[One of the more disturbing patterns that has emerged over four years of tracking Kaiser’s many misdeeds, is that patients with very real and serious medical problems are often misdiagnosed with mental health issues, leading to much unnecessary suffering, and sometimes death. A few recent examples are the cases of Jupirena Stein, Craig Pozzi, and a woman with West Nile Virus, who was repeatedly told her symptoms were all in her head even after a positive blood test confirmed the infection. For the reason behind this troublesome trend, one need look no further than Kaiser’s clinical practice guidelines, where Kaiser doctors are instructed to label anyone with an undiagnosed illness as a psych case.
Update 12/9/07: We have added a scan of A Secret of Behavioral Health Integration: The Handoff from “The Collected Papers of Nicholas A. Cummings, Volume I: The Value of Psychological Treatment.” In it he describes the process by which Kaiser members are manipulated into accepting mental health treatment for physical illnesses.
The money quote (because it’s always about the money at Kaiser):
“Without this seemingly simple touch, patient compliance was not very good, but with this idea of the handoff, compliance jumped to 90 percent. And the saving in medical costs was tremendous.”
Cummings developed the Kaiser Behavioral Health Division.]
From the OC Register:
Kaiser to pay $1.8 million in malpractice case
45-year-old man was not diagnosed with cerebral bleeding and later suffered permanent brain damage.
BY COURTNEY PERKES
Kaiser Permanente will pay $1.8 million to the family of a man who suffered a brain aneurysm after his headache was wrongly attributed to grief.
In 2005, 45-year-old Ted Blackwell visited a Kaiser clinic in Orange County with a headache and neck pain. According to the binding arbitration document, doctors attributed his symptoms to grief over the death of his brother eight days earlier.
He received an injection and was sent home.
Blackwell returned to the clinic two days later, still in pain. According to the document, his daughter requested a CT scan because of her father’s disorientation but doctors decided that wasn’t necessary.
Two days later, Blackwell collapsed and underwent surgery at Hoag Hospital for bleeding in his brain. He suffered permanent brain damage and is unable to work, according to his attorney James McElroy of Del Mar.
Jim Anderson, a spokesman for Kaiser, expressed sympathy to Blackwell, but added “we thought differently in this or we wouldn’t have taken it to arbitration.”
The award, decided by arbitrator Robert Devich, covers pain and suffering and lost wages, but the bulk is for around-the-clock supervision for the rest of Blackwell’s life.
In California, malpractice judgments are capped at $250,000 for pain and suffering. Additional monetary damages result from loss of wages and need for ongoing care.
Well darn for kaiser, the poor man survived and now they are out 1.8 million instead of a measley little $250,000.
Jim Anderson, a spokesman for Kaiser, expressed sympathy to Blackwell, but added ?we thought differently in this or we wouldn?t have taken it to arbitration.?
Well of course they think differently, they are thinking with an evil brain.
Most decent people don’t think that way.
Well, well, well . . . surprise, surprise, surprise. I can’t tell you how many members of Encephalitis Global were sent home from the ER saying they had the flu when they actually had encephalitis. Some went back and got sent home again. Many of the few survivors of encephalitis are misdiagnosed and the residuals of the illness (permanent brain damage) is worse than if they had been diagnosed and treated right away. I think doctors should be required to take annual classes that update them in rare diseases so that they might really know what they’re doing.
The KP spokesman quote in that case was unreal…
“we thought differently in this or we wouldn?t have taken it to arbitration.”
#1 = you require arbitration. You didn’t take it to arbitration, the patient’s family was forced to.
#2 = you lost at arbitration. So your taking it there neither proved your point. In fact, it proved your point wrong, to the tune of almost $2 million.
If the quote you’re going to give is going to make you look like an ass, please just don’t give one.
Anon, I agree. Looks like they are running out of canned quotes because they really stooped that time.
