attitude for my pain? I looked at her like are you serious? Not even a “Sorry, did I hurt you?” Nothing I’m so bummed I didn’t get her name or complain that day to her manager but I will be retuning to this location only to do just that. Unfortunately I’m getting Kaiser from my father so I have no choice, but if I did I wouldn’t go back.
I’m quite amazed at the quantity of complaints here and all over the web re Kaiser, but even more at the amount of detail and many, many similarities from one to another. It’s also repeatedly suggested here that any complaints directly to Kaiser will likely result in modification of patient records to make the chart fit Kaiser’s own assertions (or lack of such.
Trying to fight this one by one is pretty darned difficult and probably will leave most complaining patients having little success in making it stick, and especially getting Kaiser to change how they deal with us.
However, there is one thing that might help: the formation of a nonprofit Kaiser Patients Alliance group. Open to all current and perhaps past Kaiser patients (and/or patients’ family, caregivers, life-partners/spouses, etc.) with a small suggested donation to join and small annual dues (but free to anyone who is unable to pay or chooses not to), in many ways like a union. It could organize and study Kaiser, act as a focal point for confronting and pressuring Kaiser in all it’s several forms to give far better professional care and respect for the patients who are Kaiser members. Once it would have a core of a few thousand members, it would have a presence and strength that would be hard for Kaiser administration, healthcare professionals, and office staff to ignore or repeatedly disrespect. One major advantage would that it would “have the back” of patients struggling to get good and consistent care from this lumbering behemoth. I’d be interested to see others comments here re this.
As patients, often times we are uneducated as to the dangers that lurk beneath the regular routine checkup. My story is a testament and an education lesson in one. I have decided to share with you, personal details into my medical conditions and history, as well as private email correspondences between myself and a few of my medical providers. I have done so, with the intentions on enlightening my readers into the thought process and lack of knowledge by providers that we often times entrust with our lives.
As a child, as far back as I can remember, I always had a huge protruding stomach. I always had abdominal issues such as loose stool and what I use to call a nervous stomach. Around the age of eleven I remember being told by a doctor that I had slight scoliosis, and I remember having troubles with my joints such as a dislocating patella. As a pre-teen I had intermittent and almost non existent menstrual periods, which followed me into adult hood.
All of this care, for each of these conditions was treated at Kaiser Permanente until I turned 23 years old, and I was terminated from my mother’s Health Insurance. I received paperwork to apply for my own insurance through Kaiser and to my surprise I was denied due to pre-existing conditions. BIG SHOCK!!!
I could not believe the Health Care provider that had taken what I thought was good care of me from pediatrics to adolescence young adulthood was refusing to allow me back into their group, or as what I would like to refer to as a CULT. There were no other options such as a higher rate due to the possible need for additional care, but simply no because I was already sick, or as what they refer to as pre existing conditions. I was hurt to say the least and in 2001 I began employment with a Medical Foundation, as a Medical Records Technician. This was my first job in Health Care, and gave me my first insight to the medical world. This was at the time when all of the new Medications had just hit the scene and Doctors were giving out free samples like candy. The Lipitor’s, Nexium and the Paxil’s and all those drugs hit the scene. The “Drug Reps” would come into the Medical Centers and schmooze the Doctors and their staff with lavish lunches and all types of trinky office supplies with their logo on it,, such as pens, clipboards, post its, notepads, etc .
One weekend some friends and I got together and celebrated a friend’s birthday. We were drinking jello shooters, and for the next couple of days I had severe abdominal pain, in the upper right side of my “large” abdomen. Be it that I worked at a medical center, on that Monday I saw my PCP while at work and she ran some blood tests and to my surprise I learned that my liver enzymes were elevated. Because I worked in the Health Plans Medical Records department, I had gained intelligence on the importance of my past medical history and records, and I therefore requested my complete medical history for Kaiser Permanente, and when they arrived, both to my and my Doctor’s surprise, my liver enzymes had always been elevated, as lab tests had suggested as early as 1995.
While a Kaiser Member, my mother had NEVER once been told that I possibly had a liver condition, nor was I ever referred to a specialist, nor was any necessary tests other than labs done to probe deeper into what potentially ended up being “Primary Bilialary Cirrhosis (PBC)”. While under the care of my new Doctor’s I had been referred to a Gastroenterologist (GI), who ordered a complete liver panel, as well as everything from an MRI to a liver biopsy, to a referral to the Head of Hepatology at Cedar Sainai Hospital in Beverly Hills California, who in 2001 diagnosed me with early stages of PBC.
In 2002 I moved to the Bay Area from Southern California, with my complete medical record history in hand. I remember having Pacific Care through a company I worked for, and I chose to see a Gastroenterologist in Berkeley, ca. Now I selected this Doctor for all of the wrong reason, because he like myself was African American, however after my initial consultation with this man and before he could review my past records, he looked me square in my eye and told me, “you don’t have PBC, you are too young to have PBC, you look fine”. At that time I suggested that he review my past records, and I made a follow up visit. When I returned, this physician sat me down, looked me in my eyes again and said to me sympathetically, “you have primary bililary cirrhosis”. That was the first time I noticed that my condition would not be taken seriously, based on my age and physical appearance. It also should have taught me that, you cannot select a doctor based on race, but that lesson unfortunately had to come later on.
In 2006 I became employed with the Health Plan that had mis and undiagnosed me for all of my pediatric in to young adult life, Kaiser Permanente. I was hired into the Plans Grievance department, where I initially started off as a clerk, but was later promoted to a “Senior Case Manager”, where I was responsible for resolving patient complaints and requests. When I started working for the Health Plan, I was so excited as I had went from making less than $30, 000 per year at my prior job. My salary beginning at Kaiser was $44, 000 until i was promoted in 3 short months, and offered 54,000 annually. That was a significant pay jump, and for that amount of money, I sold my soul. At the time I had no idea that I would turn into an emotionless, robot, processing case after case for dissatisfied Health Plan members.
The training that I received, to process these Grievances was minimal to say the least, and before I knew it I had member’s lives in my hands. Who am I? I’m a member myself.
As a “Senior Case Manager” I processed Grievances and Requests for the Health Plan from everything to reimbursement of a copayment, to the request of an MRI, to the request of monetary compensation for the loss of a member’s life. Grievances/Requests are inputted into Kaisers Grievance system, and cases are distributed to the Sr. and Case Manager’s. All non-medicare members are afforded a 30 day grievance process, as explained in their long confusing Evidence of Coverage (EOC), 15 days during the initial Grievance and 15 days during the automatic Appeal (I think that has since changed). I was then responsible for sending the member an “Acknowledgement” letter, informing them that I had received their request, and I then informed the member’s of their rights under their Health Plan and our our Regulators this letter had to be sent out within 5 days of receipt of their initial allegation. Each letter that we used was pre-typed, and we were to fill in the necessary information to fit the member’s request. I then had to investigate the member’s request by, sending an email to the department head requesting information pertaining to the member’s complaint. Unfortunately for our member’s we could not ask the respondent to directly comment on any issue that may cause the Health Plan to admit any wrong doing. Once my investigation was complete, I then had to send the member another form letter informing them why we denied or approved their request. In that letter we also explained to the member that their case will be reviewed at an appeal level, and they would receive a “Resolution letter” once the final decision has been made. I would then have another 15 days to investigate, the member’s concern. Once a final decision is made, another “Resolution Letter” was mailed to the member informing them of the Health Plans decision, and there additional rights.
Sounds pretty straight forward right? Wrong! Because our department does not work on weekends, we lose out on 4 days during the initial Grievance, and 4 days during the automatic Appeal. The loss of days hindered my investigation often times, and was not fair to the members. Often times our investigations were not complete, and due to strict time constraints we would make the decision to deny a member’s request based strictly on the member’s Evidence of Coverage and not the individual patient’s needs.
Members have told me, “I don’t want Kaiser, I didn’t have a choice!”, or “soon as open enrollment comes around I’m switching insurance carriers” and when I left Kaiser in 2000 I vowed, due to my undiagnosed condition, of primary bililary cirrhosis, that I would never again trust this company with my life.
It has been my observation that the decisions making to more often times deny member’s requests, than approve is based on the lack of compassion, the lack of training and resources, and the lack of adequate staff, hence poor research and rushed decisions. These poor members put their health/lives in our hands, and we would string member’s along through our rigorous and complex Grievance process, sending them form letter after confusing form letter, which causes most member to give up and lose out on a benefit they probably should receive.
For more of my story, please read my blog http://mykptruth.wordpress.com/
I am an ex-employee and current member of Kaiser Permanente…and I created this blog to tell my truth as a patient and one time “Patient Advocate”.
http://mykptruth.wordpress.com/
Jae~
why kaiser try to double charge costumers
1. keep sending you statement for what is paid up front at checking desk.
2.make you to see any provider while he is certainly refer to a specialist,the matter of time and double visit pay even on the same day.
3.your provider never has a time to see you so you better to book random or regular unwanted appointments there may one of them match your need.this is only solution for kaiser members,hopefully.
I am surprised at Kaiser peramente Hawaii, it seems that customer present and pass have mentioned that there factory doctors are from the University of Hawaii whom graduate and work here. The crux of the problem is a two fold need of a job and greed of money. The word of profession conduct is not in there doctors oath of do no harm. Harm is the way out for a cover-up of a non-profit, tax creation enterprise for a great rich physician whom have no quality control on care, responsible, dedicated service, and adherence to act in the best interest of we the patient. Founder Henry J. Kaiser would (1957) would turn in his grave if he knew of all these blunders by these professional doctors here
If you are a Ada, tittle II of the american with disablilities should have a federal representative to assist you. complaining is of no recourse for establishing a stop action against a wrong unlawful act by a professional (so called) physician for wrongful, willing misconduct, report this act to the state license bureau. This would definitely would place an investigative team to cease and decease the doctor from future blunders. I have two professional but no one has filed a claim against me. Think about a noisy wheel that need to be reported. HOSPITALS are INSURANCE they to registered to the state regulation board. god bless the patient whom have suffered.
I stumbled across this website by accident after I had my own preliminary dealings with Kaiser that left a bad taste in my mouth. My husband and I both live in Northern Calif.(Santa Rosa area); my husband is already in traditional Medicare, with a Medigap policy, separate pharmacy plan, etc. and I will be eligible for Medicare in a few years. I was researching plans and Kaiser was given a 5 star, top-rating for it’s Senior Advantage, HMO plan. By this, I mean that Medicare lists it as one of the top providers in the entire United States! We received some glossy promotional literature that played up all the features.
However, when I called Kaiser to really get some substantial information and sign up for seminar overview (to enroll in Kaiser), I was stymied at every turn. The phone number given to me by Kaiser, never returned my calls: I was left on perpetual hold. I then tried to get my husband and I into the overview seminar and was told that I couldn’t attend since I was not within 3 months of turning 65! The lady who informed me of this wanted all kinds of personal information–just to attend a seminar about Kaiser! I was a potential customer! I then went to their website and found there was really no way to leave an email message without offering quite a bit of personal information and I knew phone calls were not being returned. All of this difficulty made me think twice. If it was this difficult getting some real preliminary information–what would it be like if my husband enrolled and we had a complicated issue?
I am a degreed (two graduate degrees) Academic Reference and Research Librarian, with years of experience–and I couldn’t crack some real basic information I wanted about Kaiser! Needless to say, this rasied some real red flags. Then I happened to stumble upon your website! Thank goodness! But I am now appalled by what I am reading–and I thank all of you for perhaps helping my husband and I dodge a bullet! We are having real second thoughts about moving his health care to Kaiser HMO Senior Advantage.
I was beginning to have some concerns about Kaiser (we live in the Santa Rosa area) when I talked to several neighbors who were in the Kaiser HMO. Any specialized surgery had to be done out of the area–and patients were going to San Francisco and the bay area south. I understand that a smaller population like Sonoma County would not support specialists, but it seemed to me there was a pattern of trying to treat locally till things got too complicated, then people were being shipped out. This disturbed me. Also, in the cases I heard about, a number of the patients ultimately died. I don’t know all the details, but I was a bit alarmed.
Lastly, the compensation issue for doctors is raising a real red flag. Can anyone explain how the compensation of Kaiser’s doctors work with the Senior Advantage HMO? Evidently we pay premiums, etc then the government reimburses Kaiser for our care as well. It was very disturbing to read the post by the lady who was a trained coder (for medical conditons) and the allegation that coding got ramped up so that the government might be paying for conditions, treatments, etc. that might not have occured. Very troubling. Also, the consistent reporting here that medical records were conveniently “erased” or “edited,” etc. is a real cause for alarm. I have dealt with insurance issues for 40 years for my family and I have had to fight several cases, every step of the way. Information is power. I have no desire to do this again if something goes awry with Kaiser. It sounds like the odds are stacked completely against the patient. The binding arbitration clause, if something goes wrong, without the possibility of a civil lawsuit (maybe criminal, from what I’m reading!) is another huge cause for alarm. I have read so many overviews of arbitration–and the odds of a consumer winning at these boards is only a small percentage.
Thanks to all of you. Bless you.
Sincerely, S. Phil
Anyway, we just made a decision. We will both stick with our present providers. We will not be going with Kaiser. Thanks again to all of you.
good for you
obama care and kaiser medicare policy bor the elderly, notice that there doctors are against seniors, the old commercial of we threat you like family, and thrive is a good way to great a raise for there working staff. The closure of clinics and discharge of registered nurses is the wrong venue. Get rid of these doctors whom have criminal records, you know this can be done on pip website. These varmints are killers!!!!
The only thing KAISER cares about is money. I have a Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator, (ICD) from St Jude Medical. This device has been identified as having a defective lead which makes it virtually useless. I have been a member at KAISER for more than 15 years. My wife past away in 2012 and I lost my coverage along with half of my income. The device was implanted in 2011 and it was shortly after this that I was informed of the defect and told that I would have to be monitored closely to make sure that everything was working properly. After my coverage stopped so did KAISERS concern about my condition. They refuse to take any responsibility for this mess and have instead put it on me to get medical care “elsewhere”. I am currently seeking legal help to get KAISER to accept responsibility for this. I am not asking for money, just the follow up care that they said was critical to make sure the device is working. As I did not build the thing or do the implant How does this fall totally on me?
My and my wife’s issues with Kaiser are too lengthy for this board, and would serve little purpose. Suffice it to say they nearly killed my mother-in-law (thankfully my wife has power of attorney), severely exacerbated my wife’s fibromyalsia to the point where she can no longer work, led to my development of Atrial Fibrillation (which they still deny exists), and wrongfully terminated me from my work’s health plan. Fortunately, my wife and I started the company which carries the health plan, and I am the one in charge of deciding what plans we offer. Once our current contract with Kaiser is up, I will NOT be renewing it. I have heard horror stories from everyone I have ever known who had Kaiser coverage and I will no longer subject my employees to these hacks.
To whom it address;
I am a member but it seems that two doctors have let me be on my own they did not file reports,nor any medications that I need be provided. This kind of activity of why does a physician have the right to make rules as to recording of office visits and why I visited the Kaiser Pernamente website to confirm the rules. I wonder if the two party system is applied of the one party. The reason for recording is for my benefit since I have a memory problem and my father had Alzheimer. There are times when I cannot remember where I place my keys, or my car, but I make sure I wipe my rear when I use the restroom. The reason why your laws on your site was check before use of a recorder. Federal laws state clearly that a no recording of office visits be posted.
here’s a fun one- i’m an ex K employee. i was attacked by a crazy co-worker at kiaser panorama city and injured. when i went to hr they covered it up. when i went to the police i was fired. the administer (Dr. John LaComb Ph.D.* degree also phoney * ) that railroaded me out on phoney charges recently settled out of court on a sexual harassment law suit, and last year lost a wrongful termination case among others. but kaiser keeps him there even though they know damn well he is embezzling them with false credentials. not even college grad until he mailed away for a diploma. of course they couldn’t have pulled it off w/o another bunch of crooks called seiu – kaiser so cal is corrupt but thick with good old boys. it’s hard to believe but it’s all true.
An importance notice to all work related injuries, co not seek kaiser permanete Hawaii assistance there have been cases injured workers with gang green and others that have had a coronary episode that never received an angio-gram or related service. Kaiser is not familiar with any hawaii laws and protocol treatment and report filings properly. If you have a cold or diarrhea go there, but a work related injury, forget about professional and proper protocol to address HRS 386.
People, if you are not already doing so, use the kaiser website’s messaging center to ask for help, or to report a situation. Use *short*, to- the-point messages to the doctor such as “this (name situation) is happening to me, and I need you to (name your need). Compile your evidence and print it. Never lose your cool and always make suggestions. Get full copies of your medical records yearly if you have time. Always make a report of your needs to your member service department. Get names of workers you speak to on the phone and note the times of the calls. Ask politely that your needs be met, it works better to be politely assertive. Record your conversations if you need to. Remember you are allowed to change doctors at Kaiser at any time without giving a reason. The Kaiser site explains that they agree you should have physicians you are comfortable with. Hold them to that promise. Keep trying if you are healthy enough to persist, but realize that Arbitration is unfair at this time in history. I tried that myself and you all are all correct when you state that you feel that way. *Please* make things better by joining forces with organizations that are fighting forced arbitration. Be part of the cure. I have been with Kaiser since 1986 and honestly, I’ve had bad experiences with care, some serious. Also have seen many mistakes with my loved ones. I stay with Kaiser because I would like to see it change and see them set an example. Thank you all for taking the time to document your situations. It grieves me that our country cannot provide better care for everyone. and bless you for expressing your views. Keep doing that, its important, and pray that others down the line are given the help they need because your stories *do* matter.
I had my own bad experience with Kaiser at the San Marcos facility in Northern San Diego County. I was given an OB/GYN appointment with Dr. Michael D. Manley. Wow, talk about a quack! I seriously do not know how this physician was able to evade suspicion by KP and the State of California medical board. This man is mentally ill in all true sense of the word! Scary! He acted inappropriately during a gynecological exam. I should have complained but there wasn’t another witness in the exam room and it would have been a he said/she said. Besides even if the State of California had been notified, he would have gotten a slap on the wrist like other scumbag doctors that commit unprofessional acts.
I have not seen this posted yet, but it happened to me: Kaiser takes out Restraining Orders against members who file too many grievances. especially after you win a grievance. Technically, it is illegal for a corporation to obtain an RO against an individual, so Kaiser pays employees, who are not licensed health care professionals, to perjure themselves & allege that the very calls you made while pursuing a legitimate grievance are “stalking” & “harassment”. Although a single employee is the named plaintiff, the traffic court [no kidding] judge is asked to extend it to “All Kaiser Permanente Employees”, which makes all further legitimate use of the health plan CONTEMPT of COURT! When I showed up in court to answer the contempt charge, I was in line behind another patient so charged. Only he was too bedridden to be there in person, so his wife was there to answer for him. Same prosecuting law firm, but 2 different Kaiser locations. This is an appalling Abuse of Process by Kaiser’s law firm, Buty & Curliano. Some consumer advocate should investigate & stop this.
“WHAT A MESS.”–surgeon’s name withheld out of respect for his privacy.
Surgeons don’t make a habit of volunteering negative remarks about the handy-work of their fellow surgeons, but, “what a mess” was the exact phrase uttered by my mother’s second surgeon, a terrific Kaiser doctor in Los Angeles, to describe what he saw in the CT scan he ordered on my mother (whose identity won’t be disclosed either). Mom had beaten Colon Cancer in 2011, but the MESS her first Kaiser surgeon (Dr. Diana Cheng-Robles–I have NO problem disclosing her name) left behind caused insurmountable medical problems that could no longer be ignored.
Despite agonizing neuropathy and post-op setbacks (which appeared soon after her initial surgery in May of 2011, necessitating another surgical procedure by Dr. Cheng-Robles to repair Mom’s mangled intestines—a procedure that failed to produce the desired result), my indomitable mother powered through it all and achieved a remarkably high level of vitality—unraveling colon, prolapsing intestines, and excessive rectal bleeding notwithstanding. She even reached her goal of resuming her 2-miles-per-day walking schedule (my parents have always been health nuts who walked several times a day and grew their own produce in the backyard). She went in for that third surgery with the new surgeon to have her insides repaired once and for all. She opted for the seemingly straightforward procedure so that her intestines would stop spilling out of the hole in her side. She also wanted to eliminate the need to change the sanitary pads (for her rectal bleeding) 10 times a day. She was far too active and young at heart to continue living like that.