I can’t say this enough because I am STILL amazed. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought healthcare providers and healthcare workers were in business to help people. Isn’t that their role in society??? Where and how did all of this profit/money talk come in to play? This is completely sick. What kind of a world do we live in when peoples lives are so heavily disregarded in favor of profit?
This is totally, completely, absolutely CRIMINAL. Completely sick. Can someone PLEASE enlighten me? How and why are they continuing to operate a “healthcare” organization such as this?
How about this:
“And the saving of lives was tremendous.”
Instead of this:
“And the saving in medical costs was tremendous.?
Well, let’s just stick a feather in their rotten hats!
Why are they still around?
Scammers gone corporate.
As large as Kaiser Permanente is you would think that enough people at kaiser would develop a conscience, put their foot down, refuse to treat their fellow human beings that way and WALK AWAY.
Souless.
Btw, did anyone see the movie The Insider?
It’s a movie about intentional harm, for profit.
For anyone who wants to take action:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/petition.php
Quote: “Stockpile your last billions, Kaiser Permanente, et. al. because the American people are mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore!”
After watching the agony a family member has been going through for the past couple years because of Kaiser’s obvious mistreatment, misdiagnosis, and the subsequent covering up of their horrible misconduct (“lost” records. etc) , its about time this came to public light…I cannot believe they are still in business either, as a “health maintenance organization” no less…its more like a “health mafia organization”….I am counting the days until I can get rid of that horrible “HMO”…if everyone dumped them on the next round of “open enrollment” I bet that would stop them …although the way they (& their legal allies) are set up, once you receive one of the “diagnoses”, they know they can keep you (and the $$ rolling in from you) because you will now be labeled as having a “pre-existing condition”…yea..what a racket!!! I too am surprised that any supposedly professional health workers at Kaiser with consciences continue to work there too….. horror story after kaiser horror story..and still they exist…amazing
I have repeatedly said, since our child was allowed to die at Kaiser, that the business model there is geared ONLY towards selling health care while finding ways to concurrently avoid actually delivering health care.
A fixed cost model does not like additional expenses and that IS Kaiser’s model. Profit is driven by providing sub-standard (ie inexpensive) care to members, thus maximizing the maintenance of revenue secured through membership fees.
Buyer Beware!! Kaiser is dangerous to your health; their practices can, literally!!, kill you–not a real positive endorsement for a hospital, is it?
Typical kaiser tactics…
http://www.weitzlux.com/…
Quote:
“Kaiser has been playing it both ways,” agreed Preston. “In one breath Kaiser tells the court that Dr. Perry committed malpractice. In the next breath they tell Dr. Perry that he gave my mother the care she needed. Their story changes according to who is in the audience and how they want to manipulate them.”
They go way back, don’t they?
And,
How many times have we heard this type of thing?:
Perry’s treatment of Utterback was initially central to the state’s case against Kaiser. The state referred extensively to the doctor’s actions and suggested that his treatment was lacking in various regards. In its first accusation against Kaiser, filed in May 2000, the state asserted that “Dr. Perry failed to follow even the simplest of standard [abdominal aneurysm] protocols, such as starting IVs and oxygen and/or administering pain medication to keep Utterback calm.”
deny, deny, deny…
deny diagnosis and treatment, deny medical records and deny claims.
California, it’s time to inform the Governor!
Send your kaiser stories:
http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20071219-1448-bn19health.html
?We are a hop, skip and a jump away from making sure California has the best health care in the country,? he said.
SCARY. VERY SCARY!
Looks like CIGNA has joined the murder club!
Mark Gerago’s has got the right idea. It’s about time somebody sees the denials for what they are, MURDER.
“Their lawyer, Mark Geragos, says he will refer the case to prosecutors for possible criminal charges against the insurer, Cigna HealthCare.”
Yes, I was so glad to hear that on the news (about pressing for criminal charges against Cigna).
*I* still do not understand why the D.A. has not pressed criminal charges against the Kaiser Executives, and staff (doctors, nurses, etc) who were aware of the Kaiser ‘organ donor program’ ills.
“The Times reported that twice as many Kaiser patients died on the waiting list as received kidneys in 2005 because of delays in transferring medical records to the new program and other management issues.”
I think the patients, or families, of anyone on the organ donor list at the time should write the D.A. and press for criminal charges to be filed.
The potential of jail time may get the ‘staff’ at Kaiser to awaken and either leave the sinister organization OR start whistleblowing to protect others.
To Anonymous,
Thanks for placing those links!! I *know* Kaiser has been planning on being the ‘provider’ for Universal Health Care.
It has been their plan for years (as was reported to me by one of the kaiser “physicians” who works in management).
Please everyone send a message to the Govenor about what Kaiser has done to you. If not, many more people will be sacrificed at the hands of this Pseudo-HMO.
Make no bones about it, the Govenor is looking to save money and Kaiser has shown they know how to save it— just don’t provide care.
However, it *is* the saving of money that will draw the government in to Kaiser’s web.
Scary is not a word to describe what will happen if Kaiser becomes the Universal Health Care for California….universal death camps would be applicable!
Yes, I agree! If the government draws in kaiser for universal “healthcare”, with my own personal horror story and all that I know about kaiser, I would say they would be an accomplice to murder, MANY murders.
Failure to act SHOULD BE A CRIME as well. I can’t stand that so many ignorant folks in charge are trying to force this on Americans. Awful, awful, awful. They need to get the same care at kaiser that all victims have received and they need to pay for their victimization out of their OWN pockets. Then we’ll see what their stance is. Wake Up.
Inhumane, careless, greedy… should I keep going?
Anonymous, that is a great idea (to have the govenor and congress receive their medical ‘care’, or lack there of, from Kaiser).
Kind of like Erin Brokovich requesting the Executives/Lawyers from PG&E drink a cup of water from the town of Hinkley that they denied was polluted with Chromium 6 from their company’s compressor station.
If Kaiser is not stopped and shut down, you are correct, their mass maiming and murdering will continue.
The *only* good thing I could think of that would occur if Kaiser remains open is that the psedo-physicians and uncaring staff who are currently ‘providing’ care there now will be ‘covered’ by that same insurance when they retire.
Then *they* will receive the same treatment that they have so soullessly provided to others:
a) refusal of appropriate medical treatment.
b) lack of any concern, or care, when having a medical condition (ie:being referred to psychiatry because they do not want to utilize any critical thinking skills, or spend the money, to figure out what is wrong.
c) the ex-kaiser “doctors” will be provided outdated medical care (here is it almost 2008 and Kaiser, as well as their “Physicians”, STILL do not follow the AACE guidelines outlined in 2001 to treat thyroid disorders!). How many of their patients are still going untreated and referred to psychiatry for a medical condition that is simple (and inexpensive) to treatl ?!!!!!!
How many other guidelines are they NOT up to date on? (i can tell you that their “OB-GYN” department, fertility clinics and ‘women’s health center’ are stocked with “Physicians” who care nothing about the patient, are unknowledgeable, and completely out of date with proper treatments/standards of care guidelines!
and lastly,
d) Those retired Kaiser workers will be left to suffer while their “doctor” rolls their eyes, tells them they are depressed, quotes outdated medical literature, offers an antidepressant and then tells them that “it is all in your head” and sends them on their way.
And maybe, after they leave their Kaiser doctor’s office, those ex-kaiser employees will keel over and die due to an undiagnosed medical issue.
Now the above would be what they say is KARMA!!!!!
Here’s a good one!
“A spokesman for Kaiser Permanente said its drop in malpractice filings was the result of a company program begun five years ago in which doctors apologized to patients for errors rather than wait to fight the accusations in court.”
Uh, that’s news to me. I didn’t get ONE single apology for kaiser’s negligence in the death of my Baby. What I got instead were vansishing medical records so they could cover their a*s.