Mom was admitted in December of 2012, and the corrective surgery was a success; however, 2 days later, she aspirated gastric contents into her lungs and sustained chemical pneumonia, which nearly killed her then and there. The subsequent parade of ghastly medical crises that struck my mother is truly shocking and mind-boggling. Here are just a few of the never-ending ordeals that Mom endured on her 5 ½ month-long descent into Hell: cardiac arrest, pulmonary embolism (after which somebody performed surgery to insert a filter device near her heart), stroke, pneumothorax that required the painful insertion of a chest tube, a massive seizure (during which she bit down on the mouthpiece of the respirator and cracked a front tooth, which had to be pulled the next day), wildly fluctuating respiratory and blood sugar levels, kidney failure, small bowel blockage, improperly inserted PEG tube (which damaged the nerves in her stomach; had she survived, she wouldn’t have been able to eat—ever again), medication-induced memory loss, infected and forgotten tracheotomy incision when she had to go back on the respirator, malnutrition, and countless surgeries to correct the Kaiser-caused calamities—ALL of which could have been avoided with proper post-op monitoring.
Mom’s life (and my father’s) became an excruciating nightmare, and she was aware and conscious through much of it. Kaiser moved her from one department or ward to another and then another (about 10 transfers in all, including an ill-conceived and brief stint at Antelope Valley Rehab Center, where she suffered the pneumothorax; she was far too unstable for rehab, but Kaiser transferred her to Antelope Valley because they needed her ICU bed), and each time they moved her, each new crew of nurses screwed things up, triggering additional impediments to Mom’s recovery. Because of her inability to speak, she kept looking at Dad and mouthing the words, “Take me home.” It broke his heart.
An avalanche of ineptitude rolled down upon my feisty and sweet mother, each catastrophic surge coming in quicker waves than those that had knocked her down previously. Unable to recover from the unrelenting onslaught, Mom lost her battle with Kaiser (not colon cancer, mind you) and passed away on her 75th Birthday.
During the awful months Mom spent wasting away in Kaiser Hospital, Dad drove 2 ½ hours for 150 miles—EACH WAY—every day, to visit his precious wife. When that became too draining and expensive for a 77-year-old war Veteran on a fixed income (it cost him about $1,200 per month in gasoline bills), Dad began traveling to the hospital every other morning, and spent those nights in a chair next to her bed, near all of the machines and monitors. Alas, on the last day of Mom’s life, Dad rushed headlong down multiple freeway systems, crossed several counties, wove through the streets of Los Angeles, and staggered into Kaiser Hospital, at 9:00 in the morning, only to discover that his angel had died an hour before he arrived.
Mom’s death certificate lists several causes of death (and other significant contributing maladies, none of which were present when she was cleared for the surgery in December of 2012). These official causes are: Sepsis, Multi-organ Failure, Candida Urinary Tract Infection, and Pseudomonas Pneumonia. The “Other Significant Causes” are: Atrial Fibrillation, Vent Dependent Respiratory Failure, Small Bowel Obstruction, Hypothyroidism, Stage III Kidney Disease, Malnutrition, and Anemia (again, she suffered from NONE of these conditions when she underwent surgery).
Incidentally, Mom’s female antecedents (mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother) lived well into their 90s. These ladies all spent their lifetimes consuming bacon, lard, eggs, butter, fried meats, and all kinds of unhealthy garbage that mom wouldn’t touch…you get the idea. Had it not been for the KAISER DEATH MACHINE, my mom would have lived and flourished for at least another 20 years. And my father’s beautiful spirit would not have been shattered beyond repair.
WHEN IS SOMEBODY GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT KAISER? (cricket…cricket…cricket…I guess it’ll never change. Kaiser is too powerful *sigh*)
I am too a former employee and patient of Kaiser Permanente’, and sadly i can say that this HMO is horrible, they have lied to the federal government to get money and their physicians do not really care about their patients or staff. They conspire with SEIU so any employee complaints are not dealt with and/or covered up, hoping they can blame the employee and fire them or coerce them into quitting. Sadly even though i have filed reports to such agencies as the AMA, AORN, the Board of Health and many others, i have seen no action taken by our govenment or authorities to change or correct any of these errors, or provide compensation to offended parties. I will be filing many complaints against certain professionals via consumer affairs, and any other organizations that might influence better regulation, and last of all, after many years, i am changing careers, as healthcare is not the paragon of greatness that many say it is in this country.
I’ve been a Kaiser member for over 15 years and I am still alive. However I can tell you from experience there is almost nothing that Kaiser does that they get right the first time. Even now in 2013 when I call (for any reason)Kaiser, even though their own patient bill of rights says specifically that any member is entitled to know the identity of the
Kaiser employee they are talking to, 90% of the time it goes like this. “My name is Debbie and I am the only Debbie that works for Kaiser so you know who I am. Then I insist and wind up at member services complaining. This is a security issue, they use Social Security numbers in their files and if I don’t know who I am talking to I can not proceed and instead of medical care I spend hours with my blood pressure peaked, angry and ready to kill. KAISER CAN GO TO THE HELL WITH BARS, YES, MOST OF THEIR EMPLOYEES BELONG IN A PRIVATELY OWNED (FOR PROFIT) PRISON. If i continue writing I will need a real non-kaiser doctor for rage and disgust. Kaiser is better than no medical care, but don’t close your eyes or stop paying attention, they can kill you out of neglect and ignorance. The only way to come out alive is to treat everyone at Kaiser (yeah most doctors too) the way you would look after and guide a new non-toilet trained, blind and deaf 6 day old puppy! Good doctors are incredibly over worked, incompetent doctors work full days doing as much damage as they can all while pretending to be unaware of anything except those rare occasions when they get it right (rare is an understantment!!!!!!!!!!!)
is this really happening? I sit in awe I know my 55yr. old daughter has been ignored I was hoping it was not true now I begin to guestion the situation thanks for the eye opener
I was sent from KP Fresno to KP Redwood City for a brain angiogram. WHAT A JOKE…Dr. Chen Cardio…pompous arrogant jackass and worthless, looked at arm scar(cabbage artery harvest) and said whats that scar for??? Did u have carpal tunnel??? Dirty discusting totally inept institution filled with worthless doctors and most of staff!!! Oh and my brain angiogram!!! Frigging machine locked up quit…so Dr. and nurses went on coffee break leaving me ALONE on table while mechanic worked on it, yelled out “get in here” when my femoral artery blew out the tube and sprayed blood all over…what a frigging joke…never so glad to leave in my life…wife got pissed and told them off and took wheel chair put me in it and out the door we went
I was attacked by a dog and was assigned a “doctor” randomly. I use quotes because she is not a competent human being. She fasly accused me of taking a medication that was not prescribed. The medication hydrocodon, which she did prescribe, metabolizes into the drug hydromorphone. I was called a drug addict.
Any pharmacologist can tell that she made an error. I filed a medical grievance against Dr. Savage and Kaiser is trying to sweep this tremendous error under the rug.
My trust was stolen along with proper medical care. I am still recovering from the dog attack and the stress that Kaiser has caused me has taken a toll on my health. It is despicable to me that this sort of treatment by a facility like Kaiser exists.
I can see I am not the only one who’s life has been turned upside down at the hands of an incompetent “doctor”.
I have been a Kaiser member for almost 30 years and I have been very pleased with the care I have gotten at San Rafael and Woodland Hills but recently I moved to Colorado and it is completely different here. Since I rejoined (I had been a member here for 5 years before but never got sick and never needed more than fairly lite medicine.
I moved back to Boulder last Spring and and it has been a tooth and nail fight for any little thing. Took me forever to get a primary care doctor. In fact it took months to sign up. It is as if they do not want new members. The online information is all wrong and they don’t pay any attention to it nor do they up date their online marketing propaganda. Some how we are supposed to find a woman who signs us up. She is not listing any place so I don’t know how we are supposed to find her. When I asked at Kaiser they gave the name of a man who does not sign up Kaiser members. Then I did get signed up but could not find a primary care doc. This is all completely opposite of my CA experience. Finally found a doctor and I like her a lot but she does not seem to understand how other departments work. I needed to see a plastic surgeon because of a cheek implant done 17 years ago was slipping down my face and is almost cutting through my lower cheek. It hurts and has caused permanent bruising. So I called Plastic Surgery only to find out they have a real bad attitude towards anyone who has had cosmetic surgery as if we are careless and to quote one nurse “irresponsible’ people. I know Kaiser does not do plastic surgery but two Kaiser docs in California offered to take it out for me. At the time It did not need removing bu tnow it does. This is NOT COSMETIC but Kaiser without seeing me, never saw a doctor because across teh board they told me they would not do anything and I had to go to an outside plastic surgeon. My financial situation has changed radically and my only income is now Social Security so I told them I cannot afford an outside doctor. The not listening to a thing I said on the phone all day, one of the doctors, said he would not do anything but I could get an appointment with him and pay $55.00 so he could tell me to my face he would not do anything but would refer me to an outside doctor. I could not believe what theya re saying. SO ia asked to talk to the doctor but was told – oh no he doesn’t talk to patients. I was stunned. Not only did they ‘diagnose me over the phone without ever seeing me they referred me to a clinic 30 miles from my home so I couldn’t possibly use them – One need transportation to and from the clinic. I am new here so I don’t know anyone to ask and they offered a paid transportation service to drive me about 60 miles. None of the KAISER PEOPLE HEARD A WORD I SAID. I AM NOW AFRAID OF KAISER COLORADO AND I CANNOT AFFORD ANYTHING BETTER. It is true the United States has the worse medical care in the world. For years I thought Kaiser was great and in CA they were for me but now I know Kaiser is really good if you don’t get sick but if you have something unusual they won’t help. But diagnosing over the phone is just BAD MEDICINE, BAD HEALTH CARE POLICY. In Colorado the patients comes last and they docs are number one important persons. But they are not. They are just training mechanics. I have doctors in my family and some of them are drunken careless docs but their patients don’t know that. Same with all docs. They are just human beings who made mistakes but because the AMA raised their status to godlike they really believe they are special. But we have no choice but to put our lives in the hands of some very bad docs. Diagnosing a patient over the phone is just plain unacceptable. DEciding not to help when they have not even seen the patient is very scary and backward. And the nurses gave some very bad advice – if you get an infection just get antibiotics. What!!!Have they not had their medical knowledge updated in 30 years. We now know it is not good to take antibiotics for every little thing. I am very disgusted with Kaiser Health care in Colorado.
All I know is I has top care in CAliformia but Colorado is definitely
I just want to add. I don’t know what to do. I had no idea Kaiser was so black and white in their policies but they are. Suddenly no hormones for women – across the board. Have they not read the latest results from the big Women’s Health Collective research. It sounds as if Kaiser makes its decisions by journalistic writing not good medical research. I never knew that before. I studied Heath Care policy and analysis in Graduate school. Never were we taught taht One size fits all but Kaiser of Colorado has that exact policy for many things. It is obvious to me that many decisions are made for liability reasons and not good patient care.
Oh well, I am stuck. Where else can I get cheap medical care in the US> And another egregious thing they do in CO is to create a hierarchy by creating three tiers of patients. The lowest if the ‘CORE’ member, then there is the Silver members who pay a monthly fee of $48 and then there is the GOLD member who pay $191 a month. AS far as I can see this completely ruins the spirit of Kaiser which was so good in my CA areas. First of all the member who pays $191 get anything except few discounts which would never add up to $2292 a year. This is entirely opposed to what Medicare is supposed to me. Kaiser set up this bogus hierarchy perhaps to grab more money from patients who are lead to believe they are getitng better care. They are not. On the other hand maybe they are but it’s not written policy just they way it’s done. So again Kaiser opposes the intention of LBJ’s Medicare by giving different tiers of medicine to those who agree or can afford to pay more. In CA no one a monthly fee and we were all treated equally. They only different was luck of the draw – e.i if you chose a good doc you got better care – if you got a jerk sorry but how could be know until it is too late.
Regarding the post about Kaiser taking out Restraining Orders against members who file too many grievances:
Please file a complaint with the Dep’t of Managed Health Services if you genuinely feel this is an attempt to retaliate against you for filing grievances and if there is any kind of perjury whatsoever. The long-term consequences of a restraining order are serious and go way beyond health care coverage. This might be a new Kaiser trick to weed out any “undesirables” from all the new ObamaCare enrollees they’re about to get. It needs to get addressed for everyone’s sake and pretty much only the DMHC can make Kaiser stop.
I posting because I am in a very similar situation: An individual KP employee (Security Director) has “independently” filed a Request For Restraining Order against me claiming “severe emotional distress” and supporting this with claims that I have threatened him. I am in the process of defending this claim and can ensure you that although I have been very angry with the treatment I’ve received and have filed several grievances relating to this, I have certainly never threatened this person with anything more than a complaint about his conduct. To file a claim in court that I have physically threatened him is outrageous and irresponsible, but KP is supporting the employee’s claim by providing their litigation firm, Buty & Culiano, to represent him and obviously cover all legal costs.
Interesting thing is that the Temporary Restraining Order request was filed after I informed several Kaiser employees that I had contacted the DMHC about investigating the employee misconduct and referral grievances I had made and intended to make a formal complaint on these issues. I’m quite sure that filing the restraining order is a crafty pre-emptive move of legal intimidation and to diminish my character when I do file. After all, the Buty & Curliano web site boasts that they “identify, contain, and when possible avoid litigation that can become a long-term concern to a client”.
I can tell you that dealing with this legal issue on my own has definitely put a burden on my life that has delayed my filing a thorough complaint with the DMHC. Regrettably, I’m sure this was the desired consequence that the KP employees and management had in allowing and assisting the employee’s court request to happen. To further complicate things, KP has repeatedly thwarted my attempts at getting the specific documentation I’ve originally requested in order to file my DMHC complaint or have requested numerous times since in order to defend myself in court against the harassment claims that their employee has made.
That’s right… they are denying me access to the very information that their employee apparently has freely accessed to supposedly support his claims. I was told by KP that I would need to get a lawyer to address this since it now involves a court matter. I am of limited financial means so I’ve been trying to figure my way through this without professional legal help. This is NOT very comforting, especially when I’m already struggling with months of health issues, lost work, etc. As told to me, KP’s stance on providing any assistance in clearing this up is that the legal matter is between two individuals and not the HMO (even though it’s KP’s litigation firm representing him).
I certainly never wanted to fight with my health care provider and I can say that I’ve met some dedicated and professional doctors, nurses, and support personnel in the Kaiser system. It’s been a rough road, but as of late I have been able to get some of the care I’ve been needing to get well. I had to go through months of delays in receiving care, and I finally ended up travelling to a new hospital to start over with new doctors (but that’s another story). Ironically, I doubt I will finish the required care I need before the end of the year, so of course I will have to start at $0 on a new year’s deductible and find new doctors outside the KP system to complete my care. I will probably go without health coverage for the first few months so that I can save for the out-of-pocket costs I will have to cover. Got my fingers crossed on that one, but as a self-employed business owner I’ve been there before.
I would say the source of the lack of compassion and abusive actions that are addressed in this site come from the administration side of the HMO giant. My further opinion from experience is that, with Kaiser, if you become a problem you’re taking up resources, and if you’re doing that you are not profitable. Kaiser Permanente will drive you out or make you pay dearly for staying.
Looking back, I can’t believe how bad this situation has gotten how long it’s been drawn out. I can’t express enough how regretful I am in having gone with Kaiser for my health care coverage.
For my own protection (KP legal!!), I would just like to add that this post is based on my personal experience and my purpose for making it is to share with other people what they might experience with Kaiser and also in hopes that a collective of these types of issues being shared might somehow lead to positive changes in Kaisers policies and treatment of its many members.
Thanks for reading this far. I miss my old private practice doctor. 😉
Good luck and good health to all.
p.s. Allison Janney; I don’t like you any more. 😉
We were idiots we realize now!!
Me and my wife is very disappointed with their services of
kaiser………..kaiser is only for healthy people. My wife has a heart condition that
requires her to see a cardiologist, we have been with kaiser for over a year and she
has never seen one. they sent her to see a psychologist instead.
I have only had KP for about 2 years and at first I was happy with it, but over the last year I have noticed what exactly people are talking about. When my friend at work said KP “let her husband die” I didn’t understand. Now- after going to the doctor for the same illness about 3 times and not being treated, I understand. My wife, was recently in the ER at Legacy (we live closer to there and it was 2 am) and ultimately diagnosed with a intestinal block. This is something that can be deadly. She had an MRI, was taken by non-emergent ambulance to KP Sunnyside as we were told (by legacy) she would be admitted and have surgery that am. By the time I got to the hospital, and to the ER where she was waiting, the “surgery team” and ER doc had been in, evaluated her, and determined she was not having surgery, she did not have a block and they have no idea what Legacy saw on the MRI. The ambulance crew told her on the way down, “that Kaiser has a habit of changing diagnosis’ and putting stuff off that needs to be done” so I guess they suspected this. Anyway, she went today to the follow-up appointment to see the “specialist” who said she actually had the NORO Virus” can you believe that? A blockage becomes the Noro virus- a virus of the stomach/that causes diarrhea. I told her we should have changed insurance when we had the chance in October, and I can promise you we will change this year-if we don’t die before then! Be careful people-get copies of your records and write it all down!
I went to see Dr. Ian Slepian for an attack of Sciatica which I sustain every 3 or 4 years and prescribed vitmin D. Call again and did nothing. I asked fro ETODOLAC ER 400 mg that helped me in the past and was ignore .Only vitamin D.
It’s ridiculous.
I had to see an independent doctor, not prom Kaiser to get relioef on my pain
I am writing this testimonial in hopes that it may speak to doctors about the way they classify or judge their patients. The last 15 years as a Kaiser patient have been humbling, demoralizing, embarrassing and at times devastating. Please don’t tune me out yet, I believe my story will speak to you and remind you of why you became a doctor. I had been an athletic person who exercised daily and was in optimal health.
In 1998 I became pregnant with Daniel, my third child. He was special needs and although we were counseled to end the pregnancy, it seemed a relatively normal pregnancy. I noticed a lot of pain as he kicked and mentioned to the Doctor that I suspected I had an infection. This was overlooked and the symptoms got worse. Just before his birth my blood pressure was high so the doctor had me come back in and checked it again. She was satisfied and I went home. The pain when Daniel kicked got much worse and then I became sick. I knew I was not well. I had my husband take me to urgent care. As they were checking my in I started labor and told the nurse I was having my child and to hurry. We got in a room and I was hooked up to a monitor and the Doctor left. The nurse came back and said I was most likely dehydrated but not in labor and the contractions were not considered strong enough to substantiate “real labor”. I had delivered two children and knew I was in labor but my husband and I are not demonstrative people and we kept silent understanding the Doctor is the trained professional. She gave me an I.V. to help with the dehydration and told we could leave. I was amazed. I felt so sick I could hardly walk and as we made our way to the car the contractions got worse. I was determined not to go back in the hospital and embarrass myself further so I proceeded to get in the car. I could feel the baby coming and told my husband to hurry me back into urgent care this time with a tone that would get us attention. She, the same doctor who had sent me home moments before, was a bit smug as she saw me on her table again. Her expression quickly changed as she did a pelvic exam and found feet crowning instead of a head. She left the room in a hurry and I was whirled away.
The Team was fast and ready to go and all seemed to be in order. They gave me a sedative but I could feel the incision as they moved along my stomach. The doctors talked amongst themselves that the same medication hadn’t worked on the previous patient and that possibly it wasn’t working for me either. As they infused a different medication the lights went out for me and the hours ahead only my husband can describe. When I did come out of the fog I was in the Maternity Ward. I felt very sick, not the normal recovery of a normal birth, every hour brought more pain and severe swelling. I was told that swelling sometimes happens after delivery and not to be alarmed. The pain became excruciating and I became very stiff and any effort to move caused great pain. It was as if my body was being locked in position and when I tried to bend it was unbearable. The thought of it still sends shivers down my spine. My temperature was very high so they did blood work and thought I must have Leukemia. I was becoming very fearful and my husband was in a daze of overwhelming emotions as I lay sick and his newborn son is in ICU. I was trying to make my way to ICU and I tried to get out of bed and managed to get myself in a wheel chair with the help of my oldest daughter. There nurses sat at the station and didn’t notice I thing when I collapsed in the wheel chair and went back to my room. I was so weak and my heart pounded so incredibly that I was feeling as if I was surely to die. I overheard the nurses chatting at the nurse’s station saying I was in a deep depression over my son being handicapped and I just couldn’t bring myself to see him. I was horrified! We knew our son would be special needs and had dealt with the reality of that entirely.
I had not seen my obstetrician and had not yet seen the doctor who performed the surgery. It was day two or three by then, I can’t be sure as the days ran into each other. They had the IV’s going to get rid of the infection but I just wasn’t getting better. I was horribly bruising, my pelvic area was all blue, my body was doubling its size, My heart was pounding and I couldn’t breath as it hurt too badly. The surgeon finally came and seeing my incision infected he opened it up to drain. I was told this wasn’t uncommon and not to worry. The nurses in this ward had no experience in wound care and could be overheard saying, ” Why is she still here, she needs to be moved into another unit”. The cleaning of my wound was horrible, to say the least. There was a kind evening nurse that would speak sympathetically to me as though she understood my suffering, she seemed genuinely frightened for me. I was bruised on my entire back. Any part of my body that touched anything bruised but the nurses never looked at my body. I was never asked if I needed help to use the restroom or be cleaned. One nurse told me, “You will not get better until you get up and walk around, use the restroom, etc.”
Day six? We aren’t sure as we were so overwhelmed, my mother came to visit, she was a retired nurse from Kaiser Fontana working in emergency, surgery, neurology;
and was appalled at my condition and asked for an immediate MRI and demanded to talk with my doctor, everything changed. The nurses were suddenly kind, caring and sympathetic. The MRI could not be completed because I could not hold my breath. They said I had an anxiety attach, the sad truth was as I tried to hold in a breathe I started shaking uncontrollably with pain and illness. As the nurse was helping me on the gurney she gasps at the sight of my body. She was almost in tears and said, “why didn’t you say something?” What was I to say? No one was listening until my mother showed up and reprimanded everyone. My treatment improved with massive antibiotics, three or more running at once.
I was sent home with nurse care and she eventually trained my husband to care for my wound. Healing came very slowly and I of course was not physically the women I was before, I accepted it. I started having difficulty laying flat as my heart would pound. My blood pressure was a little high but my pulse was in a normal range so a heart problem didn’t seem to be the culprit.
This pregnancy was a very good and healthy pregnancy with no problems. Because of the memory of the birth of Daniel at Kaiser Fontana I decided to have my care at the hospital in Riverside. The doctor induced my labor a week before my due date to ensure that I wouldn’t deliver pre-mature as I delivered all my children fast and was living in a remote part of the mountain area. My labor became unbearable and I realized when I pushed the baby would move back again. As I was encouraged to push and was told, “the baby could be in danger, you need to push harder” I would give it all my strength as my bladder felt as though it was going to burst. The pain was incredible and I knew it wasn’t normal. After I was adamant that the baby wasn’t moving and was completely exhausted the doctor used a ventouse suction cup and was able to pull the baby out. To the doctor’s amazement the baby was face up. No one thought to find out if the baby was in proper position before labor was induced. I was so thankful that my baby girl was healthy and safe with no difficult recovery for either of us. Unfortunately, I would face some issues from this difficult labor.
I started having a lot of pain if I stood too long and during intercourse. Daily activities became very difficult. Even shopping was limited to 20 minutes as the pain would become too uncomfortable. I was very careful about pain medications ( because I wasn’t sure that medication wasn’t the culprit behind my heart’s difficulty) so I rarely took them. I would complain to the same doctor who delivered my baby and her response was, “It is possibly the Human Papilloma virus and pain is something you will have to live with”. I was devastated as I kept getting infections vaginally, bowel movements were difficult and was miserable with the pain. A Physician’s Assistant suggested an anti-bacterial gel that really helped keep the infections under control. A nurse feeling sympathetic and believing I did have a problem that could indeed be solved, set up an appointment with a different doctor that she believed had the experience to find help for me. He examined me and scheduled surgery immediately. The surgery was longer than anticipated as he thought he would be doing a simple hysterectomy and discovered a mess was lurking in my abdomen. My uterus and bladder were fused together with tissue he had never seen before and a lot of it. As he was arduously separating the uterus from the bladder he cut a hole in my bladder. I felt much better after the surgery, except for the bladder spasms, and resumed my normal activities. ( I fully recovered from the cut in my bladder and no longer have spasms, just leakage that I may have had anyway due to having a child in my forties.)
Unfortunately, the heart symptoms were becoming worse. I would have the pounding and nausea with any work that took a lot of arm movement above my heart, like washing windows, painting and even doing my hair. The problem with laying flat started up again. These symptoms started just after my recovery from surgery. I had a couple incidents where I knew I was in trouble and would get pain in my jaw and neck. I got a test done on the vein in my neck as I thought maybe therewas a blockage. Tests came back fine and all vitals were in perfect range. My symptoms persisted. Oddly enough, the veins in my arms and hands had the appearance of string. My legs began to swell and noticeable veins started forming along with my hands swelling, especially during exercise, and an intolerance for heat, that created swelling. As you can imagine any Doctor I went to was exasperated by my problematic symptoms that seemed irrational and derived by a hypochondriac. I was labeled with the stigma of “Anxiety Disorder” and my symptoms were discarded and I was treated with condescension. I had two young children to care for and watched myself get worse. I was constantly asked to take medication to alleviate my issues of anxiety. What a nightmare! I was fairly convinced already that medications had compromised my health and I was asked to take more. I would agree but did not take the anti-anxiety drugs. I had taken some anti-depressant when my daughter was first born but their use did not alleviate my physical symptoms, although they seemed to help me hormonally. So I managed life and watched myself get worse but still persisted in getting Doctors to listen, if they would. They did hook me up to a Halter for a short time and I was given treadmills and EKG’s, but nothing was learned.
In 2011 my symptoms began to worsen to the point I stopped doing anything that would take walking or physical output of any kind. I even cancelled a planned vacation that our family was much looking forward to. I knew a heart attack was coming. Everything I did required breath I did not have. At times I could not get off the couch as I was so weak. I no longer could sleep laying down and the veins in my arms looked like strings rather than veins while the veins in my legs were huge and puffed. My doctor took every test imaginable and was so kind to give all her efforts to help in finding a cure. My blood pressure had become very low and even a treadmill still looked good and showed no problems. The only Kaiser professional that believed my heart was struggling was a Nurse Practitioner who had me sent to Saint Mary’s for observation. He said to me, “If you were my Mother or Sister sitting in front of me I would have that heart checked.” Sadly Saint Mary’s sent me home because I didn’t have the “typical” symptoms.
On August 18 I had what I thought was indigestion in the evening. I wasn’t sure because the sensations were extremely painful. The next morning, August 19th, 2011, my heart was racing but this time it was more intense and pain settled underneath my jaw and in my neck. I knew what was happening and had my then 10 year daughter call 911. When I arrived at Saint Mary’s Hospital all the regular protocol took place. After a couple hours a Kaiser Doctor came and said I could go home. I was shocked and feared that if and when this happened again I might have few options. A nurse came to have me sign final papers and shared that she was going to push for a little more time to wait on a test. I asked, begged. the Kaiser Doctor to let me stay a little longer for the results of the test that would show in fact if I had really had a heart attack. It was so bizarre to know what is going on inside your body but you can’t prove it to anyone because their tests deny it. She came back sometimes later and said the test barely proved I had a heart attack but it was enough for them to look further. I was elated and thankful to have had that nurse at that time who cared to think outside the medical box.
I was admitted and scheduled for angioplasty. It didn’t take long to find the blockage and I lay there thanking God that this was all not just a mental condition but that it is and was real all those years. The doctor had a hard time keeping the vein open so another doctor was asked to do it and he was successful. I laid flat in that hospital bed with symptoms gone, that fast I could tell the difference. Everything else didn’t matter at that moment, I was laying flat and enjoying it!
If only this would have been a new start! I had been suffering from digestion problems and found before this time that I had small stones but didn’t have them removed. Just after the stent was put in I started having pain from my gallbladder. My cardiologist from Kaiser said I could not get the surgery done as it would compromise the newly placed stent. The vomiting alone I think compromised the stent but I waited it out. I was hospitalized once and Doctors hoped for an approval from the Cardiologist but it was not given. I found it ironic because my husband and I had gone to see the Doctor about familiar symptoms that were troubling me and I was completely ignored, in fact the doctor would not look at me but talked to my husband as if I was not present. I was again made to feel as a hypochondriac. The doctor spoke to him as though he should be reassured by her that I was in absolutely no danger and was doing fantastic. Then why could I not be relieved of the horrible pain I was in? She denied every request made by other Doctors to have my Gall-bladder taken out. My digestive system so deteriorated that I never knew when an attack of pain would come, even drinking water would set of an attack. I became increasingly ill. One month before the year the doctor requested I wait was up, the pain became so severe that I knew I was in trouble and the vomiting started which was nothing but bile. They scheduled the surgery but said it would be three days until I was stabilized enough to go into surgery. I did very well and was able to get the surgery done sooner. The infected gallbladder had infected my pancreas and my liver was having problems as well. The state of my digestive system has been life changing to say the least. A day doesn’t go buy that I am not challenged by it’s dysfunction.
The blood thinner I was on made me bruise profusely, if I touched anything knots would form in the center of these unsightly bruises. I was scary to look at and it was very difficult for my family to see me this way. I developed horrible hemorrhoids and swollen varicose veins. This medication was not agreeing with me. Every trip to the hospital they would examine me in a very peculiar way and I was made to believe they were looking for signs of abuse as my bruising was so severe. Their searches, which included looking at my rectum, were demoralizing; on one occasion a nurse was openly offended that she had to treat me in this manner. Interestingly enough the medication was never considered the culprit although on the label of the prescribed medicines label it says, “inform the Pharmacist immediately if severe bruising occurs while taking this medicine”.
Why I came in today:
I am suffering weakness and pain in my legs now. If I walk to much they shake and I lose confident control of walking. The varicose veins need to be dealt with but I come with great trepidation. I also am coming in today because I have constant Urethra pain
caused by what I believe is a fallen bladder. These same symptoms happened before they did the bladder surgery. (If I didn’t mention it when they did the Hysterectomy the doctor had to put my bladder back in position and tie it there.) I saw a doctor maybe a year ago or so as I knew I was having problems again. Her comment was that it wasn’t severe enough to take action yet. I feel it is now.I don’t know if I should see a Urologist or Gynecologist.
Sincerely,
Christine Darwazeh
Medical record # 2815885
my mother in law is under p care they have over the past several years put metal in her wrist, her ankle and her hip/femur and she is allergic to all of it they will give her nothing for the pain stronger he 15mg of morphine that is not re3ally morphing and make this 73 year old woman give a UA before they will even give her that and the last time she saw her PCP and we questioned the metal and the care she is receiving we were told we should find a different PCP. They have threatened her with coming to her home and making sure she has no other pain meds in her home and if they find some she will go to jail and have also told her if she goes outside of KP they will drop her and she will get no other type of insurance. ever! I have tried to tell her that KP can not do that but she is scared of going to jail if she sees another doctor and gets the meds she needs. and she is now so depressed and scared that I have problems even getting her out of bed between the pain and depression and the fear she is almost ready to call it quits so now what should I do ????
The Kaiser in San Jose, Ca. KILLED MY GIRLFRIEND. She went in for a simple procedure, and something wasn’t sterilized. She got really sick. She went back, because she was getting more, and MORE SICK. She went back into surgery, and woke up with a pace maker! She was only 34 years old, with no history of heart problems. Her battery was running low, but they insisted that she wait another 2 weeks until her scheduled appointment. HER BATTERY RAN OUT, AND SHE DIED.
I have INTRACTABLE MIGRAINE. Kaiser was giving me 5 miligrams of DILAUDID PER DAY. Then it went to FOUR MILIGRAMS OF DILAUDID PER DAY. When I asked for better treatment, and a different approach, THEY LABELED ME A DRUG SEEKER. Kaiser Kills Permanetly!!!
In 1998 after my mother died, I grieved really hard and my siblings could not take it. So they sent me to Psychiatric ER. There I cried and screamed because of my loss . But this one Doctor could not take my screaming and yelling. He came to the holding room where I was and began choking me. A nurse stood by him and laughed at me as he yelled and said shut the he’ll up nigger. He was an intern at the time. S.F General Hospital. I reported him but of course the supervisor took his said and told me to get psychiatric treatment. I was not shocked because it was a county hospital for the poor. Sadly this same Do flat or works for Kaiser Walnut Creek. Right next door to my department. I work there to. He probably don’t remember how I look but he knows that’s what he did to me. DR.YOKOMOTO. I did not spell his name right but I know my violator.
I had my thyroidectomy at Kaiser Fresno in June 2010. Since then I have lost my career as a nurse and am rarely out of bed. The surgeon was a General Surgeon and not a Head and Neck surgeon. My parathyroid glands were taken accidentally leaving me with permanent hypoparathyroidism and low calcium levels. I just received the news yesterday that my left vocal cord is permanently paralyzed as the surgeon nicked the blood supply to my left laryngeal nerve. This surgery should have been done by a Head and Neck surgeon. This has been HELL. I need to know what to do????
I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer metastatic to the ovary. I’m in my mid 30’s. After surgery and one round, that’s right one round of chemotherapy…my oncologist told me I should start thinking about quality of life and not quantity. My cancer has recently come back in the form of another tumor. I was told that maybe “I had too much hope when I was first diagnosed.” What kind of medical professional says that? Oh wait, the colon surgeon said he would remove the tumor “AS A FAVOR.” Well sign me up for surgery. The worst part is Kaiser has denied my right to be referred to an outside physician. I’ve exhausted all my resources and don’t know what to do.
I have only begun down the same paths of inadequate care, lack of personalization, lack of genuine care,coverups, incompetant care, cou’s by nurses assessing me as not the victim of their abuse as is rightly so, but as them being victims of me being abusive??me? after 4 months of non healing wound because of their lack of knowledge in wound care, my non healing wound became Horifficaly Gross with the eventual end of removing my leg or dying from it.Non of the indignities I suffered at their hands were ever ever ever addressed to them, nor were they in anyway reprimanded by their superiors,all they ever said in the face of Dr.s orders to do what he wrote that they are supposed to follow verbatim and by law and one REFUSED to follow Dr.s orders, all of them said (and all were RN’s not just nures aides or LVNS but RN’s “we only do simple””dressings”.Told by upper level bosses , I was , the excuse, that I needed a higher level of care than they could provide me with and after that my appt center drop down list of providers previously seen was blocked by an RN to now only include only my primary Dr.s name, since when and where do they have the RIGHT to go in an route my appts to an RN and refuse me the right to be able to make my own appts with dr.s I have already seen, for them to have access to my “web site” I use to check for messages,see or cancel appts, and they BLOCK IT, telling me i have to have appointments on such and such dates and I have NO WAY to make the appts?NOT EVEN THROUGH THE APPT CALL CENTER??OUTRAGE IS ALL I FEEL, KAISER PERMANENTE IS BOGUS INADEQUATE SUPERFLOUS,AND NOT DEFINITELY NOT COMPASSIONATE, KIND, OR ADEQUET FOR SERIOUSLY ILL PEOPLE..HATE THEM.
I could spill many examples of Kaiser inability to manage Healthcare what I really want to know and do is make a difference. I want them to NOT sign more new patients and I want existing patients to try and push back! I am sooooo frustrated and I’d really like to turn this negative energy into something positive. How can we take the giant down?
My wife and I have had to switch to Kaiser after 22 years with same Dr. Blue cross P.P.O. we have had same Dr. for 22 years, we always got the best treatment, we had to switch to Kaiser 5-1-14, the cost to keep Blue Cross was $678.00 bi weekly, we had to switch to Kaiser, we have all Dr.reports,X rays, she has broken plate and loose hardware in foot, her other foot is shoot, her knees need to be replaced,arthritas throuhout her body, failed foot surgery, and other ailments, she want on S.D.I. 4-1-13, she tried to return to work as security guard, pain on her feet was to much, on 7-14-2014 the Dr wanted to put her on S.D.I. SHE DECLINED, we were ready to purchase house, needed income for loan, wife got terminated from jod after 7 years of dedacated service, went back to Dr on 7-18-2014 to ask to get back on SD.I.Dr declined, told her to apply for unenploymamy wife is crippled, she has applied for S.S.I. The Dr. in my opinion is telling her to break the law, she is unable to work, she has gone to see pyschiatrist,pain management,we keep getting the run around,I will continue to persue this matter, with all documentation we have they have no cause to make her suffer, this is wrong and there will be consequnces,we will not stop, and obtain lawyer
How can we take the giant down?
Dear Shannon : The answer is VERY simple, what’s difficult is to educate the public.
We all know that KP is a HUMAN SUBJECT RESEARCH HMO/TEACHING HOSPITALS.Right?
Sooo … KP uses their 9.5 million patients for PRIVATE research.
PRIVATE research companies pays KP BILLIONS $$$ in exchange to use their menbers body parts for their resaerches. Becouse KP only deals with PRIVATE money, they do all their crimes “privately.”
What we need to do is this:
1- Educate the public as to what KP really is.
2- Have their status of UNREGULATED PRIVATLY FUNDED HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION RESEARCH COMPANY and change it to being regulated by the federal government. –
The OHRP {The FEDERAL OFFICE OF HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTIONS.}
KP will DIE if they became obligated to be honest, ethical and non-criminal … What do you think?
Please Google: Stop Unregulated, Privately Funded Human Experimentation In The United States
Best website ever. I have been through the ringer at Kaiser as well, and later even worse so by private docs in the same Bay Area. Being older and wiser now I have come to realize that doctors are so busy changing paperwork to cover themselves and to make all treatments appear successful and having cured the patient (which does not follow if you had 1 treatment but needed 90 more anyway) that the tangled web of lies cannot be undone, by any means.
Doctors HATE IT when you ask questions or have other opinions that are unbeknownst to them. Just this week, I had a doctor take MY old records I had with me at the time and refuse to return them. No kidding.
Never offer old records to any doctor. Don’t tell them who you have seen either because they will info to contact each other and, as a unit, form the same opinion. They hate to contradict each other more than to have a incorrect diagnosis that will harm the patient.
I have also learned by researching that there is a site called the Student Doctor Network. You would think these residents of every and any type of specialty would be hammering away theories about how to 1) cure cancer 2) cure blindness 3) more effectively help patients and so on, but that is not the case. They are longtime doctors and medical professionals of every stage of their careers warring over MONEY. Who makes more, who deserves more, how to make more and how to cheat on exams, ripoff patients and insurance companies. If you don’t believe it, take a look at it yourself. Medical professionals are becoming worse than lawyers.
Once you get into pain managment you are screwed. they cancel appoitments your pcp wont treat you for the pain anymore. You tell them multipale times the pain meds are working and they do nothing about it. But keep canceling the appointmens and do nothing about the grievance you filed. This company is shame there caring about the people commericails is scam. People be aware they dont want to treat the ill only healthly people who dont see a doctor on the regular.
One more bit of major importance … watch and learn. -please.
clique here, http://youtu.be/owKkwGrYr8I
or if you prefer Google: Kaiser Permanente Crimes and its Accomplices Dr. Timothy Wild MD,DDS,FACS and a Criminal
Well, all I can say after reading through all of this?? Kaiser is by far the sketchiest, unethical, careless, innapropriate, abusive, corrupt etc health care organization out there!! Thank god for SCREEN SHOTS of them stalking a patient on social media, tampering with medical records, direct INSULTS to cover up their SKETCHY and INNAPROPRIATE behavior and I will probably be their next victim and patient in the ground to young by their unwillingness to admit to their FAILURES and innapropriate behavior!! I am sitting here with an infection of my body and severe heart palpitations, vomiting ETC but to scared of them to call for help! It’s sad to know they would probably rather I’m dead so their secrets and wrong doings don’t become VISIBLE and PUBLIC!!! A SCREEN SHOT of what they’ve committed, written, stated, to stupid to to think about what they were leaving on my voicemail, recorded conversations” for quality purposes”, names/dates/times/photos/job titles on the social media network they were stalking me on and other things they would not luv to have made public? Is priceless!!! I wonder where I might want to blast it before my heart and nervous system that they have let kill me gives out! They were very wrong to underestimate me and the fact I actually have a brain! I hope if something does happen, that what I leave will help the other patients being treated like complete shit!!!!
I am very sorry for your experience with Kaiser – I would also like to post mine below – if that is okay.
Kaiser Center – Reston, Dr. Tammy Rosenthal – Last November I saw Dr. Rosenthal for the first time / first pregnancy. First off, she was very rude to my husband and I. I went in for the first internal sonogram and I was obviously nervous. We felt rushed through the appointment. During the exam she showed me my baby’s heart beat on the monitor which was wonderful. Wrapping up the appointment, she discussed my A1C1 levels from recent test as I am type 2 diabetic. She told me that my levels were slightly higher than they like and recommended that I proceed with an abortion and “end the pregnancy” to then try again later once glucose is under tighter control. She told me that I will most likely have a miscarriage by 12 weeks and if not the baby would most likely have problems developing essential organs. In addition was at high risk for complications that could be fatal for myself. She then asked me, without giving me a chance to discuss with my husband, in privacy, if I would like to go ahead and do that – that day.
I have always considered myself “pro-choice” in that if a woman couldn’t fulfill her pregnancy she should have the OPTION to abort – within reasonable timeline. However, I had just witnessed life in my body, a heartbeat, and I had no reason to assume that the life inside me would not survive. I told Dr. Rosenthal no. She honestly seemed disgusted with me, but said ok and finished up the appointment, setting goals for glucose levels & exercise routine. I admit it was a hard decision, especially since a doctor whom I had no reason not to trust had just told me my pregnancy was essentially a dud. My heart told me (and luckily my husband agreed – since I couldn’t confirm at the time) that I had to give this life a fair shot.