Kaiser’s silly BS just never stops. Do they have the capacity to speak the truth, EVER?
They’ve got to make sure they “act” like they are on that doctor apology bandwagon instead of actually jumping on the doctor apology bandwagon. ABSURD.
I would say the drop in malpractice filings has more to do with the stepped up efforts in their “risk-management” department (ie, the “cover your a*s department”).
Can’t wait to see Arnold down there in medical/legal rifling through HIS medical records that were mysteriously “lost.” It’s a good thing he’s in a high place because otherwise there would be a snowballs chance in hell that he would get any kind of justice.
Kaiser “Doctors” apologize for the errors they make?!….Please, instead of being apologized to by one of the “Doctors” at Kaiser Campbell Office I was given a speech which included, ‘Kaiser Doctors are people first. True, we work for a large corporation but we are people too.’
The above speech (which i only wrote a very small part of) was given to me when I was in her office complaining of medical issues that they were refusing to address. I asked why the Kaiser Doctors refused to follow the AACE guidelines issued in 2001.
Instead of answering the question she tried to side track me with a speech on how she is a person.
If I wasn’t so darn sick because of what these Kaiser “Doctors” did to me I would have been laughing at her poorly rehearsed speech. Not to mention her lack of knowledge about the proper standard of care guidelines (which *I* had to bring in to her).
Kaiser “Doctors” people? The people I know do not lie, do not cover up mistakes, take responsibility for what they choose to do, they care about others and their quality of life, they try to help, and they do not maim or murder without any apparent remorse……
But then again, in defense of Dr Fetters who gave this speech (stuttering consistenly because she hadn’t practiced it enough after attending the ‘doctor training session’ on how to improve patient perceptions about “Kaiser Doctors”)……in her defense, I guess she is correct, I mean the reality is sociopaths and narcissists *are* people too…… so why not “Kaiser Doctors”?!
Yes, yes of course, Kaiser Narcissist Doctors are people too. Let’s just forget about all of the victims who have been left in the dust. Left to clean up the messes that that wonderful corporation called kaiser permanente has left them in.
Afterall, victims lives don’t matter.
Thanks for letting me know what I’m in for in the coming year. Due to financial circumstances, we are forced to take Kaiser as our medical provider. Maybe the only saving grace is that we are in the Northwest, so we’ll see if it’s any better than California.
My wife has a condition that there is no known cure for, but whose symptoms are treatable. We’ve already had word that several people in the area with her same condition have been told by Kaiser that they will not receive an official diagnosis of the condition. Why? Because then Kaiser will have to treat the symptoms which will last a lifetime.
One advantage that we have up here in the NW that you don’t have in CA is that we have the right to sue Kaiser and do not have to go through arbitration.
Secondly, we also have the availability of a really good med school, and my wife has had treatments there the past 15 months. The med school docs actually give a damn about their patients. Go figure.
anonymous, best of luck to you. Please just stay on your toes, demand the right tests and medical treatment and guard your medical records with your life! Get second and third opinions from Drs. OUTSIDE of the kaiser system otherwise you will be putting your lives at serious risk. In my own personal situation, we would have been MUCH better off without health “insurance” from kaiser since it gave us a false sense of security. No one did their job. They just treated us like a nuisance and sent us home so my Daughter could die. Then, they made sure that they destroyed the critical evidence. But guess what? I’m suing them anyway.
Anon Victim,
I am so happy to read that you are suing Kaiser. I plan to do the same when I get better…and hopefully I *will* get better.
Recently I pulled up pictures I have of myself prior to be ‘treated’ at Kaiser (happy and healthy). Compared them to the pictures I have *after* being ‘treated’ at Kaiser, what a difference. I wouldn’t even know it was the same person.
Those “doctors” lied to me. Lied in their documentation and killed who I was.