I am happy to announce that my baby boy, Matthew Noah Stewart, born 6/23/14 is completely healthy. He had no issues at time of delivery or to date. Praise God. I did have issues with preeclampsia late in my pregnancy that led to a C-section, but this condition happens to mothers that are otherwise entirely healthy. It’s the risk you take with pregnancy.
I want to share my story as I think Dr. Tammy Rosenthal was completely out of place to professionally recommend an abortion. In my case (obviously not all cases, but such is life) everything worked out perfectly. I can’t help but think… 1.) What if I decided to follow her advice 2.) How many other women had followed her advice & what if… It breaks my heart every day to think of that.
These stories are all very sad but does not surprise me. I stumbled upon this site today and read many stores. My mother died in 2012 after going to the Urgent Care Kaiser, Lancaster where they observed her for over an hour and a half while clutching her heart, extreme anxiety, sweating and vomiting and then she had a heart attack. They only had given her an Ativan prior to the heart attack and that was after me complaining. She was then taken to the local hospital which Kaiser has a contract. I made several attempts to have her transferred to the Heart Hospital Kaiser Sunset and was refused each time. She was told she had pneumonia and placed on Palliative Care and sent home. The heart doctor they brought in at the hospital told my mother that “The Cost would Outweigh the Benefit” to be a candidate for heart surgery and that “She did it to herself,” being a former smoker. They prescribed heart medication that was not covered by Kaiser that cost $500 for a month and then took her off it after a week. I called 911 three times and the third time she was placed in the ICU and intubated for 10 days until she died of multiple massive heart attacks. She tested positive for Valley Fever the day before she died. In addition she contracted C-Diff while in the ICU. I filed a 10 page complaint to MediCare with no avail.
My dad now has Dementia and still on Kaiser, he just got out of the hospital with Acute Renal Failure, and he cannot walk due to neuropathy. I have emailed his doctor and a nurse called me today after I emailed them about getting MediCare to provide Home Health due to the fact he is Home Bound, released from a hospital stay and uses a wheelchair (http://www.medicare.gov/coverage/home-health-services.html)and they said they never heard of it before! I can almost see how this is going to end.
I, as so many others, have just filed a complaint about Kaiser treatment of my self. I also just read the meaning of kaiser, one who does no wrong and never makes a mistake. I just feel sorry for all the new people who have just joined for their care. No wonder they can build all the new buildings they have here in the Denver area. Where is the “not for prifit” great medical care place we are paying for so they can con the rest of the poor souls who believe the trash they leave in the way as they go on their way to the bank with our money, and leave us to suffer for the greed. My “GOD” bless their pointed heads as he ships them to hell.
It just goes to show, don’t go the hospital.
My name is Danny in Sacramento CA, and I utilized my Medicare number in 2009 to enroll in the Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage Medicare Plan to try to obtain proper and meaningful medical treatment and medicine for a liver infection I was told is fatal without treatment. The liver doctors that Kaiser assigned to my case have procrastinated and stalled me and my family members around, and the doctors’ failure to prescribe liver medicine literally, in the full and complete sense of the phrase, caused irreparable harm (Cirrhosis) to my liver. Kaiser doctors mislead and lied to me and my family and did not treat the liver infection I am infected with as they promised on many occasions they could and would do, but did not do. In 2009, Kaiser liver doctor Thomas Cuff mislead me with inaccurate information and told me Kaiser does not want him to prescribe expensive liver medicine I asked for to stop the disease progression, the liver damage, and preserve my life. I complained, but Kaiser assigned another liver doctor and in about 2010 liver doctor Robert Talley continued the deliberate indifference and medical neglect. Dr . Talley downplayed the seriousness of the liver disease and told me to take a liver medicine Holiday after he started and abruptly stopped a liver medicine he claimed would not work on me, even though he refused to give me a second blood test to confirm his claims of drug failure and Dr. Talley only had me on the medicine for a short time, despite his inaccurate entries in the chart only Kaiser doctors and staff are permitted to write in. I emailed doctor Talley off and on to inform him I learned that new and effective Hepatitis C drugs were on the market that I heard cure the disease, and I would like to have these drugs prescribed. However, Dr. Talley made excuses when I called and asked for liver disease treatment and he told me things like “you are in the pike” and disingenuously told me the new drugs were not approved, but new drugs were approved under various names including the name Harvoni, and a relative told me to look in the Kaiser Formulary. I looked in the Kaiser Formulary and I realized that Dr. Talley had been lying to me all along. I had moved to Sacramento California some months before this for several reasons, including that I wanted to be close to relatives in case I became incapacitated from liver disease or some other condition Kaiser failed to properly treat. When I knew for sure that Dr. Talley was lying to me and it was useless to ask him for liver treatment , I sent an email to doctor Ben Aquino, my primary care doctor in Vallejo California. I reported Dr. Talley for his denial of liver disease treatment and I asked to be assigned to a liver doctor in Sacramento.
In or about July or August, 2014, Kaiser liver doctor Mary Pauly was assigned to my case and when I called her office in or about July or August, 2014, and asked for an appointment Dr. Pauly’s nurse or receptionist set an appointment for me to see Dr. Pauly in or about September or October 2014. My family asked me why an appointment would be set for months away, and I assumed that indicated my liver was doing fine and it was not urgent for me to see Dr. Pauly immediately. I was patient and I waited for the appointment. My mother and other relatives are concerned and my mother accompanied me to my first visit with Dr. Pauly. Liver doctor Pauly promised me and my mother at the first visit that she could and would easily treat the liver infection and preserve my life. Even so, Dr. Pauly procrastinated, ordered blood and other tests, and then ordered more tests. Dr. Pauly then changed her focus and claimed she noticed a possible abnormality in an EKG she ordered. Dr. Pauly ordered me to take an injection of a chemical I had a bad reaction to when I had another and different type of scan and take a nuclear heart stress test, even though D. Pauly is out of her purview and is a liver doctor, not a cardiologist. Dr. Pauly first claimed the results of a liver ultra sound she ordered are normal. However, a couple weeks later and after I complained that I was never told EKG results indicate a possible problem until I complained that more than two more months had elapsed since Dr. Pauly promised me and my family members she would prescribe Harvoni liver medicine within two months, that appeared an excessive and gross amount of time at that point for Dr. Pauly to procrastinate even more about prescribing life-saving medicine, Dr. Pauly changed her impression of the liver ultra sound results and told me I now have Cirrhosis of the liver. It should be noted my heart was examined subsequent to Dr. Pauly’s claims and found problem free. More weeks have gone by since Dr. Pauly promised to treat the liver disease within two months, and excuses after excuses are thrown in the way of liver treatment and medicine, as the liver infection and liver damage progress uninterrupted.
I was told, I have read many articles about Kaiser medical neglect and abuse of older people, including myself, and I believe Kaiser fails to provide proper, meaningful, and humane medical treatment and medicine to older people because it is “not cost effective” for Kaiser and Kaiser doctors to do the right thing.
Has anybody ever been thru the arbitration process
against Kaiser for malpractice or personal injury?
My foot got permanently damaged (drop foot) after a
knee operation. Kaiser claims this on a damaged
peroneal nerve. A professor at Stanford where I went
for a second opinion felt my drop foot is due to an
injured muscle (injured because my leg had been taped/
braced) too tightly which caused blockage of blood supply
to the muscle which is the cause of my foot drop.
Now I’m considering arbitration to recover my costs
for the treatment of the drop foot and wonder, what I’m
up against.
Would anybody out there be able to give me some advice on how
to proceed????
Thanks, Vera
A Kaiser pharmacy intern almost killed me today, by telling me to take a medication he wrong way. I suffered an extreme allergic reaction and almost died. Fortunately, I was at the Kaiser clinic and the medical staff gave me an epi pen and prevented me from having Cardiac collapse. After I was released I went to the pharmacy and asked for the names of the people who were involved. Guess What? They called the cops on me and threatened to charge me with civil disobedience. Yes, you read that right. They called the cops because I was trying to get the names of the people involved. They characterized my actions as yelling.
Find out that they claimed the supervisor didn’t even know the intern involved. He was dispensing medication without supervision. Thankfully I didn’t die, but imagine if I had taken the medication at home with the improper directions, or in the car?
Kaiser must be held accountable for letting interns and contractors dispense medication without knowing first and last names of the people working there.
I am so sorry to hear all of the people here with problems that were caused by incompetence at Kaiser. I thought I had problems with them but you people have had serious issues compared to me.
I just don’t like their lower employees, nurses, lab techs and generally all the naturalized citizens hired by Kaiser.
If English is not your first language, you need to hone your English speaking skills. These immigrants also need to understand that we have paid for the infrastructure of this country. My Grandparents, my Parents and I have paid for everything from roads to the cure for Polio. I am furious when I am treated without respect from these younger people.
The problems I have had are them out and out lying, demanding things that on kp.org claim, I can legally refuse and blaming me for their mistakes, then scoffing at me when I show them they sent me a letter and it says the appointment is in a week and a half, not last week. just plain rudeness.
BTW, kp.org and member services is a joke. I searched kp.org for an answer and when I didn’t find it, I called member services. Guess what? Member services is just an outside service that only has kp.org on their computer screens and they are so incompetent, they don’t even know what you are asking. Their canned answers are not even the same subject you are talking with them about. But they sound so happy and keep apologizing to the point of me wanting to just hang up on them. When you walk into Member Services at a Kaiser facility, you are told to go online and join kp.org for assistance. Why is that person even sitting there? They should just have a sign on the door explaining it to us.
The other HMO’s, like Healthnet or Secure Horizons are the same or worse than Kaiser. My Mother had that and they basically euthanized her because she was costing too much money, but she always paid her bills. When I complained at their office and gave them my address, my Mother was still in the Hospital, I received a letter from a Secure Horizons affiliate at Hospice that claimed her incompetent Doctor said I was not a good son to my Mother. My address is 30 minutes away from Hospice. Why on earth did they send it to me at my Mothers bedside adding to the total horrific mess they caused, just to be mean?
People we are in big trouble. It is like this everywhere. When you sign on to an HMO, you are signing away your rights.
Here’s my new video. It is about KAISER IHM. Listen.Read.Learn.
Thank you.
Jupirena Stein
Please Google: Kaiser IHM’s Crimes How The Body Parts Of 9.1 Million Patients Are Used To Make Billions …
or click here –>> http://youtu.be/EPgl5vfhq50
For 2 years I suffered severe headaches and went to my doctor at kaiser and several visits to the er. All they did was give me Tylenol and send me home. I had a lump in my throat that they did a biopsy on April of 2013. It showed no. Cancer but the doctor said it should be removed before cancer could grow in it. I was Schueled for surgery dec of 2013 but it was canceled because I had emergency brain surgery due to a ruptured aneurysm. Kaiser finally did a ct scan for the headaches after complaining of head pain for 2 years. I almost died because I was bleeding in my head. While recovering from the brain surgery I had my thyroid removed in sep 2014 ( the lump in my throat) now I have cancer. I am still recovering from the brain surgery and cancer and have had a hard road to recovery. I have a lot of limitations but I am still trying hard. I wrote to kaiser’ s legal department in hopes of coming to a settlement agree,net without a lengthy legal battle because this has ruined my family emotionally and financially. I was not asking for a lot, I just want to be made whole. After my release from the hospital, kaiser has given us no assistance. My husband has taken off almost 6 months of work to care for me. When he went back to work he has to pay someone to stay home with me because I can’ be home alone with our 2 young children. Last time I stayed home by myself I almost burned down the house trying to cook a meal. I get confused a lot now and don’t remember that I am cooking. To try to shorten this story. An attorney from kaiser, Brian carney spoke with me on jan 14, 2015 and claimed that kaiser would rather settle cases than fight them if they could. He claimed that he would go over my medical records and that I could call him back at the end of jan. I tried calling him back the last week of jan and the first week of feb. He would never answer the phone and his voice mail was full for 2 weeks because it did not check or empty it. I finally got someone on the phone from the office and told them that if he didn’t speak with me on the phone I would come to the office. He returned my call on Friday February 6. He had an attitude and hung up in my face, stating that he didn’t want to be bothered. I was so enraged that I drove to their offices at 393 e walnut, Pasadena , ca. I demanded to see someone but instead of someone coming downstairs to speak with me, Brian carney told security to call the police on me. I was shocked and humiliated. I can’t believe that these are the people that we pay for healthcare. They only way we can change what kaiser is doing to us is to ban together. We could picket there legal department. We could get the word out to other kaiser members. What I did not know before I got kaiser insurance is that we are not allowed to sue them in court. I did not know that we would have to use there bias arbitration system where they win 75% of the time because they pay the arbitrators salary. Please let’s all ban together. We have to stop these people. I can be reached at patsydillard@yahoo.com. Please contact me. We have to bring awareness to what kaiser does.
I’m so sorry for what you’ve been going through. It is maddening. I hope you obtain quality care and never have to be subject to the idiots at kaiser ever again. Their collective incompetence has caused me to lose my job. I had an accident which resulted in two injuries, but they were not competent enough to treat both at the same time, despite our requests. Three months later, I am out of leave time with only one of my injuries partially addressed. It took until this week to meet with the appropriate specialist who saw immediately that I needed surgery. I’m scheduled for the surgery I. Two weeks, but since kaiser took so long with adequately examining me, my leave time is over. If I want to keep my job, I have to delay the vital surgery for who knows how long. Stellar job in incompetence, Kaiser. Thank you for your unskilled, under experienced physicians and your apathy. I wish I had another option.
Kaiser is the worse. Place a.dog can get help at and if.I had one I would.not take him there…
wow not sure where to start except to say what can we all do to fight this horrible excuse kaiser calls health care? my story is long like many others 10 weeks out from hysterectomy surgery butchered by ignorant Dr burgos of Fresno CA, now n menapause thanks to one ovary left at the age of 47, no longer feel like myself or look like myself , not sure what to do where to go for help or who to trust. kaiser is a joke and they r laughing all the way to the bank on our Co payments. please let’s ban together and fight them.
I’ve got 2 horror stories and neither one is able to be prosecuted, the first one I’m still in the process of and the second one is just starting. I have a bone disease diagnosed by kaiser at the age of 35. Even though I was born with it. It’s genetic and has been in my chart for nearly 20 years. I broke my foot (2 bones) just walking out of my closest. I went to ER after having as many broken bones as I’ve had you just know. Anyway two broken bones in the foot. I go to ER which confirmed they were broke the doctor I seen put me in a boot and allowed me to walk out without crutches. I was told I would get a follow up visit card in the mail. 2 weeks go by and the pain was getting unbareable even though I knew to keep off it as much as possible (with a young child) lol that’s funny and keep it iced and elevated as much as possible. No follow up card came in the mail and by this time I can’t stand the pain much longer so I call to make my own appointment. I talk to a cast technician who says get in there now! So I did, she proceeds to tell me that I sold have never been allow to walk out at all. They had cast technicians on duty the day I came in and they were not called. I shouldn’t have been put into a boot at all and the 2 bones I broke take a very long time to heal in the best of circumstances but walking on them for 2 weeks? She she was visibly upset. They put me in a cast and crutches two weeks later. I spent over a year in that get up and because of that long period of time I ended up messing up my knee too a surgery followed and its been a nightmare ever since. My k eww would not just be an ordinary knee operation I needed 2/3 of a new leg by then( my bones were just too bad. It’s a years later and my foot still hurts, my knee and leg still hurt and swell daily when I asked the member services shouldn’t he have casted me that day? It started one if the biggest cover ups ever. I asked for a second opinion and they said sure but it would have to be a kaiser dr. They had already been covering it up for a year by that point. No one can take a case that has been covered up. I’m so mad but can’t do a darn thing. When I called member services for a second opinion. It made them cover it all up. Then new thing that’s happening I’m about to go to the ER about right now and let’s just say I’ve got a cyst and cellulitis because of a bad tooth that I can’t get anyone to fix because of this bone disease so let’s hope I live through this it’s making me have sepsis. Because I can’t keep down there very strong oral antibiotics and I’m just getting worse everyday. They won’t put me in the hospital to do an intravenous iv. So let’s hope I can live long enough to let you all know if I lived through this one.
This is a copy of the letter that I wrote to Mr Bernard Tyson,CEO of Kaiser Permanente, I wrote this 2 weeks ago and still haven’t received a reply…..
I am writing to you regarding the extremely poor care I have been receiving at Kaiser Permanente for the past 2 years. I have spoke at length this afternoon with Miss Karina Montenego and I would like if I may to give you a timeline of some of my experiences before I take this any further, the following events are recollected from my written accounts and memory, I will provide specific dates if needed.
In October 2009 I was involved in an accident in which I injured my back and suffered a traumatic brain injury, I didn’t find out any of this until approximately 18 months after my accident as the hospital I was dealing with at the time Trippler Army Medical Center couldn’t find anything wrong with my back and my brain was never checked. An MRI scan of my lower back had revealed a mass which after a failed biopsy that I was informed was normal, I came to discover was not at all normal and in fact had actually failed due to not having sufficient tissue. It was at this time that I decided to switch my care to Kaiser after hearing positive reviews. I was seen by a wonderful gynecologist at the Honolulu clinic Dr Sueda and subsequently began treatment to get to the bottom of what the mass was, 3 surgeries later 2 cysts were drained and treated and it was a very positive experience, sadly my care in other departments has been less than satisfactory to say the least! I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia 18 months after my accident after a gauntlet of tests failed to reveal (according to Trippler) anything wrong. Since my accident I have suffered from joint pain, blackouts, neck pain, Neuropathy, several episodes of Bells Palsy, kidney issues, gum, jaw and teeth problems, the symptoms have been endless! And although some are symptoms of Fibromyalgia a lot of them are more indicative of Lyme Disease, I have since been diagnosed with Disc damage from L5-S1 thru C5-C7, Arnold Chiari Malformation and trauma to the left side of my brain. I am under the care of a Neurologist not affiliated to Kaiser and I am working with a Lyme literate doctor on the Big Island of Hawaii. The reason I am giving you my history as it is extremely relevant to the treatment I have been receiving at Kaiser. I started off seeing Dr Carrera back in 2013 and I had explained why I had transfered my care to Kaiser to her along with all of my issues to make sure she would be comfortable treating me with such an extensive history she didn’t give me any indication that it would be. I went to see Dr Carrera on the 31st of October 2014 after suffering from an ongoing issue with facial pain and teeth pain, I had been to the after hours clinic several times with this issue as I couldn’t get an appointment with Dr Carrera, I explained to her that this pain had became intolerable and she told me that the soreness was probably due to a sinus infection, I explained to her that it wasn’t sore it was painful and her reply was (and I quote) “There’s a difference between sore and pain?” I said that yes there was a huge difference and actually gave her an example of the difference, at this time she told me that we needed to hurry things up as she needed to leave. I was absolutely flawed by not only her lack of concern for me as a patient but also her utter nonchalant attitude, I was extremely upset and walked out of the appointment in tears, she never got up from her chair and continued to sit with her arms folded and a smirk on her face as I walked out disgusted with the treatment I had just received. I put in a complaint and received a call several weeks later from someone in administration at the clinic apologizing on her behalf and that of the check in desk clerk and nurse as they were very rude too, it would take me too long to write it all down word for word, needless to say I didn’t wish to continue seeing her so I transfered my care to another doctor within Kaiser, and awaited word of the test results Dr Carrera had ordered, I received a letter in the mail a few weeks later which I am enclosing with this email with the results of my bloodwork, at least some of them, they indicated that I was indeed anemic and should follow up with my doctor. It was at this point that I switched my care to Dr Hawkins, I had a meeting with her and sat down and discussed all of my medical issues and also the issues I had had with Dr Carrera, I asked her if she would be comfortable taking me on as a patient as I didn’t want to have to go through all of this again, she said she would be happy to treat me and openly admitted that some of my issues were not things she was familiar with, Arnold Chiari Malformation and Lyme Disease but she said if she couldn’t deal with it she would point me in the direction of somebody that could. From the very beginning I had asked her if she would follow up my blood work results as I was anemic and she said she would, she ordered blood work to check to see how anemic I was and agreed to look into the issues I was having, dizzy spells, joint issues, facial pain etc… it is now 2015 and I am yet to be given any results from any of the extensive blood work that has been done, I have asked on several occasions about the anemia and have never got a clear concise answer, it has been brought to my attention on 2 occasions by 2 other Kaiser doctors that I have seen that I am severely anemic and both had asked what was being done about it, whenever I have brought it to Dr Hawkins attention she has stated that it’s ok because it’s only borderline, this doesn’t seem to be the opinion of the other doctors who I have seen. There are so many incidents it would take me a great deal of time to highlight each one. I have discussed my thoughts regarding Lyme Disease with Dr Hawkins on several occasions and each time she has dismissed it, because she says that you cannot catch it from ticks in Hawaii, Lyme is also carried by mosquitos and the fact that I am originally from the UK where lyme is a problem, I decided to seek the opinion of another doctor who is a Lyme specialist and based on my blood test results and extensive symptoms including reoccurring Bells Palsy which is usually only contracted once, twice being extremely rare, I have had it several times, severe anemia, reoccurring facial rashes, blisters, gum issues, digestive issues, cognitive decline he believes that it is indeed Lyme Disease, Dr Hawkins has not been willing to investigate it further however. The most recent issues began about 2 months ago when I went to see Dr Hawkins as I was having chronic heartburn and stomach pain, based on my history and current conditions new symptoms are always a concern, I have learnt that it is best to er on the side of caution, I research everything thoroughly before voicing my concerns to Dr Hawkins. I told her my symptoms and asked her if it could possibly be H Pylori as the symptoms were almost the same, at which point she informed me that I had tested positive for H Pylori in 2013, nobody has ever called me to inform me of this condition neither has any treatment been offered, she said she would treat me for the condition now even though it wasn’t clear if I have had H Pylori in the past or I currently have an active infection, I asked her if we should do a stool test and she said no we will just treat it anyway, she said that once a person has been exposed to H Pylori they will always test positive, she gave me antibiotics and told me to buy heartburn medication, I left feeling extremely upset that yet again here was a condition that can be potentially very dangerous, it can cause cancer according to medical research, I asked her who was responsible for telling me about this and she said she wasn’t sure. The pain continued until a few days ago when I tried to make a follow up appointment, after several attempts to make an appointment nobody at the appointment line picked up I made an appointment at the after hours clinic and was seen 2 days ago on the 27th April 2015, the doctor ordered a urinalysis and once again concerns were voiced regarding my anemia, Dr Barnes said in her medical opinion I should having b12 shots and investigation as to the cause of the anemia, the urinalysis came back positive for blood in the urine, the doctor called me at 10.00pm and said I should follow up in the morning with my pcm to schedule a stat ct scan, my husband followed up in the morning and she put the ct request in, later in the afternoon my husband followed up at radiology to enquire about the appointment he was told Dr Hawkins had not put the request in as stat but asap which meant they could schedule an appointment in the next 2 weeks, this was not acceptable as I was in a great deal of pain and yet to find out why I am bleeding into my urine, my husband spoke to Dr Hawkins and she told him she only puts in requests as stat if it’s a life or death situation, I eventually was given an appointment for yesterday, there were issues when I arrived for the appointment as the scan was supposed to be without contrast, they said they could only do it according to the doctors orders which she claimed she had not requested contrast, it was a huge mess and again I experienced rudeness from the receptionist who thought it was appropriate to wave her finger in my face, not acceptable! I received a message from Dr Hawkins later in the afternoon saying there were no significant stones found, due to past experience with kidney stones I am well versed in the knowledge that they don’t have to be of significant size to cause excruciating pain, I am awaiting a telephone consult this morning to discuss the scan as again she was very vague, since speaking to her earlier yesterday my blood test results that were read almost 3 weeks ago have now showed up in my messages at kp.org, several of which are out of the normal range and yet again no explanation given. At this point I am absolutely at my wits end regarding this completely unacceptable treatment, I’m not sure where I go from here hence my email to you, I can’t believe that any patient should have to go through this at a hospital of such huge proportion. I have never been treated so poorly by so many doctors and staff at one hospital. I will close here and await your response, as I said earlier these are just some of the issues, there have been more….