Why did I trust them? I still have no answer. I continuously went in and requested help for my medical issues and they kept telling me ‘it’s all in your head.’
After some time of being beaten down, negated and belittled and having them roll their eyes at me, I guess I started to believe them…that is, until I felt like if nothing was done I was going to die. I paid to go outside of the kaiser pseudo-physician network, but what they did to me really cannot be easily reversed, if at all.
ALL the Physicians outside of the Kaiser “Network” were disgusted and appalled at what those “people” chose to do to me. (so much for following the hippocratic oath to ‘do no harm.’).
I have a copy of one of the lists I brought in to “Dr” Fetters. I also got a copy of my chart. NO WHERE in her notes does she describe what I had reported to her (even though I presented her with documentation of what I was experiencing). I even complained of new and increasing symptoms and still she did not document them. Instead, she documented what *she* wanted to misrepresent to cover her own a– (i am assuming she chose to do this in case of a lawsuit).
Whoever stated that kaiser “doctors” are trained to lie in their documentation is correct.
Lie, Lie and deny is their motto.
And, *if* by chance they do have doctors that refuse to lie and deny, well then, heck, they will simply choose to ‘lose’ the chart. How convenient (for them that is!).
Kaiser Permanente will pay $1.8 million to the family of a man who suffered a brain aneurysm after his headache was wrongly attributed to grief.
yeah of COURSE they’ll PAY the guy so that he’ll keep quiet!! duuuuuhhhh..
no really now, this has to stop!
OF COURSE Kaiser pays the man so that he WON’T go and sue them and WON’T go out and make a SPEECH to EVERYONE who will listen..
Man if I got $1.8 million from someone who misdiagnosed me, I would speak about it, record it on video, come in contact with OTHER Kaiser victims and have THEM tell THEIR story and show proof,
THEN I’d go to a News Network (definitely not CNN though, they’re total liars..) and pay them enough money to play my video!!!
THEN I’d go and write a story about it and bring it to MANY if not ALL Magazine labels and pay THEM to put my story in..
so all of AMERICA would be ABLE to know!!
Cos this just CANNOT go on!!!
It doesn’t appear that Gov. Schwarenegger wants to do anything about the problem with mass maiming and killing in California. Here is an email that I received from the Gov.’s office this morning:
Thank you for your email to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Governor Schwarzenegger appreciates hearing from constituents and the issues that matter to them. However, the issue you wrote about falls under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. In order to ensure that your concerns are properly addressed, you may wish to contact that office directly at:
The Honorable Steve Poizner
Insurance Commissioner
Department of Insurance
300 Capitol Mall, 15th Floor
Sacramento, California 95814
(916) 492-3500
Useful information may also be found at the Department of Insurance’s home page at http://www.insurance.ca.gov.
Again, thank you for your email.
Office of Constituent Affairs
Good luck everyone. Wouldn’t it be grand if someone would step up to the plate for a change?
Yea, and how much do you want to bet that if you sent a letter to the Ca Insurance Commissioner you would receive a response back that reads:
Thank you for your email/letter to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. We appreciate hearing from constituents and the issues that matter to them. However, the issue you wrote about falls under the jurisdiction of the Ca Governors Office. In order to ensure…blah, blah, blah.
Isn’t it comforting to know that no one cares about your life? We’re all just another dollar sign to these wonderful folks.
Hey, here’s an idea…maybe every kaiser victim could all chip in equally and submit their own personal horror story to self-publish a book titled (ta-da) KAISERTHRIVE! We’ll all go on a book tour and be sure to visit all of the important DC offices while we’re at it. Oh, and we must not forget to visit all of George Halvorson’s book tour stops to reinforce his healthcare reform plans with our own personal kaiser horror stories.
Sadly, unless Arnold is ‘treated’ at a Kaiser Facility he will not listen. $ talks……
Please everyone on this site who has either been maimed or has had a family member, or friend, murdered by a Doctor at Kaiser, do a report on them at the below listed websites.