My heart goes out to this person, as I know full well the complete lack of care that is given throughout the Kaiser system; not just in CA but in CO as well.
They almost ruined the life of my son; who was misdiagnosed as a bi-polar, put on multiple medications which came to make him very ill and start hallucinating. Headaches and vomiting were constant. As a result of all this “treatment”, he was almost thrown out of school. I went to seen 2 outside practitioners, both well qualified, and both stated there was absolutely no indication my son was a bi-polar. By this time, he was so sick from all the meds, I went AMA and with the help of other medical professionals, pulled him off all the meds. It took months of slowly weaning him off Tegretol, Lithium, and Clonidine. This boy was not even in Kindergarten when all this started. What my son had was ADHD which responded well to low level Ritalin (for a short time), diet changes and training to focus. I now study and practice alternative health care; so sickened by the Kaiser PRACTICE of medicine (note the word practice is capitalized for a reason)- I will never fully trust another doctor again, unless he is also versed in alternative health care.
Ms Stein, I sincerely hope you can, once again, live a normal life, and urge you to find a good integrated doctor who can help you overcome what has been done to you.
Other stories I am personally aware of were a young 25 year old girl who had melanoma – they operated on the wrong spot.
A small child who was diagnosed (misdiagnosed) with the flu, only to succumb to fatal meningitis in another hospital – Kaiser kept saying it was the flu – what a sad and tragic loss. I knew of these cases because I worked in a hospital.
The only way to stop Kaiser is with a major class action suit with a high-power attorney/group! Is there no attorney with the clout and respectability to take on this devastating cesspool of malpractice? I still have my documentation.
Kaiser’s gross ineptitude extends beyond their criminal medical malpractice.
The problems are deeply embedded into the entire system.
I try to stay healthy so I can avoid medical care, especially at the hands of Kaiser. Their neglect and callousness have killed two of my friends. One who suffered extremely before passing…all at the hands of Kaiser’s medically negligent practitioners.
Another had such severe radiation burns her doctor was dismayed and said he had never seen such severe burns from radiation treatment The result was a fungal lung infection that Kaiser kept saying was Pneumonia. By the time they got around to doing a sputum sample the fungal invasion was so severe there was nothing that could done. They did everything possible to deny her breathing support. She was sorely fearful of suffocating. Her son had tostay in her room 24/7 just to ensure they didn’t unplug her!
My experience has been a roller coaster ride of grossly inefficient and inept administration issues. As a Covered California client I have been lied to, each person I speak with tells me a different scenario. And now they say my plan has been
cancelled yet Covered California says I am definitely NOT terminated. I have been rocking the boat at Kaiser over numerous admin and billing issues and frankly I think Kaiser has cancelled the plan themselves and is blaming it on their interconnect server,the third party server between Covered California and Kaiser. They are also, by their own admission, behind more than 30 days in processing Covered California paperwork. Here I am technically cancelled but Kaiser wants my share of this months and next month’s premium. I am sure they are happily absconding with the Taxpayer’s subsidy as well. Supposedly they are filing a complaint that supposedly will go to all parties involved but refuse to contact Covered California themselves or their third party server. I already have discovered their grievance process is a fraud and waste of time.
Kaiser is an immoral, corrupt, inefficient and thieving Corporation. There is no thriving at Kaiser except for their pocketbook!
From Jupirena Stein
KAISER PERMANENTE NEVER RUNS OUT OF HYPOCRISY.
Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson Accused Of Rape By His Wife; Enrages Supporters Of nomore.org
https://youtu.be/AlBmvdpg3Q8
Thank you. JS
How do you get out of Kaiser Senior Advantage and the other Medicare Advantage plans and into Medicare supplement without medical underwriting? I think the lack of success in appealing within Kaiser has made it obvious that the right decision is to leave rather than to fight. I don’t think the grass is greener at any other MA plan. In fact, I think the grass is more brown anywhere else. 5 star is crap and 3 star is diarrhea. Hopefully someone who has broken out of Kaiser Senior Advantage jail can let us know the secret.
my mouth is wide open this hospital need to be taken down! This is sick I thought it was me, and they really don’t care! And when you complain, they do nothing! A friend of mines just had three strokes they Ignore the fact that blood work should signs of strokes and heartache since 2006-15 sad! I can’t even stand the fact that we have to go and see doctors I rather jump off a bridge then go get help from kaiser. Close down the hospital…like now we all should come together and do just that!
I HATE KAISER!!! MY EMPLOYER ONLY PROVIDES KAISER & I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO… FOR MONTHS NOW I HAVE BEEN FEELING PRESSURE AND PAIN ON MY LEFT SIDE OF MY BREAST. I HAVE BEEN SEEN BY 3 DIFFERENT DOCTORS AND THEY ALL SAY I HAVE NOTHING. THEY BLAME MY ANXIETY..THEY THINK I AM MAKING UP MY PAINS? WHY ON EARTH WOULD I MAKE UP PAIN I HONESTLY FEEL. THE REASON I HAVE GONE TO SO MANY DIFFERENT DOCTORS IS BECAUSE I WANT TO GET A DIFFERENT OPINION POSSIBLY EVEN TESTING THAT HAS NOT BEEN DONE AT ALL INSTEAD THEY GO OFF EACH OTHER NOTES AND NOW IT’S TO THE POINT WHERE THEY RATHER ME HAVE A PHONE CALL APPOINTMENT INSTEAD OF GOING ON.. HOW ARE THEY GOING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT’S MAKING ME PAIN WHEN THEY CAN’T EVEN SEE ME. IM FED UP WITH KAISER! ALL I WANT IS A DOCTOR THAT CARES AND MAKES AN EFFORT TO DO SOME TESTING FIGURE WHY IAM GETTING THESE PAINS? WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS
? I’VE ALREADY COMPLAINED AND THEY TOLD ME TO SEE A PHYSIOLOGIST IM LIKE WOW!!!!!!!!!!! MY HUSBAND IS IN SHOCKED AS WELL!WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE? WAIT TILL I HAVE A HEART ATTACK THEN MAYBE JUST MAYBE THEY WILL MAKE AN EFFORT TO HELP?
I am currently in a battle for Kaiser to do an MRI for constant back pain. They have completely refused to perform one on every level of their organization.Meanwhile I endure endless pain with no answers. I filed a complaint with the state and waiting for their response but I dont think it will go anywhere. Not real confident reading though some of these issues
Dear Mistreated Patients,
I have never worked for Kaiser, but had been an ER RN for 35 years, until moving from TX to GA and finding it impossible to be hired, as facilities either are practicing ageism ( I am 58, but trim and fit and with NO physical issues at all), and /or they do not want to pay for experience. The healthcare industry has truly gone to hell since I started my nursing career in 1980, and HMOs, for profit hospitals (HCA, Tenet, etc.) and Obamacare have taken things to the utmost of incompetence and non-caring. The new RNs are taught more about computer screens than patient care, and although every healthcare system proclaims to “put the patient #1”, all they care about is making a buck. Recently, an RN in Kansas won a 3 million dollar lawsuit for wrongful termination when she was fired, after 30 years of excellent care at the same facility, for which she always got glowing reviews, as she went to administration and said the patient care was being compromised as the RNs were being forced to spend very minimal time with them, instead being forced to put documentation and computer charges first. The almighty dollar has become the number one priority since healthcare became a business with shareholders and DRGs instead of medical facilities based on patient care. We are now forced to call the patients “clients”, and doctors are not able to even practice medicine as they know it should be, as decisions are being made by the nonmedical administrators. I, myself, have had several very bad medical experiences, including slander by one doctor who sent a letter to all of my physicians saying I had Munchausen’s and was making up my symptoms because I was a nurse and “knew too much”. In the end, I had to go to another facility 60 miles away to be diagnosed with an infected kidney stone that had caused endocarditis ( heart infection). Despite my proof that everything that doctor said about me in the letter he sent to 5 other doctors was false and slanderous, and it actually compromised my health and life because the other doctors, of course, believed what he said, I was told by attorneys that I had no recourse as I had not suffered loss of life or limb.
Why I am telling you all this is because I think it is important that you know that medicine is bad across the board, and is not limited to Kaiser, and everyone should have a health advocate (RN, MD, PA…whatever)if you are ever hospitalized so that you can have a professional opinion/voice to make sure things are being done right.
As far as pain being the “5th vital sign”, I am not really sure why that was made such a big deal, as even as a nurse reporting it to the MD, the medical community has become so anti-narcotic now that even if a patient is reporting pain 10/10, that fact is ignored about 90% of the time and nurses have no power to give medication not ordered by a doctor. I started asking why we are bothering to ask the patient the question if it is not going to be addressed. I have decided that I can no longer take risking my nursing license, or worse, prosecution, from making a mistake due to hospitals setting up nurses to fail, working with such low staffing numbers there is no way one can care for patients properly. I cannot, in my soul, give a patient half-assed care.
Keep fighting on, all of you who have been wronged and mistreated. I apologize for nurses everywhere for the way healthcare has deteriorated. We have no say and many, many of us are sick in our hearts about it. I did not become an RN to spend more time with a computer than with a patient. I guess since I can’t get hired due to my age and experience anyway, the point is moot.
I know that there are a LOT of Humans enrolled with Kaiser and there are bound to be medical Malpractice.
I am one of them. But I can’t seem to get a lawyer inspired in taking my case. I am right now typing through pain. I am reading the Robert Fishers post. And I’ve read so many of the top one’s. They are are repetitive to what I am going through. I go in for a minor Back operation and my entire system is blown up. Pain 24/7 over my entire BODY! (I guess they fixed me)? I had none of this prior. Kaiser refuses to listen. But they can give me a Article for dieting. (this is after I lost 50 lbs all by myself. They also are trying to claim that I am delusional and that I am now BIPOLAR!!!
Wow, it really upsets me to see how many people are treated so poorly by kaiser! My experience is pretty horrible also. It’s so bad that I almost don’t want to write about it. From day 1 at kaiser , been treated like a POS. I would get email notifications from linkden that kaiser employees were, ” looking at my profile “! The email included their photos. I filed a complaint and they are still avoiding the topic, knowing that I have proof and photos of their shadiness and unethical behaviors. They were supposedly doing an, ” investigation ” on me! WHY and on a social media site??? WHAT?? I went back to these people for a reason. I was a patient when I was a child, many er visits and hospitalizations. I thought those records would help shed some light on why I am so sick right now. Well, they told me they never got those paper records and I still don’t know why. I logged into my kp account one day to see 2 new conditions added to the very top of my ” ONGOING conditions”. They were HERPES and CHLAMYDIA! !!! WHAT??!! First of all, I have never had herpes and I did have chlamydia when I was 16 from my amazing boyfriend of 4 years who cheated on me. Lol! So, if kaiser never went to get my childhood records, than how would they know about a condition I HAD when I was 16? WHY and WHO would think adding those 2 conditions to the VERY TOP of my ” ONGOING “condition list was appropriate? ?? These people are NOT right and they do some shady shit ! I am so ill at this point and they STILL avoid me. They avoid me because they know what they’ve done wrong. I went to their er back in 2013, feeling sick and strange. I ended up having a seizure from my fever spiking. During my seizure, I could hear the nurses in the room laughing at me, calling me a druggy, that they couldn’t believe someone so small could do so many drugs, making jokes and saying while laughing,” ya, say know to drugs. Ha ha ha ha”! Well, I had a false positive drug test and because of that I was treated like shit. I have severe anxiety and self esteem issues because of how I was treated and labeled as. I had to be transferred to a different hospital for observation that night where a different dr ran a blood test to confirm that kaiser had a negative drug test. What people laugh at a patient who is having a seizure? ? Kaiser!! Do NOT trust these people, make sure your social media pages are what kaiser expects you to have, always have a witness with you, record calls with them, keep notes, check your kp account to see who’s logging into YOUR account and be aware of them and how they work. Right now, I am having severe pins and needles, my right foot is completely numb, my skin feels like I’ve been severely burned and in different parts, loosing my cognitive function, severe leg pain that goes into my toes, fainting and just found out through a neurologist that I have a bad b12 deificncy that was missed 4 months ago. A Dr ran the test and never cared to check the results! He seemed so concerned about but because I have severe anxiety that kaiser has caused and the b12 is of NO concern now. Lol.I guess anxiety is innapropriate for any patient who is sick? According to kaiser it is..I would love to tell everyone all the other shady stuff they are trying to get away with, but my mind is exausted. If you have more than one symptom or in the least bit complex? Stay as far away from kaiser as you can. These people will not only ruin your health, but your life and mental state.. Telling a 40 year old woman to take her vitamin for severe numbness? I can only pray that I am able to feel my foot after my ” vitamin” and see my therapist.
Kaiser, Good People, Good Medicine, GOOD LUCK! I have been with Kaiser for 56 YEARS. In that time I have had one Doctor Tell me “100 Years ago. If you hurt your back. You would be back in the fields working” I had a Psychologist tell me to “Grow up” when I complained. I had a visit to the ER one night after receiving a very severe cut to my hand. I was an EMT at one time (As part of a response team at the corporation I worked for) I informed to 20 something triage nurse (Who’s grasp of English was not as good as her Tagalog)That I had cut 2 tendons, An artery and a nerve. I knew this from the spurting blood, inability to flit my fingers and no feeling in the tips of 2 fingers. Her response? “There are no arteries in the hand” Really? Really? She sends me to minor medical, where I sit for 4 hours. at which point they send me for xrays. another 2 hours. I FINALLY get to a REAL Doctor. He walks in and says “Lets se what we have here” I explain the situation, remove the 4×4 bandages I have held pressure with for 6-7 hours now. The spurting blood has stopped. He says, “Well, it doesn’t look like you hit an artery” He then proceeds to inject Lydocaine into the wound to allow for cleaning it up and stitching. The wound opens and spurts blood from his chin to his belly button, All the way down his clean white shirt. I doesn’t blink. He sets the syringe down, hands me a stack on 4×4’s and says “Hold pressure on that and excuses me for a moment” He returns with the triage nurse, CHIEF of orthopedic surgery for Kaiser North and an Admin wildly taking notes (They KNOW they Screwed up) The doctor has me remove the 4×4 which is now covering an open arterial wound. He says to the nurse ” THIS is an Arterial bleed, Its and EMERGENCY and he should have been seen in EMERGENCY 7 hours ago” He asks me to cover the wound again, Floor is covered in blood. the Chief explains that ” Because it was a dirty wound. We cant repair it now. We will just stitch over it now, Send you home with a wide spectrum antibiotic and hope you don’t get an infection. If you do we will fix the infection and THEN repair your hand in a few weeks. All ths because a Nurse had NO clue. A silly EMT knew more. I LOVED the way the Doctor chewed out the nurse. Down side Is I could have lost the use of my fingers, hand or worse. No more Kaiser WC for me. The list goes on amd NO ONE at Kaiser give a Spit about the patents. I have TWO doctors I trust (Maybe 3) The rest are hit and miss. Ask questions, DEMAND service. Push, Push, Push until they give you the answers you want. DEMAND to see you WRITEN notes from the doctors. Make sure you correct their notes and have them place letters from you IN your record If you think they are wrong. The biggest problem is not lack of information but BAD information. I have seen more than a couple of time when a doctor will tell me one thing and document another. Then try to make me out to be the bad guy for NOT following his instructions (Had one doctor prescribe a med and THEN tell me I took it wrong because that not what he said. Then WHY was it written on the bottle exactly as he told me?????) Its PRECTICING Medicine. Just don’t practice on me. Kaiser sucks, but if you try to change doctors. You will be accused of “Doctor shopping” if you are taking pain meds (Thanks Obama. That was part of the 2200 pages we didn’t see) in 1994 it was found that only 24 percent of Doctors prescribed pain meds correctly. The CD did another study in 1996 and 2004? But it was 2011 when they threatened Doctors with repercussions if they prescribed meds outside of the guidelines on NoBama Don’t Care. What part of Affordable is having to travel 60 miles round trip to pick up meds twice a month because the rules changed? When I explained this to a young girl at the Pharmacy counter her reply was “I don’t care HOW far you drove” I had called ahead and asked if it was ready to pick up. She says yes, But neglected to tell me it wouldn’t be released for 3 days because it was early. I used to be able to get 3 months supplies. Now, Its one month. It cost me $200 every time I take time off work to get to the pharmacy to pick this stuff up. Some of it they cant mail. I have been at this medical condition 30 YEARS and all of a sudden it changes. I’m SICK of being SICK. My stress level is through the roof. How is that good medicine? What part of “Do no harm” causes me to wait 3 week to get my hand repaired, or wait to be meds, drive an hour because some politician didn’t read 200 pages of CRAP. Obama care could have been ONE page. Build a web site to list options for affordable medical insurance, buy some or get fines. Why does the IRS need to be involved or need to hire 30,000 new employees.
I will be writing later about what has gone on. Right now, I’m still with Kaiser and I don’t want one of their hit men killing me off.
I will share in detail later. They get 3 months of money from the government for taking on special needs/senior advantage patients and then then will do many sinister things to kill you off after the three months.
Beware!
To all: The raw truth about Kaiser: Please, have a look at my newest video.
Kaiser Permanente CEOs, States and Federal Health Systems Scamming Patients for 60 years.
https://youtu.be/D5qs_gZsO1I
Please share. Thank you. Jupirena Stein
I too have a lawsuit being put together. Diagnosed without ever stepping into the doctors office, and seeing other doctors they too continue with this doctors assessment. Mal-practice….