1) ratemd.com
2) healthgrades.com
Since the Medical Boards are not doing their jobs, we need to warn others!!
California Kaiser members… in addition to the horrible “care” that kaiser provides, you are also up against this…
(Quote from a California Dr.):
“Interestingly, in California there is a cap on pain and suffering for the family to the tune of $250,000. If my mother had lived, and been disabled, there would also have been economic damages to help care for her. In California, malpractice attorneys are not taking cases in which the patient dies, because they can’t make enough money. The malpractice insurance companies profits have gone up 30%. It is to the healthcare system’s advantage to let a patient who has been the victim of malpractice die. It is more cost effective. I believe this is allowing more negligent and sloppy healthcare. It’s very frightening.”
I suspect this is exactly why my Baby was left to die.
Buyer beware since kaiser has probably been contributing a ton of money to see to it that MICRA (the cap) does not change. A law enacted way back in 1975. How ridiculous is that?
That’s Kaiserfornia for you.
Don’t shoot the messenger-I worked as a Locums (temporary) doctor at a Kaiser facility recently for a 3 month block, which lost 5 doctors in a matter of 4 years, and it was more than enough time to realize that it was a BIG mistake. I can definitely understand why people get upset and frustrated at the sub-par care they receive-I can only tell how many numerous conversations/”intellectual” arguments I had with the physicians who sit on the authorization committee, to try to argue to get patients tests and specialists I felt that they needed, only to be told of their unrealistic expectations/idiotic reasons that the primary physician could care for in a 15 minute office visit and, that, in their “expert” opinion was not warranted. I hate to inform most of these doctors that are only certified as internal medicine physicians or family medicine physicians that they are no more of an expert than their colleagues that sit in the office, taking care of patients. It is very obvious that they are not astute when it comes to practice guidelines or current/recently published studies. These same physicians need to go back for some needed CME’s, so they don’t curtail the practice of us that care to deliver the best medical care we can. I am glad that I was able to leave and not commit myself to practicing “corporate” medicine like they would like-they believe that by using words as “capitated plan” that they can justify their lackluster and almost haphazard care for patients. Many of the doctors in their administration need to be reminded of why they initially became a doctor.
Hi Jaded,
Not only are they not astute when it comes to practice guidelines, but when the standards interfere with their profits and bonuses they deliberately lower the standards. Then they try to lobby the rest of the profession outside of Kaiser to accept their discount guidelines.
We would never shoot a messenger like yourself around here. Folks like you restore our faith in the medical profession. One of the biggest obstacles, however, is that the ethical, caring MDs out there won’t take on their greedy, morally bankrupt counterparts at Kaiser. Patients with complaints are often treated as disgruntled loons with a grudge and not taken seriously. Many if not most doctors outside of Kaiser know exactly what is going on and do not approve, but until y’all get the cajones to speak out against it as a group you will continue to see the ethics of your profession eroded, bit by bit, by this ethic-less, multi-billion dollar organization. Kaiser is trying to get to the new, young doctors who don’t know any better, and they are succeeding.
I am one of the younger physicians, who have recently graduated and I can tell you, it is hard to take on big name HMO’s like Kaiser when you see reports in local newspaper (like the one recently printed in The Baltimore Sun about Kaiser having the highest approval ratings by patients-I am not exactlly sure who they are interviewing to get this information since most of the patients I worked with were verbally and visibly unhappy). I will say, that since I have had an opportunity to work elsewhere, I was not able to be brainwashed by Kaiser because I have frame of reference of how medicine should be practiced and how Kaiser expects you to practice medicine. I guess the best way to take on Kaiser and similar HMO’s who practice this type of medicine is to educate the public, as a whole, because most good-willed physicians, that took their hippocratic oath seriously, would not bother to have their morals and work ethic compromised and be employed by such an organization. It’s no surprise how Kaiser treats it’s patients when they don’t really treat their staff well, especially ones that go against “the Grain”.