I made the biggest mistake of becoming a kaiser patient again. I went back 3 years ago because I had them in my childhood and they have my medical records that are useful to help with my very complex health situation today. I went to their er a few years ago and had a seizure. During my seizure, I heard the nurses in the room laughing at me while having a seizure. Saying, ” she’s a druggy, how can such a small girl stuff so many drugs, she looks like a druggy and hahhahaha, say no to druhs”! I have never done a drug in my lifr! I had a false positive UA that was confirmed negative on blood work done at the hospital I was transferred to that night. I filed a complaint and they denied everything, of course. A year ago, I started getting emails from linkden that kaiser employees were looking at my profile. Those emails included their names, job titles and photos. Lol. I called kaiser to find out why their employees were looking at my personal profile on linkden. They wanted to avoid the topic until I sent the very detailed emails. A lady named Paula at kaiser said they were doing an ” investigation “on me and that I should just get over it and move forward. She was very rude to me about it. I had done nothing to warrent any investigation! I am very sick and need medical care, not a social media investigation! Do they do this to every patient? ? If not, I think I need an attorney? My hippa has been violated, my personal and private information has been violated, employees at kaiser reading my records without my consent, gossiping about me,refusing to address another recent seizure, failing to read my test results and treating a b12 deificncy that is causing severe neurological symptoms and permanent nerve damage, employees logging into my online account to alter messages I’ve written to my dr, labeling me, profiling me, slandering me and this is kaiser for you! A social worker also got my childhood records and lied about it. There were 2 conditions added to my ” ongoing ” condition list that would only be added had she got my childhood records! The 2 conditions added were to harass me. These people are sickening !!! They know what they have done and I can’t wait for the world to know what they’ve done to me and probably other patients. I will make sure the world is aware and to think twice before thinking about being a kaiser patient. I need a really good attorney! I hate kaiser and stay away if you want your health, dignity and any respect!
If you complain or know too much, they will gangstalk you. They will coordinate a mass effort to discredit you and your reputation and will attempt to drive you to insanity. They have no boundaries…and they will involve your employer/workplace and neighbors if necessary. Uses of advanced technology may also be used. Evil. Pure evil.
Kaiser does truly suck!!! Everyone is right they care only about making the profit on the backs of their members.
They are the absolute worse ; their docs look at a computer screen which guides them on what to do next. I have had to be my own healthcare advocate in dealing with Kaiser. I have complained about issues that have arisen to no avail, they don’t care..let the buyer beware there are better alternatives to Kaiser ; have switched and am much happier and safer
I had to stop reading the stories of the KP drama. I like to call KPC….Kaiser Permanente Cult. NO INDEPENDENT THINKING OR PRACTICING “MEDICINE”. Every “specialist” dept I ever visited made an error in procedures. That totals about 8-10 incidences.
I had a clot on my leg and another in my lungs. Went to Ann Arundel Hospital,,,was discharged qfter 3 days and told to have some Xrays. I’ve been trying without luck . First: problems with the Xray machine and now different silly excuses and NOTHING!The doctor ordered the X-Rays!
Kaiser really messed up my father. They gave him heparin even though he had a subdural hematoma that was missed by the radiologist.
I am thankful I found this website. Sorry to all the people that Kaiser has treated so horribly. I am 64 years old and I have many health problems. Heart, liver, digestion and now chronic vein and circulation problems etc. I been with Kaiser since like 2007 but in the last few years I have noticed how bad they have become. I think now I have been through at least 10 primary physicians. Out of all these I only had one that was any good but he quit Kaiser and moved to China. MY health is declining now and sometimes I go to the ER at Panorama City for help after hours and when I cant get in to see my doctor which is often he is not available or booked up. Sometimes you cant get an appointment with your primary for like 2 weeks. In the last 9 months I have to the ER like 3 or 4 times. Most of the time going there I was ignored for many hours and also treated poorly by nurses with bad attitudes. 2 times I got so upset just sitting there for hours I got dressed and left not being seen at all. I just went there again on March 2nd 2016. I was there for 9 hours from 7am to 4pm. I went in for swollen feet wanted to be checked for cellulitis and make sure no infection was there. The nurse at first was semi-friendly but I wanted to ask her about something the doctor said I pushed the little button and someone else came I said I want to ask my nurse a question she then got my assigned nurse who then acted bothered at me because I wanted something after this her whole attitude changed towards me. She did not come back to my room for many hours. Finally at 3pm the doctor came back in and said he would like to do another bloodtest on one thing I said ok do it but I have to leave at 4 pm. He left and I never saw him again. I never saw my nurse either. Now the time is after 4pm and I have been there for 9 hours. I got upset took all the wires off me except for the blood line and plastic thing on the top of my hand. I walked to the nurses station and 2 nurses just standing there laughing and talking just ignored me. I said very loudly 2 times ” excuse me ” ! Only then would they even look at me I asked can you get my nurse to take this out of my hand I have to leave now. I see my nurse come out of a door just feet away and all she could do is give a nasty look. She then told some male nurse to take the line out of my hand. He was annoyed by having to do it. He did it very fast and not careful he even bruised my hand by doing it that way. He slaps a cotton ball on there and a piece of tape then he leaves without a word. So still my nurse never even gives me my visit final paperwork. I walk down to the checkout window and wait. I see 2 people a man and a woman all dressed up in nice clothes I asked them if they have anything to do with running this place they said yes. So I started to voice my complaint to them. They listened meanwhile while we were talking i noticed my blood was dripping down my hand all over the floor due to the crappy patch job by the annoyed male nurse. They called another nurse over to tape me up again. I said what kind of place you running here I been waiting in that room for hours and everyone includeing my nurse just ignoring me. I said all day long i could here your emplyees say well we are going to lunch now. Mind you, I was there for 9 hours and I had been up since 4am in the morning. I had nothing to eat or drink all day long. Not one nurse even offered me anything to eat or even a glass of water to drink all day. This lady I was complaining then tries to offer me a sandwich now. I said its too late and I am going home. yet just another terrible experience at the Kaiser ER dept. I am sure those 2 people as soon as I left there they probably just laughed and said oh well just another complainer. I have complained to Membership services but usually what happens there is they like 4 weeks later or so just send you a letter in the U.S. mail saying that after their investigation of the matter they consider the complaint to be closed or finalized. In other words nothing was done at all. I could list more bad experiences all with the same end result. The sad thing is now my health is declining and I dont have the strength to fight them. I have noticed that since I have complained that the ER treats me poorly. I think they put something on your file so that when they look you up on the computer it states that you complain about them. I asked to see a podiatrist because of my feet swelling and circulation problem he acted like it was no big deal. So I got another new primary and I sent him an email telling him I wanted to see a podiatrist that my other doctor would not refer me. I then said if I loose my foot due to poor circulation and you dont send me to a podiatrist then this will be a very big deal. So I got my podiatrist referral and I go next week. Long story short, kaiser is bad. I have lost all faith in kaiser to help me or anyone. My health is declining and they are to blame. If there is a class action lawsuit against them I will get involved .
Kaiser is killing my grandchild 18 years old . They have lied misdiagnosed and labeled her. They refuse to treat her. She is very ill and it’s NOT physicosamatic!! As they keep saying . You don’t have fevers for a month pain in your side loss of weight weakness. nausea rash mucus in your stools if nothing is wrong!!!!
I have been a Kaiser PT for 57 YEARS. I have watched Kaiser decline for many of those years. Silly me for being a loyal patient. Kaiser has tried to cause permanent, physical harm to me twice that I am sure of. I cut two tendons an artery and a nerve in my hand. I was an EMT for 19 years and I KNOW arterial bleeding. I couldn’t lift my fingers due to the tendon, I couldn’t feel my fingers due to the nerve, Thank God I have just nicked the artery or I could have lost 2 fingers due to lack of blood. After being met by the Trauma Nurse in ER. Who tells me “Not any arteries in your hand” I objected and argued my point. She was having none of it. I was told to go to Minor Medical and I would be seen. 4 hours later I was sent to X-Ray. 3 hours after that I was seen by the Dr in Minor Medical. I tell him what’s going on and he says “well, lets see what’s going on here” He injects some lydocaine and the wound opens up. The arterial blood squirts from his chin to his belt (White shirt. I loved it)He doesn’t blink. He grabs some 4×4’s, says “Will you just hold these on there. I will be right back” he leaves and returns with the Nurse, The HEAD of Orthopedic surgery for Kaiser (Who just happen to be there that day) and an Admin (Incase I used the word Lawyer I think)The doctor proceeds to ask me to uncover the wound. It sprays across the room, He turns to the Nurse and gives her a lesion in “Arterial bleeding” she leaves in a huff. I am then told what I already know. Its stitched up, 2-3 weeks of wide spectrum antibiotics, then reopened and repaired. If repaired now, as it should have been, I would have been OK, but with the long term chance of contamination from the dirty cut. I had no choice but to wait. That’s number 1
The second time was after a back injury. I was told by the third doctor I had seen there after experiencing a herniated disk that IF I was a farmer 100 years ago. I would have just gone back to work. Well, Its NOT 100 years ago, well, maybe according to Kaisers treatments. I was off work for 18 MONTHS before they got it right. I have suffered pain for 26 years in my back. I’m much older and I am within a few years of retiring. Kaiser has now taken away my pain med’s and set my back treatment back 26 years. I am looking for a different plan after 57 YEARS. I would love to see a class action suit. Count me in.
Kaiser hands down the worst hospital. West los angeles kaiser permanente horrific lying sack of shit drs!!! Horrible primary dr I had to deal with Joseph Huang. He was so bad I originally went for seizures I ended up with hashimoto disease, hi blood pressure and cervical myelopathy under this dipshits care!!!!! 1st he assigned me to the worst neurologist, and when I was in Japan, a dr wrote a letter to my dipshit primary dr Joseph Huang suggesting to have my thyroid checked. What does he do?? Assign me to the worst endocriminalogist possible. I was originally hyperthyroid which was cureable if I went to a good dr. What does he do??? Lies to me and forces me to take a nuclear pill.” Dont worry, this will just slow down your overactive thyroid” never telling me he was planning to destroy my thyroid and put me on levothyroxine for the rest of my life!!! After that lie. My life was destroyed. The hi blood pressure began. Which eventually lead to my heart attach and myelopathy!!! Next nightmare. I had a heart attach one night I went to the west LA KP ER room the stupid desk clerk. Asked me to wait in the frigging waiting room!!!!! 30 minutes I was suffering so I got up and walked into their surgery room and luckily there was an oncall UCLA dr there!!! If it wasn’t for him I would be dead right now. He screamed at all the nurses and Kaiser Drs to get me in surgery. He was 1 pissed off Dr. Then after my angioplasty and stent surgery more nightmare begain. Next the horrid persian cardiologist At kaiser I had to deal with. I followed his instructions
Took my baby aspirin and all his horrible prescription. Oh gotta love this bullshit after bothering him if there was a more natural remedy to lowering blood pressure he finally gives in ” let me teach you a Doctors secret, eat 1 clove of garlic every day.and remember, this is supposed to be a secret” after that he put a finger to his lips and gave me a long shhhhhhh…… Are you serious? This is no secret!!!!! And why the hell are Drs keeping secrets from their patients?????? Why the hell are we paying you for???? Anyways, check this bull shit out, after taking baby asprin for 1 year straight, I started to piss clumps of blood.it was frightening !!! I complained to this stupid cardiolgist you know what his answer was????? ” oh thats normal dont worry that happens from time to time keep taking the aspirin” was his answer!!! After that I had a huge fight with this asshole. Then i went to my primary dr had even a bigger fight with im I demanded to change cardiologist, he refused. Then my war with kaiser west la began. I demanded to change primary dr and that horrible admissions refused until I started a huge scene in their registration area where I was screaming obscenities in front of all their new potential customers. After that, I switched to the holllywood kaiser and even some of the drs there were absolutely appalled by my horror stories of the west la facility.
Hello. My life has been ruined by a Kaiser surgeon and because of his crappy work I will suffer in pain the rest of my life because of the side effects of radiation and who knows what else he did. Room him e surgeries just to find 1 lymph node to test for cancer and he ripped out 22. Now I have lymphedema for the rest of my life too. Dr Moyel screwed me up for life and then retired. Anyone know a good attorney in Portland Oregon?
All I can say is that Kaiser doctors killed my father. My dad was rushed to ER due to him battling stomach cancer, let me tell you that doctor that was in the ER was the worst doctor who kept medicating my father with dialudid when my father was not in pain. My father has surgery there to remove the tumor but nothing was done thet kept telling us they took half of his stomach out and then to find out they never did. My dad’s life was ruin no treatments were given like chemo or radiation. My dad was left with pain and suffering. The day he passed was the day we took him to ER and then that doctor sent him home without giving us no discharged papers or nothing. As soon as my father came home he passed, I know they overdose my father with dialudid. We went back to get the discharge papers 2 days later and to find out they only noted on dose of dialudid on the paper when those bastards put 4 doses of dialudid.. We will be looking for justice for this malpractice they have done which caused my fathers death. We are in the process of looking for a lawyer.
And we are on our way back to the ER Kaiser S.SAC for the 4th time in less than 36 hours. Back on the IV! Hello Dumbasses…some patients have hard to find veins so don’t get pissed off at me and start poking and pulling harder because of your lack of Phlebotomy training. Go ahead and fill me up with more drugs here, but remember, don’t send me home with ANY so when this round wears off I get to come back and put up with your s*** too. My bad, I forgot, Kaiser thinks we are a bunch of drug addicts just looking for a fix….So tell me what you found in all the urine and blood samples…..Duh, NO F****** DRUGS!!! Maybe this time you will do the CT Scan I have been asking for, Maybe this time you will be caring and compassionate, Maybe this time I won’t have to wait 2 hours for a gurney, Maybe this time you finally kill me!
I have been with Kaiser L.A. several years. I am not a complainer, however after reading everything here
I feel foolish that I have not complained about several things that have happened to me. In Oct. of 2012
I was diagnosed with breast cancer at W.L.A. I got a second opinion from the Head of Surgery at Kaiser Sunset. He referred me to a surgeon Dr. Romero. I scheduled the surgery with her at which time when I awakened I asked her how everything went? She told me that she made a mistake & forgot to put a
marker on the cancer & was unable to find it. I had to go under a second time. I suffer with depression
& had a major Panic Attack. I never reported this because my psychiatrist told me that she would go before a Board that would censure her. This did not happen. Recently, I suffered with a cough that did not allow me to sleep or eat. I went to several doctors who said they did not know what was causing this
problem. I suffered greatly. I went to urgent care & was prescribed antibiotics even though I did not have
an infection. I changed my Primary Care doctor after much trauma. She read my chart & told me my problem was the blood pressure medication I was taking. She changed my medication & I have not coughed since. Her name is Dr. Lena Ajanian, my hero. I never complained about this either.[still foolish]
I have been suffering with grinding my teeth for years.[Bruxism] I was seeing a great Dr. at which time he
used Botox & I never suffered any pain. He left Kaiser & the new Doctor Dr. Julian Wilson was rude &
disrespectful. He told me Kaiser had discontinued using the medication I was taking. I have been seeing
him for over a year without any relief. After many complaints I told him I was suicidal & he told me he
was now using the same drugs I had been using with my original Doctor. I do not believe him. I spoke to
him about his egregious behavior towards me. He said he had two small children at home. He also said he
was working at his private practice, but would be quitting the next week. Like we should be bringing our problems to work. I am a seventy six year old African American female. I am a Vietnam Widow. I raised two children as a single parent. I sent my daughter to George Town Law Center. My son went to Harvard U.
he is an Engineer. I have finally complained to arbitration. I was called by someone yesterday & asked why
I never complained about the Surgeon before? I could tell by her attitude she was not going to do much for me even though I told them I feel Suicidal. My only regret is that I let my depression not investigate this
column when the surgery was malpractice. I shall fight now. I realize I am up against Goliath, however I
will do everything in my power to let everyone know about my mal treatment to hopefully help others. The aforementioned articles have helped me greatly.
immensely.
What I can’t understand is that most if not all the posts here KEEP going back to KP. If it’s that bad, which I don’t believe, then why do you keep going back? If you touch a hot stove and it burns you, do you touch it again the next day, expecting a different outcome? Take some responsibility in the fact that stories about KP have been shared since 2007, and yet the enrollment with their insurance is at an all time high. So who really is the dumb ass; The stove for putting off heat, or the human that touches it daily?
L. A. Smith
I, too, have a horror story regarding Kaiser but not about myself. My best friend from high school (we graduated in ’62) was unfortunate enough to have Kaiser as her insurance provider, thus dictating what in-network physicians they would cover. The story is very long and very involved so I shall try to be as concise as possible.
She was diagnosed with breast caner in 2005 with positive axillary nodes. She underwent radical mastectomy followed by the trio of chemotherapies used as standard of care at the time followed by 5 years of follow-up oral med and yearly scans. After that, she was declared “NED” and there was no more follow up. At the 8 year mark, she went from California back to Pennsylvania to spend Thanksgiving with her mother, a local artist. They were out taking photographs of old stone buildings for her mother’s next painting project when my friend suddenly had a focal seizure involving her entire right arm, shoulder to fingertips.
Prior to her flight to PA, she had noticed her handwriting had suddenly deteriorated and went to her Kaiser physician. He did a cardiogram in the office (for her HEART !?!?!), said it was normal, he could find nothing wrong with her and if she had any further symptoms, she should call. This guy should not have been practicing medicine. He knew about her history of breast cancer which had already spread to lymph nodes at time of diagnosis. She clearly described how she felt she didn’t have total control over her right hand and even brought samples of her handwriting as visual proff of her concerns. She was persistent in saying she thought something was wrong; he was insistent that nothing was wrong. The ‘further symptoms, unfortunately, manifested here in PA; she was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital (excellent reputation) where tests showed a brain tumor. Further scans would reveal distant metastases to bone, lung and liver and, of course, biopsy revealed these were from her primary breast cancer. She had been in Lehigh Valley for approximately 4-5 days and spent Thanksgiving as an in-patient. About 7PM Thanksgiving evening, she got a telephone call from Kaiser Permanente. What they told her was, she would have to go back to California for any further treatment; they would no longer agree to pay for her medical treatment in Pennsylvania. By this time, she was on very large doses of Keppra to control her seizures. Kaiser cared NOTHING about this patient; their ONLY concern was COST.
The absolute disgust I felt with this insurance company is beyond my ability to describe. They do what they want, when they want with complete and total disregard for the needs of the individual. It’s ALL about the MONEY.
It would seem my dear friend is just one of a multitude of patients who received poor or less than adequate care because of the absence of standards exercised by this company’s questionable management and heartless nature.
Insurance companies today are understandably concerned with cost containment but try explaining that to the patients who suffer because their needs are not met, whose lives are just not significant. Explain it to the families and friends who are helpless to ‘fight city hall’ and watch helplessly as big business dictates whether or not we can receive appropriate medical treatment. The patients have become nothing more than dots on a sheet of graph paper, of no significance. The individual is no longer considered. Where is the humanity?
My dear friend passed away last summer. I don’t blame Kaiser for that, but I do fault them for failing to delve into the huge red flag she presented to her physician, for calling a dying woman on Thanksgiving to tell her she could not stay in Pennsylvania with her family but would have to get on a plane and fly across the country if she wanted any treatment. That was beyond cruel, beyond impersonal. It was, after all, ……….just business as usual.
I had an ear infection.I have a history of ear infections. I wanted an antibiotic or some drops to stop the pain. This started on a Saturday this pass January. The Dr said All I needed was an ear wash, which I would get on Friday. So I suffered through it all week until the ear wash lady said your ear is swollen shut and you need an antibiotic.
At that point I refused to leave without one, and quickly changed doctors.The next week my new Doctor called me and said I was diagnosed with cancer back in 2012. I guess they failed to let me know. Now its 2 months post-surgery. I have gone through about 10 doctors trying to do the right thing for my health. 4 years ago would have been a simple process. Now I am just a shell of myself.
I agree with many points made in this piece. I had the misfortune of meeting Dr. Wayne Pack at San Francisco’s Kaiser ophthalmology department for a specific eye problem. Very upsetting experience.
I feel that more time was spent having to convince him of the pressure I was feeling in my eye rather than him acknowledging my problem and sincerely trying to understand the underlying issue. He prescribed me a treatment routine (I could tell it was very general because he already had dozens of copies of this treatment on the table) which has not helped even though he gave me the misleading hope of “a 9/10 chance it will feel better in 3-4 days.”
He would also keep interrupting me with his repeated apologies along the lines of: “I apologize, I apologize, you see.. we’ve failed you.. but this.. this will make you feel better” which really irked me because they were so insincere in tone and he would time these phrases to interrupt me multiple times before I finished giving additional details to my condition.
This was the most inappropriate part of our encounter. As I was initially leaving the room, I showed skepticism about how a topical treatment would relieve the weight I was feeling above my eye (proof that the treatment did not help is that I am still feeling this pressure more than a week later); he then closed the door, raised his voice, and ushered me to sit back down and began to assume the role of a psychologist. He began to talk to me in a slower tone and using euphemisms to indirectly suggest that he believed I had a mental problem that made me imagine the pressure in my eye, such as: “Now.. we’re going to help your eyes.. and we’re going to help the rest of your body too.” This gave me a very uncomfortable feeling. At this point I felt insulted and upset because he started to write a letter to a psychologist on the computer and started to ask personal questions about my family and whether I had siblings, to which I responded with: “I do not find it appropriate that you are asking me questions about my personal life when I came to you in search of help for a specific eye problem. Of course this problem has given me much anxiety for this past month, which I was hoping that a well-trained ophthalmologist would be able to help address, but I can say with confidence that nothing else has been the source of my anxiety recently.” My mother was also in the room and felt that it was inappropriate he was assuming the role of a psychologist at this point. He responded with “No no, I don’t think so” and asked if I wanted the letter he had typed to be sent to the psychologist which I denied. He also never referred to me by name nor greeted me, though I am also fairly new to Kaiser so I don’t know if that is protocol.
I got a second opinion from a much kinder doctor from the same department and she said that much of the routine prescribed to me by Dr. Pack was allergy-related which I did not seem to have issues with. This reinforced my idea that Dr. Pack approach seems to be most convenient for him (having multiple copies of the same treatment ready to give to many patients, despite them not having the exact same eyes/problems) at the cost of generalized/less-individualized treatment.
I was very looking forward to switching to Kaiser as the first nurse I encountered was kind, but this experience with Dr. Pack has left me discouraged and very insulted.
” I am an orphan in my own managed health organization” with that stated my nightmare tarted when my primary dr left and it became obvious to me and my friends in my chronic pain/ fibromyalgia support group that something is written about me that they can read and I can’t see. I hardly know where to begin with the torchur I received. My ORTHO dr ( he has been an angel) ordered a hip MRI , when he received the results he wrote to means told me I needed a total hip replacement. However , he no longer did this type of surgery so he referred me to the hip surgeon ( two of them) where I felt like a volleyball being vollied and given a whole lot of BS, meanwhile they had my pain medicines cut 50%. 4 years later I finally get the new hip the surgeon told my husband it was severe bone on bone with synovitis. Three weeks post surgery the primary doctor tells me they plan on weaning me off all Meds. Now what I did not tell you is I have 14 chronic pain conditions , I have had carpal tunnel survives on both hands, knee surgery to correct a torn meniscus and anatomy issue with my knee. I have cervical radiculpathy , fibromyalgia, irritable bowel, migraines, tigger thumb in both hands to name some issues. It is obvious to me there is some type of internal agenda that like a script they adhere to. I am now two months out from total hip replacement and in rehabilitation, I have not seen the surgeon yet, and my primary wrote me an email announcing I need to pick which pain medicine I let her remove. In other words, I’m on a long acting and short acting. This is totally in humane behavior. I have told her I am in pain. Yet she is like a robot on a mission and me the patient and my quality of life is not even considered. It is outrageous to me. There is so much more I could share, but I gave a little of what I have experienced. I really want out of this hell!!!!
I went to see my neurologists when I was 24,after I had my first seizure(grandma)and he put me on dilation and phenobarbital,fourty years later my doctor put me on keppra and phenobarbital,andtold me that from dr.bissell leaving me on dilation for so long that it has totally destroyed my equilibrium and now I fall all the time and am in a power chair,and I begged and pleaded with dr.bissell to take me off the Dilantin that my body was ammuned to it,and his reply was,i believe it’s like a car,if it’s not broken,dont fix it,well now it’s really broke,if there is a class action,i will be part of it
Nothing has changed. Went to kaiser and after one appointment switch doctor because wasn’t being treated right. After getting a new doctor at the same kaiser seem okay with the first appointment but then the second time didn’t go well. Now gotta switch again. The sad part is being treated 100% better by a different hospital to know the difference. That is the sad part. So hopefully its just the complex and not Kaiser in general. Going to be switching to a different complex all together. I’m willing to switch until I get the right doctor.
I have read all the sad stories posted on this website and my heart breaks for what you all had to endured. I am a critical care nurse at one of Kaiser’s Hospitals and I have never seen so much criminal activity, so many people died at the hands of this incompetent Doctors. I have notified my Mgr. of the dangerous actions of the Doctors towards patient care and she fired me for advocating for the well being of the sick and vulnerable. I have some valuable information that I would love to share with everyone, however, posting about it it’s not going to help resolve the matter, I agreed with so many of you that we need to come together and take a stand. We need to RIOT in front of the governor’s office until they hear THE PEOPLE. Unless we all come together and take this matter to the proper officials they will continue this criminal behavior and many, many others will fall victim. One way to start bringing awareness to the public will be to contact the media, I assure you that many others will come forward. If you all interested in putting this serious matter into motion I can contact me at [email address removed by Admin – contact us to be put in touch with this poster]
Sorry folks…but here’s the bottom line. Kaiser is only good for people in good health. It is a money making operation, period. Their doctors are diagnosticians at best.
How many WASP doctors have you seen at Kaiser lately?
To RSutter – The stories are definitely true whether you believe them or not. You also don’t seem to understand how insurance works. Not everyone has non-Kaiser options available to them. Some employers only offer Kaiser because it is generally cheapest, and even when there are options they are often unaffordable. Folks with an employer plan available are also not eligible for premium subsidies and tax credits so going the individual route via Obamacare is also not an affordable option for many. Any healthcare is sometimes better than none, and Kaiser doesn’t screw up every single thing.
Being forced to go back after harm has been done is actually one of the most horrifying aspects of the Kaiser Victim experience, so it wouldn’t hurt you to have a little compassion.
I feel better after reading these comments, I thought it was just me that had a target on my back. First, I have a great foot doctor, he is the only reason I still belong to Kaiser. However, the primary guys I have had have made fun of me, I have a severe hereditary sleep problem due to a family history of anxiety. they seem to look at me in disgust because I need 1 (one) 2mg Xanax pill at bedtime to help me sleep as I need my sleep due to a very physical job I have. You get 30 every 30 days. There have been times when it gets to a “zero refill” status and I am waiting for a doctor to authorize the refill only to not be able to get in contact or have him already gone for the weekend before he renews it. I tried everything in the book many years ago and Xanax is the ONLY thing that triggers me into sleep. Why can’t they have a doctor in a booth at the pharmacy for these emergency types of situations that can handle it right away? I recently found myself in the ER after not sleeping for 40 hours because the 2 phone appointments I had were never even attempted by the doctor. Even if you don’t want to treat me, at least call and tell me so. Don’t be a coward and disregard a patients appointment. I think the patients at Kaiser need to organize a huge protest somewhere and let’s start being heard. I wasn’t really angry over not being telephoned, I was honestly hurt deep inside knowing that I work hard and between my employer and myself, we pay a good buck to these people. I will say that the majority of the nurses have been great and I can easily feel their frustration when I look at what they are going through. It’s too bad a nurse can’t give out a prescription, at least they care about us as busy as they are. Some of these arrogant doctors will find out someday that the greed of having everything in life does not make you happy inside. All we need is a roof over our heads,some good food to eat and a good conversation among friends. To let greed take over a doctor’s life makes them look like a fool. They are only fooling
themselves.
Kiaser misdiagnosed me in 2006 they said I had a concussion and really I broke C6 my neck they fired the doctor but they lied when they told me to wait 2 yrs to see if I have any complications and them knowing statue of Limitations I couldn’t do anything after that now Im having issues
MISSY, date of your post was around 2016, not sure, but I muet reiterate, you nailed it!!! I’m a Registerd Nurse but illnesses and trauma disallowing my return to nursing profession and although I had hoped to return I now see your remark about ageism and I don’t stand a chance now.even with a Master’s .. I was a dedicated nurse that NEVER dreaded going to work, I HAVE missed it sooo much but I had a feeling it had gotten (knew it had) much worst since I became disabied. But my problems are obsolete. HMO is the WORST insurance ever. PPO is next. Remember the day when BCBS was the best and what many employers offered? Gone are those days. Making $$$ is the name of the game now. APATHY RULES. DOCTORS stick together and WILL NOT DISPUTE another’s diagnoses..period. I was once told “you can’t go back to work bkz you will end up in b jail!” Perhaps that’s true. I am a patient advicate…I am PRO PLAINTIFF/Patient. I used to dig in medical records to HELP patient/client refute defense attorney claims (lies) that hospitals, docs, etc.,we’re in error, therefore summerizing records in layman’s terms so the attorney could understand the medical terms… sometimes to no avail. But sometimes we won. For those of you interested, you might wasnt to contact a LAW FIRM IN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA. He is one of the most successful and powerful attorneys in the Southeast and recently won a billion dollarjudgment against manufacture of talc that caused ovarian CA. Every attorney in that firm is good…it would be a class action lawsuit. I will phone him this week to see if he is interested and get back to you. I’m not sure about the statute and it may not matter considering it’s a class action.. I will be back. Nobody…no human or animal deserves this kind of medical care.
My Doctor is a very good one and I would love to have a better Dr. Patient Relationship.
He doesn’t answer my emails now or my P&C letter. I don’t like my emails being shared with others not my Dr.. He did say that I could send a letter or call. Problem is he won’t answer.
The Race Card was played on me at my last appointment by Doctor’s assistant of which was all on her part. I found by doing my DNA that I am actually 4% African Nigerian and was telling her about my journey on family history and asked if she knew what tribe she came from, etc.. I waited quite awhile before the Doctor came in, and when he did, he gave me a raving lecture about how I shouldn’t talk about race. I did tell him what I said and it did dawn on him that I had no bad intentions against his assistant, and she didn’t say anything to me that she didn’t want me to talk about family history, etc.. -So now I am not sure how I stand on anything with my doctor and would feel very uncomfortable being in that room with his assistant alone at any time. It’s hard to get a good Kaiser Doctor and now I will have to go Doctor shopping I guess, as he just plain won’t converse with me, etc..
We need to get together on Facebook. I don’t know how to set such things up, but one of you might. It could be called Kaiser Victims or something like that. I’ll look for it and sign up. I’m all for a protest, the world needs to know. And they just put up a new hospital in San Diego. Love to initiate it with a HUGE protest.
Hi there
This site is a shocker. For all the right reasons. I’ve linked it to a post I’ve written about how the UK can ‘look forward’ to a Tory government’s imposing of the Kaiser Permanete and remove the NHS altogether. Obviously Theresa May (Tory Leader) is lying but your website is a startling indictment of how bad things will be.
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I will be exposing KAISER to the fullest extent, how they treat their patients on state insurance with chronic illnesses, multiple health conditions, how they investigate their patients ” stock them” on social media sites and lie about it, the slandering they will exercise in your MEDICAL records to prevent any of their doctors to give ANY MEDICAL care, how they will lie about things you’ve NEVER said during an appointment in your records to make you look the way THEY want to others, how they will neglect and avoid you and cause your health to decline, how they will tamper and alter messages you send to your Dr, how they will erase any wrong doing in their system to avoid any lawsuits, how they will cause you PTSD from their negligence, how they will lie about receiving letters you send for out of pocket costs caused by THEM and never pay you back, how their er nurses will laugh and call you names while your having a seizure, how they will lie about tests and the TRUE results to save them money, how they will hack into your online account and read your PRIVATE information and basically, RUIN your health and your LIFE!!! I WILL expose these unethical, lying, money hungry and negligent people!!! Watch for my story and you WILL stay far far away from KAISER when I’m done!!!!
I too another victim. I believe every damn word im reading and I hear it in so many other forums. I myself definitely progressing to greater and greater disability massive weight loss seizures rheumatoid arthritis gluten intolerance or worse reynauds syndrome indicidive of auto immune disorders. Second neurologist supposedly a movement disorder specialist says i need to “Accept her diagnosis ” If you look at my paperwork I still have no official diagnosis. Poly arthritis is not wuto immune and that was another misdiagnosis or undiagnosed thg rheumatoid arthritis was presenting symptom. Rheumatology dr admits that its sef auto immune but won’t give it a name or even a differential diagnosis of what auto immune disorder categories it falls into. These seizures. They keep me from sleeping. Sleep study they dropped ball on I had ro initiate. Then results wete never explained by the dr who interprets them although thats what i was told was going to happen at my follpw up after the study. After lotuof info from the neurologist I asked how much REM sleep am I getting. She said 7%. I said ok well how much are we supposed to get? She said atleast 40%. I said crao. Well what do we do. She scheduled the appointment with the sleep specialist n said I would hear all his readings and he could then discuss treatment options what have u. Btw initially they just called and said congrats you don’t have apnea. Im like are u freaking kidding me right now. I don’t sleep how could I have apnea. I call the neyro etc shes telling me that they didn’t see unusual sleeping disturbances. Im like where is the video? I was up all night jerking like a freaking person having a grand mal seizure. She says its a third party company blah blah. I was insistent. She sent me the results and silly me I assumed they would be a video too. No. Also not truthful. I had mire probes in me than tou can imagine I even took a pic of myself. So guess what the “specialist ” a nurse practitioner says they’re gonna do? Sign me up for dietary class. N neurologist says i love bla bla kind of yoga tou could try that. Clonazepam for sleeping at night. I get about dour hours. Now major weight loss and oh yes breast calcifications they cant needle biopsy cuz my skin too thin bur surgery says to do open which i was scheduling thinking I need to be proactive for my son. They said it would take larger than goldball size to do biopsy. I saiywhy not wire. He said it is but we need a clear margin. I say you giya keep telling me it’s 99% prob fine in most cases but you wanna take almost my whole biob to find out. I get a second opinion. He agreed but did tey to find s doc willing to do the needle biopsy that was experienced enough to handle but he got nowhere. Poor guy. He’s stuck in it like we are. So more symptoms. I can’t remember shit anymore. I am super lucky that somehow my memory is clear currently cuz short twrm sucks. Can’t remember what I did two minutes ago literally. I have to always have someone with me and im going to lose every bit of independence I have shortly i fear. Im falling constantly don’t sleep and therefore body will NEVER heal as that’s when it happens and on top of that possible cancer undiagnosed and auto immune disorders that’s overlapping but nope my depression IS probably what’s causing those thgs certainly not the other way around even though my whole life has been difficult as you can c but I didn’t get depressed until i fot sixk! Did I mention thos happened to my mom. Healthy wiman. Has knee surgery. Immediately afterward heads in a downward spiral that takes 8 months to diagnose leaving her an invalid for her golden years and my dad who so looked forward to retiring now spends gis days being a caregiver and also managing the household n peoperty. Hes 76 he hassling m cancer. How these people sleep at night is beyond me and honestly i do pray for all their souls but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be held accountable. Their profession is the opposite of their true mission. God knows, we all know. Eveey US citizen needs to know. They will censor us. The news politicians heads of state n corporations n pharmaceutical industry ate all in cahoots. You know we’re all sick from what effin Monsanto as well as our own government in the name of sustainable agriculture on one hand and in the name if peace and freedom on the other. I love America. I love people. I love freedom. I love our military so much. It’s the people in power who are forcing our FARMERS to buy gmo seed theu mafia like tactics and the biochemical warfare our own government created and sold to Saddam Hussein in the Iran crisis and then he used it on them as well as his people then apparently were not friends anymore and they used it on our first two troops heading in to the gulf war. Bush called off our aggressive and very effective attack right before we would’ve been hit with the other thg we sold him. Agent Orange I believe. All I know is its supposed to be in the congressional hearings and I believe those are public information. Thwy had to admit to it and they did. How the public doesn’t know?! Hmm media, politics, big money. Some of us might just disappear and at this point fuck em. They’ve already destroyed our nation and any hope of a next generation. I was so looking forward to grandkids tou fucking greedy ass bastards and still I pray for their souls. God loved us while we were yey sinners. I try to remember Its hard when I think of my momma. My dad. My husband who will soon be the caregiver of two invalids and how the hell will he do it. Not with Kaiser that’s for damn sure. Im taking the advice of the nurses on this forum. Bless you for coming forward. Don’t they have children for heavens sake? If they don’t come around hells gonna have some super awesome surprises waiting for them i bet. God doesn’t like people effin with His creations i bet! We have put ourselves in some of i positions yes. I smoked sure. I xhose to eat crap I knew probably wasn’t good for me. But to deliberately poison and “practice ” on your own people. I wonder if they even have a soul. How sad. Love to every one of u and always praying for the Lord to intervene on His people’s behalf. Some of us are really getting too sick to research and fight. We need our loved ones to step into our place when this happens please don’t give up the sharing and the “fight “. My two cents. Media is bought. Politicians are bought. Civilians are mostly not. We, the victims and our friends and family and loved ones MUST find a very public forum ie super bowl or rose parade whatever and somehow take over tysirwaves n tfb and YouTube whatever and get the truth out. They have so much money so much power THE only advantage we have is #’s. They can censor tv internet even this prob but they cant censor live takk. Theyll bury documents falsified information what have you lord knows people are dying. Please do this for those you love. If this dissappears well all know why
Man. I thought I had it bad. My experience with Kaiser is similar, as in completely inept. I’m not as sick – yet – as some of these other unfortunate posters. But I am very sick.
First, Kaiser treats patients like they are inventing their symptoms. Ridiculous. Do some people do that? Yes, but they are the minority. I actually detest going to the doctor, but I also hate being so sick that I can barely function. Therein lies the conundrum. I also am very poor, and was thrilled for about a day, when I first got Kaiser insurance, figuring it was better than nothing. How wrong I was. I the 3 months since I came back to Kaiser, they have actually made me worse. I have gone through 2 PCPs who were incredibly rude, and the second one actually threatened me if I didn’t take the Cholesterol med they were trying to shove down my gullet. Come on – I’m bumping into walls, passing out from severe intractable pain in most of my body, and all they care about is my cholesterol? That’s just lazy and incompetent.
I have come to the conclusion that Kaiser only works for people who are not sick. Which, of course, is ridiculous. Especially if you have “complex” medical issues. They actually treat patients with complex issues like it is somehow their fault that they are sick.
I actually tested Kaiser’s competence last week. I have a big lump on my head, in addition to neurological symptoms (like passing out) that are of concern to me. Once again, NOT NORMAL AGING. I have gone through two PCPs who were complete jerks, had a pelvic ultrasound that somehow missed my ovaries, etc. etc. So I tried to kill two birds with one stone, in an attempt to actually get imaging done, and satisfy my own curiosity as to how bad Kaiser actually was.
I finally got to see a Neurologist at Kaiser (after begging for two months). She requested a CT scan. I purposely did not mention the lump on my head as big as my thumb that any competent CT scan would have found. A blind person could feel it. I then get the results, and I am told “completely normal.” I then ask her, “So, I should just continue ignoring the lump on my head that is getting bigger?” At this point, she became irate, doubled down on her assertion that “everything was fine” and to return to my PCP. The PCP who threatened me – twice. Once again, kicking the can down the road. It is obvious that Kaiser does not want me as a patient. I don’t think they can legally dump a patient, but they can and apparently do “gaslight” patients. As in, repeatedly telling you the opposite of what you know to be true until you actually start to doubt your own sanity.
I would leave Kaiser today if I could. Because I really don’t want to die. I have to wait for open enrollment apparently. Just hoping that whatever is making me sicker and sicker doesn’t kill me.
Another peeve I have: Kaiser’s penchant for sending patients to “classes.” I’m not kidding. These are just my own personal experiences, and all in less than 3 months: you present with terrible bowel issues, and they want to send you to an IBS Class. You present with neurological symptoms that are causing you to pass out, and they sign you up for a “Memory” Class. You are writhing in Level 8 or worse pain every single day, and they sign you up for “Chronic Pain” class.
With regard to the “IBS Class” this might explain why one of our best friends, who is also a Kaiser patient, is now slowly dying of Stage IV rectal cancer because of Kaiser’s incompetence and delays in treatment. By the time he had a colonoscopy, they couldn’t even get past the mass in his colon. And now they have told him “Make your final plans.”
I hate Kaiser. They are killing people, and I’m one of them. I especially despise the way they treat seniors, like we are disposable pieces of meat who just accept our medical conditions that are not a part of normal aging. What can we do?
By posting an ongoing complaint here on this site will it only show on this specific website or will it show up on other web searches and sites so that my story can be heard more than just here? There is going to be serious repercussions from one of the medications my doctor took me off of and omissions from my medical records.
I am so sorry for your incredibly painful experience! All of you are in my thoughts! Of course, I have a similar story, with similar details. I had Kaiser when both my girls were born 18 years ago, but switched to better insurance after their births. Due to financial troubles, we recently had to return to Kaiser. I have excruciating back issues (ruptured discs, cysts pressing on my spine) and went in for care over a month ago; the “specialist” prescribed PT and THAT’S IT! I had to fight to even get a cortisone injection. After reading all your stories, I have cancelled my appointment for the cortisone shot (over a month out!) and will be getting a second opinion out-of-pocket. When the new year comes around, I will be running from Kaiser as fast as my little legs can carry me! God knows I would probably become paralyzed if I let those quacks poke into my spine with a needle! Thank you all so much for your testaments!
I’ve heard that Kaiser mantra many times: “Kaiser is only good if you’re healthy. Once you get sick, you are in trouble”. Kaiser only hires money grubbing, below average doctors at best. They are trained to follow algorithms that saves the organization money, and they reap the benefits in the doctor profit sharing program. I have a similar story about the care my father rec’d from Kaiser once he fell ill, it was all downhill until he died. My Aunt is going through the same botched care now. i don’t have time to go through all the details, but i am fearing for her life. Seems like once you are over the age of 80, they don’t give a sh*! about you.
Kaiser is like a criminal organization, imo.
How do we get the surgeon’s and doctors’ notes? Do we need a lawyer to get them or do they have to hand them over? My dad just had surgery (mediastinoscopy) at Kaiser Sunset in SoCal and now his left vocal cords are paralyzed. (Not to mention delayed cancer diagnosis by incompetent pulomonologist).I would love to see what the notes say – if anything went wrong.
Thanks for the info.!
To RSutter. Your lack of knowledge as to what KP really is -is a display of greatest sadness. KP today,have 18 Million members. The greatest majority of KP “members” come from contracts and sub-contracts with federal,state,municipal governments that have shoved into KP’s criminal system their homeless and their very poor citizens. They also come from BIG companies such as Comcast,Walmart and many others, offering their employees the worst of the worsted,-for less money.Poverty and lack of education are the the prime requirement that makes KP’s huge number of members. All others get to chose something else. I mean no offense to anyone . Trully. My heart goes out them and so I pray to G-d that they too,someday,come to a clear understanding of what KP really is. Please educate yourselves. kaisertotal.healthcareless.org
KP has now moved into the State of Washington. God help them. My WA friend has had a severe kidney disease for the last 20 years, since he was a child. He has been having active symptoms of some sort of kidney problem for a month and his doctor has recommended a CT scan. His symptoms have worsened in the month since the referral yet he still cannot get authorization for the CT scan. He is told that pre-authorization just takes that long. Bullshit! Since Obamacare came on line I have had four different insurance companies, 2 knee replacements and one low back surgery. In no instance did pre-authorization for radiology take more than 3 days.
Severly depressed over my sons overdose I went to Kaiser Oregon they sent me to cedar hills where I was stuck for 3 days with drug addicts until I could get out.I now have a $500.00 bill and two grievances with kaiser Oregon. There sorry but can’t control where I am housed.
Wow, Kaiser Permanente is trash! I can’t believe all that happened to you.
I received my paperwork for COBRA coverage the beginning of March 2018. I decided to sign up for it, since I needed medical for 2 months before my new job’s insurance. Bad mistake. Not only did they deposit it, but I wasn’t covered for the month of snatch. 1st time I called after mailing the payment, rep said should only take a few days to kick in. Less than a week later, check was mailed locally to her. I still had no coverage and check had not cleared. I called again and this time was told I had to speak to my work regarding COBRA even after I told her that I already spoke to them and was told they don’t handle because a Kaiser prefers to handle it directly. I called my work again and was told to contact Kaiser. I called and spoke to the same rep who again said I had to talk to my work. Meantime my check cleared my account and I was showing no coverage.
3rd call spoke to same rep again. After insisting she speak to a supervisor she finally admitted she was wrong and it takes 30-45 days to process COBRA to which I said, “Cancel my coverage, because at the end of 45 days I would almost be on my new employers.” I also mentioned my check cleared. I got an answer to my complaint and request for refund. They refused even though they admitted I had no coverage for the month of March. Even if I had written the required termination letter it wouldn’t take effect until the next month. But they were more than happy to take a retro letter pushing it back to April instead of May. I am extremely angry and upset with Kaiser. There was no way to terminate March in February and not only that they admitted that I paid for no coverage in March and too bad they were keeping my money despite providing me no coverage.
They are crooks who take your money and if you are entitled to a refund too bad. Also sorry if you had no coverage for the month you paid. Kaiser will be more than happy to go after someone if you had an accident, but when it comes to money they owe you they will lie and cheat you to keep it. For a non profit that is not supposed to be making money off of their customers they are crooks. I love their doctors but their accounting dept is crooked and they need to be investigated for their behavior. So Kaiser told me I had to appeal to Managed Health Care after my denial by them. They told MHC I was covered the whole month of March, grant it was retroactively and that I asked them to terminate April 1st. Not only that they denied refund again. The things they will do to keep money. Fact #1, I was not covered until March 19th. I called practically almost every day to find out my coverage status. I was told to pay out of my pocket until then and then they would reimburse. After all, I have thousands of dollars for that right. Emergency room for asthma attack, medicine, and counseling appointment. Definitely did not have, plus knowing Kaiser they would take months to reimburse and then skyrocket their prices so I would get less back.
Fact #2 their own contact who talked to me initially about the complaint denial admitted the grievance team did not have all the facts, like their reps giving wrong info and that Medi-Cal covered my emergency room visit earlier that month. Also, I had to cancel a counseling appointment due to no coverage. But, oh sorry they only review once and that is it. But if MHC finds in my favor they will refund. Not, they are fighting to keep the money and lying to do it. Also, their solution. They will talk to their reps. By the way to this day still give wrong info. That April 1st effective date, was their doing. They initially told me to not pay April and it would terminate on its own. Another lie by one of their reps. The day I got their denial in mid April, they told me I needed to write a letter to cancel and they were going to make it retroactive to April 1st out of courtesy.
The whole reason for their denial, I didn’t cancel the month prior. Which is impossible with COBRA, because paperwork does not get sent until month coverage ended by employer which would be March. Not only that because I had an emergency visit at the beginning of March, which I used Medi-Cal because I had no coverage with Kaiser at the time. If they don’t refund my money. I don’t know what to do next.
Managed Healthcare just denied me, basically backing up Kaiser once again. So much for protecting consumer rights. They protected Kaiser’s. Appeal is pointless with Kaiser, because no one will take your side even when Kaiser is wrong. Both admitted I wasn’t covered until March 19th and if I had been told the correct information, they also admitted that they I would have probably not enrolled in COBRA. Yet I am here, out $558.96 for a month I was not fully covered despite them saying I was. Who has thousands of dollars for emergency costs up front, let alone time for Kaiser to pay them back whenever they choose. Kaiser knows they were wrong, but Managed Healthcare is letting them get away again as usual. This is plain and simple crooked. No policy or procedure can make up for their reps having lack of knowledge of policies or how long it takes to process COBRA, let alone the fact they still will tell you to goto your work.
Good luck in fighting anything against Kaiser and good luck in appealing to Managed Healthcare, because neither one of them will look out for consumer interests. It is all about money and they won’t give it up ever, right or wrong. The whole appeal process is a joke and you can’t even sue them, per membership terms everything has to go thru arbitration which in itself is a joke. Like I said nothing will ever go your way.
Yesterday, Tues. 06/12/18, I received a check for $8.96 dated 6/4/18. Considering I paid $558.96, I consider it an insult, since I had no coverage for 18 days of March. It took Kaiser almost 3 months to figure I overpaid premium according to their rep, but took less than a month to deny refund of full amount.
Kaiser is the biggest liar and non-profit there is. Their reps make mistakes and they don’t care, as long as policy and procedures support them justifying not paying back. They only care about their money and have no feelings or ethics when it comes to taking your money. They ignore complaints and lie and justify themselves for denying even when they admit they are wrong.
Reason of review: Poor customer service.
Monetary Loss: $559.
Preferred solution: Full refund.
I didn’t like: How they handled my cobra coverage.
-2-
To Whom It May Concern,
On 7-12-18 The Expedited Review department at Kaiser Permanente was called.
The Kaiser representative called back regarding a dispute for a request for Stem Cell Therapy, for which she says was denied. When asked, she said that the people making the decision, were specialists and experts through Kaiser Permanente. She was asked for their names and credentials, she responded that they will remain anonymous, “for their protection.”
The patient provided them with completed forms that they were sent, asking for personal medical information, and a reason for their request to have stem cell therapy, to be covered through their Kaiser plan, as stem cell therapy is not offered through Kaiser.
The patient disagreed with the decision. The Kaiser representative then explained that a patient has the right to an oral phone hearing, but the arbitrators of this dispute and grievance shall remain anonymous.
The patient once again asked for names and credentials of those persons they would be speaking with, and she said that information will not be provided for their protection. The patient provided the information that the Kaiser expedited review asked for. How does the patient know that the right people received it, and if they are qualified to make an important decision, on treatments which are medically necessary, for their many serious health issues related to, in this case, Cerebral Palsy, for which there is now treatment available.
The Kaiser representative told the patient that they did not have to have the oral phone review if they didn’t want to, but the procedure for approving a request for medical treatment outside the Kaiser network, is regulated by the state of California.
According to Kaiser, doctors or specialists making crucial decisions on a members medical treatment, do not have to be accountable by providing their names and medical license numbers, to determine whether they are qualified to make their decision.
The patient proposes that Kaiser’s refusal to grant a member’s request for medically necessary treatment, and that they are not willing to identify themselves by name, it is the patient’s opinion, that the oral review is without merit, and a member can dispute their decision for the reason in this letter.
The patient has the right to a legitimate review of their case, as the decision greatly affects their present and future health and well being. The review process and procedure that has been explained is unfair, unethical, and an assault on the wellbeing of the members of Kaiser Permanente Health plan.
Why was I not diagnosed with high cholesterol in 2016 blood tests? Now because I requested my own physical in 2018 I am suddenly diaganosed. My 2016 exam said I was high and my doctor did nothing. My 2018 exam did not even include a urine test? Isn’t that normal? I don’t think my doctor is really paying attention to my health, especially if you don’t review my results. Why even do lab tests if your doctor doesn’t review them,(Mariam Assad) Something is wrong here. Where did she study? Who checks her?
I was diagnosed with stage 3 chronic kidney disease and had been going to Kaiser every year for my blood test and when I asked the doctor why didn’t he tell me when he saw my numbers drop he said he thought it would get better. What kind of answer is that to give someone who was getting their blood check refuel and not being told until it got to stage 3?
Saddens me to hear how horribly people gave been treated at Kaiser. I’ve had several unpleasant experiences, I have the option to switch my insurance next year, but Itll be $200 extra. I had a flesh colored bubble on mynforehead for a year. I had my physical with Dr. Jasty, she didnt say one word to me about this bubble on my forehead. I then saw another doctor when i had a muscle spasm, saw a NP when i had the flu. Not one provider mentioned anything about the bubble on my forehead. Then one day i go to see Dr. Arora, because I had flu symptoms. Dr Arora asked about the bubble on my forehead. I said oh this blister, ive had for a year. He took pics, turns out, it was cancer. This damm thing was on my FOREHEAD for ONE year minimum! I explained to Dr Arora that i had it for a long time and not one provide said a thing. He said, Oooh it was probably not noticible then and now it grew. Total BS! I have many dated pics that i took that clearly Shows my cancerous bubble.
These doctors cover for each other. Im suspecting Kaiser deletes the emails that i send to my doctor. I recently sent Dr Arora explaining how my labs just dont make since and shouldve been diagnosed two yrs ago. Ive been waiting over a week for a reply. No answer. I log on to kp.org my email is gone. As soon I can Im out of Kaiser. Our lives dont mean a damm to this organization. Im done being an experiment. I shouldve veen diagnosed with diabetes two years ago!! Im now feeling the effects of having high sugars for SO long. All of these doctors should go to hell. Run while you have the chance
Kaiser-“Too Big To Fail”
My primary provider at the time, Ritu Singhal of Walnut Creek CA discharged me because I filed a complaint against her for not approving my FMLA when I was scheduled to have a rare bone fusion.
Can anyone please tell me how to get an official referral denial letter from Kaiser? My daughter had brain surgery and had horrible complications due to neurosurgeon making incorrect cuts. He says he did nothing wrong and completely ignored my daughter. I thought we was going to die. Come to find out she now has a very large blood clot in her brain and the original surgery was a complete failure. She has to have another surgery and doesn’t want Kaiser doctors to touch her ever again. She has been accepted to UCSF and even received financial aid to get the surgeries and procedures she needs done from UCSF. All she needs is a referral denial letter from Kaiser. She has been waiting over 2 months now for this letter and keeps getting the run around. Now apparently she has a case manager and again has been told it could take another 30 days. Well she called the case manager and went straight to voicemail She is in excrutiating pain every day of her life and I am not sure she’s going to survive. Please if anyone has any knowledge or suggestions, I would be forever grateful for the help.
There is no doubt that Kaiser has no ethics when it comes to Medical care. It’s obvious from the patient statistics deaths and miseries.
What is not obvious ARE ways to correct and or combat this cancerous
metastasis of MD behavior outside legal action……
PLEASE PROVIDE/LIST of ways and or means to combat such a
“will do harm”
corrupt professionally disgraceful behavior”
This is an answer that fits all your questions about how to solve these extreme situations with Kaiser Permanente.
For as long as you continue thinking that Kaiser is health insurance you will continue to having all these problems.
Kaiser Permanente is a Highly profitable private medical business that uses/sells ALL their members/patients body parts/illnesses to ANY medical business that wishes to use Kaiser’s members/patients for:
Medical Teaching
Medical Research and
Medical Experiments! Nothing else!!!
Our federal government, the states that allows Kaiser to use all of us are fully aware that Kaiser isn’t health insurance and will remain dead silent about Kaiser’s true medical status!!! Please have a look at this educational video of mine.
https://youtu.be/geh4qDyh4Cs
By the way I am looking for brave Kaiser’s survivors to help me educate millions about them. After 20 years trying to get someone to “straighten them up” I give up!! No one will!! EVER!!!
The people together is the only way… interested? Please contact me at. (808) 557-4544 or totalhealthcareless@icloud.com
Thank you. Jupirena Stein
Lawyers in States with Medical malpractice pain and suffering damages caps (especially the 250,000 caps) can’t afford to take many medical malpractice cases unless the individual is catastrophically injured because the high cost to prepare a case makes it financially challenging. The non capped losses are economic/wage losses and medical care needs.
Retired persons, the elderly and disabled wouldn’t have wage losses. So, unless the Government Agency in charge of regulating Kaiser, fines Kaiser in amounts likely to get their attention or closes them down, it appears there is little meaningful regulation of Medical Insurance Healthcare providers actual services because, like it or not, Lawyers are the last line of defense for the people and the Capps on damages essentially left a high margin of the population without legal representation.
Now, in this environment, if I’m an insurance company providing medical services for profit, why would I care about providing services to individuals in the most competent manner if I could get away with doing otherwise and making more money.
It’s the doctors who carry the burden of the Hippocratic Oath not the Insurance Administrators. So, in through the doors come patients, aged children raised to trust their doctors and more.
In through the other door come the doctors,who, over time have been beaten down by the administrators by being forced to practice in a manner that makes money but betrays their Oath and stare off mostly into their computer as the patient sits waiting to find a connection to a doctor who has long left the building. Or, maybe this doctor hasn’t mentally vacated yet but the strain and stress they are under makes them unable to focus, concentrate or establish a relationship with the patient and likely don’t hear or see in detail what the patient is communicating.
If the patent isn’t sick, this will all pass. If the patient is sick, it is a recipe for dispensation of poor medical services if not Medical Malpractice. But, who is gonna ever find out. By now the doctors know the elderly or disabled can’t get lawyers. So, they can do this to sick patients until they die and who is ever gonna know what really happened. They can simply blame it on old age or a disease that developed leaving out it was due to poor medical care.
Ultimately, in my opinion, the insurance companies should be removed from Healthcare as they have rotted the Heathcare system/kaiser. In the meantime, I would strongly consider voting to lift the damage Capps so the Lawyers can afford to take all the Medical Malpractice cases to trial and/or arbitration before people die or become gravely Ill.
Maybe, consider calling your State representatives and ask them to pass a Bill that stops Kaiser from forcing their patients to sign arbitration clauses. If you have no other choice than Kaiser, ask your representative if forcing you to sign is even legal. Push your points!
I believe what is happening to so many patients and our doctors is both morally and spiritually wrong and I am sorry for the pain you have all endured. I know it is hard but try not to give up!!
Much Love to you all!
Kaiser is harder to sue than our own government… basically impossible. I’ve had good care at Kaiser and bad care. Same with my previous HMO insurance companies. I don’t like that Kaiser is getting too powerful. I am so disappointed with the way they do things. It takes over a month to see a specialist. God forbid something happens and you can’t make your appointment… you wait another month to be seen!! I battle skin cancer. It has gotten so bad that I need multiple surgeries and biopsies on a regular basis. Today I went to my appointment and due to Covid virus I had to walk over a quarter mile in 95 degree heat to get to the moved entrance. When they confirmed my appt yesterdaywhy didn’t they inform me of this! I had to have my temperaturechecked before entering the hospital and it registered 103.5 then 7 nurses at this entrance with no other patients around started freaking out forcing me to sit in a chair. They used another type of thermometerand it read 99.3. I wasn’t allowed to see my doctor. I was boiling hot from walking and stupid me wore all black. I begged them for water and they said they don’t have water, its only inside the facility and I couldn’t go in to get in the air conditioning and get a drink. I then asked if they are concerned about me having Covid can I get a test. I was told I would have to call for an appointment to get a test… Unbelievable!!! They do not care about people. I am very sure I had Covid19 late January. Their lack of offering an Antigen / antibody test proves their lack of real concern about our nation and people getting back to work and being with family. I am sorry for monologging. I feel your pain and anger for their horrendous lack of providing a competent doctor and knowing they screwed up and trying to brush u under the rug… They are powerful and untouchable. Thankfully you didn’t die in surgery. I hope you can get some justice. A lot of people care about you and I am glad you shared this with the world.
Just a little bit of information I would like to share with you all. When you go to the doctors for any test/procedures you are allowed to ask for a copy of the procedure. for example if you go and get an x-ray, when you are done you are allowed to ask the front desk of the x-ray department for a copy of the x-ray. The radiologist will not have read the x-ray and their will be no report, but you can request the report latter. Then what you do is you put the x-ray with the report and you will always have your own records of what has been done to you. You are also allowed by law to go the medical records department and request your entire file. All Dr. notes, ALL surgery notes, which tell you exactly what a Dr. did during a surgery. Or at least what he is putting in writing as to what he/she (if they did wrong) want people to know what went on in the surgery. This way if for some reason you need to go outside of the current facility to get help you will alway have your own records of what was done, and how the Dr’s said said things were done. So if there is a contradiction at a latter date or facility. You have what was done. You are also allowed to get copies of all of the medicines you get from your pharmacies. It is similar to the medical records, but you have to go the Pharmacy department and sign a release that you want a printout of all the meds that you have received through their department. Also if you go to the billing department you can see where the billing for your meds went and the cost that was charged to your insurance or to yourself. This is always a good thing. When I did this I found meds were being reversed and rebilled, during my divorce. Check your local laws, but these are your records and you should be able to get copies of everything that is in your files. make sure to request everything, including dr. notes EVERYTHING. Then you too can see what they are putting in your charts, surgery reports, exams, procedures, procedure results. Everything. When you go you will need to take your state ID with you, or some form of identification. They want to know who is requesting the information they are giving out. Hope this helps everyone help hold these facilities accountable for what they are doing when taking care of us.
I desperately need help I have been ignored for 10 years can’t walk now, there is a bias, I am ex employee 30 years is there anyone I can call for help? Someone please let me knowm
Sorry to hear you’re having a hard time. There are agencies that you can call depending on where you live and your specific issues. A good place to start is our Resources for Kaiser Victims page https://www.kaiserthrive.org/resources-for-kaiser-victims/
why isn’t this on blast on social media and in the mainstream media? Why isn’t any big law firm doing class action?
lifting the medical malpractice caps needs to be reversed. that means getting that on the ballot and a social media blitz campaign and getting organized. posting ideas to which agencies can be approached along with demanding our representatives take this forward. It will take major lobbying but social media is becoming an uncontrollable wild card. we should look to the bar association to help create the proposal.
I suffered extreme neglect and mistreatment during a gynecological exam. Kaiser has a chaperone policy that is hidden from the public. It exists as an internal memo giving doctors the ability to improvise on the purpose,scope, and approach used by the chaperone.
I asked for a modesty accommodation is high is a standard practice for me. As a Kaiser patient of 18 years, whose accommodation has always been respected, I was shocked by the doctor’s response. I was told that the Legislature passed a law requiring chapel, so she was required to be present. I didn’t learn that this was a lie until after the visit.
During the exam, the doctor allowed and encouraged the chaperone to violate my boundaries and I openly advocated for my religious and modesty boundaries to be observed. Instead , the doctor and chaperone ignored me. I became so frightened that I disassociated.
I reached out to Kaiser for assistance and the senior members of the gynecological department continued to lie about the policy to prevent me from knowing or exercising my rights.
Kaiser uses chaperones to indemnify themselves from sexual assault complaints. However, they deprive patients of autonomy over their bodies, refuse patients civil rights protections, and violate their own company policies to force it upon women . I was victimized by the doctor and chaperone.
My encounter led to trauma therapy and Kaiser is pretending like the policy is perfect