I don’t know about the Baltimore Sun report, but usually Kaiser self-reports the quality and patient satisfaction data. Can you say rigged?
I’m happy to hear there are still some idealists out there fighting for their patients. Please don’t ever change. 🙂
It has been almost 2 years since our daughter died, over a year since I figured out that Kaiser was hiding their mistakes (and falsifying medical records), almost a full year since I last worked (for Kaiser or anyone else) and the psychological and emotional toll of having them as our medical provider is truly almost beyond measure. To say that they ruined my life (or at least put a huge hole in it) is, sadly, not much of an exaggeration.
The “let them eat cake” attitude will continue until people, collectively, stop using them. The laws work in their favor and will continue because they have money and the people they hurt typically don’t.
It is all about money–I have so little respect for doctors and the medical establishment now. Scams with a license to print money. Not much more. They don’t deserve our respect any longer.
Andrew, I am sorry to hear about your loss and I don’t blame you for being upset with Kaiser, as I truly know, from experience, that they really don’t give damn about their patients or doctors that want to provide good care for them. I also know that when it comes to accepting responsibilty for their mistakes, the administration is great for trying to devert it as much as possible. I only hope that, one day, you’ll be able to realize that NOT all doctors are like the ones at Kaiser and there are many good ones out there. Unfortunately, you have the HMO world to blame for the cripled health care system to which the public has grown accustomed to (and should not have). Until the healthcare industry collapses, which is soon to happen if something doesn’t change, then all of us will have to deal with business mentality of medicine that Kaiser and other HMO’s deliver.
Dear Jaded,
I agree with you 100%. I went from a Dr. in Virginia who provided the best possible care to kaiser in Ca. who provided the worst possible “care”. My Dr. in Virginia had been my Dr. for years and I cannot imagine a more caring, honorable and decent human being. She delivered my first Daughter. My first Daughter is alive today because she was delivered in a timely manner right after I passed my due date. We made the life-altering mistake of moving to California so that Andy could take a contract position with Kaiser. I knew from the start of my “care” at kaiser that things there were not right. I had had the best Dr. to compare it to so I knew better. I continued on with the prenatal “care” at kaiser feeling unsettled but thinking it was just me being paranoid and nervous. What could possibly go wrong? I’ll tell you what went wrong. Once I reached my due date a Dr. tried to schedule me in for an induction that would have put me 15 days past my due date. The following morning I went in for my NST. Andy and I were kept there longer that morning but they didn’t say why. I asked if everything was ok and they said yes (more details at the happy brithday link on this site). We went in to Walnut Creek Labor and Delivery that night and were treated very rudely. I was sent home home and told not to come back unless I was bleeding or my water broke. Our Baby Lehna died in utero the very next day. This is what went wrong: We were not cared for. Our Baby was not cared for. No one at Kaiser cares. Bottom line. The “care” I received there was at the complete opposite end of the spectrum in the healthcare world. Kaiser is scamming the public. My experience with my Dr. in Virginia could not have been better and I have my oldest Daughter here today to prove it. My experience with kaiser could not have been worse and I do not have my Baby Lehna here today to prove it.
Instead of getting any answers we were left with more and more questions. Did kaiser intentionally let Lehna die to save money? I believe so. I also believe that the missing fetal heart monitor strip from the NST that kaiser claims to have “lost” holds the answers. Answers we will never have.
Had Lehna been born outside of the Kaiser system I believe she would be alive today.
Good Drs. know kaisers game. Kaiser = disaster
When the good Drs. get tired of cleaning up after kaiser and all of their many “mistakes” then I believe Kaiser will have a rude awakening waiting for them just around the next corner. Shams can’t last forever. The veil will come off.
Baby Lehna’s Mom,
I am so very sorry for your unnecessary loss.
It breaks my heart to read your posts.
You are correct…..*Good* Doctors know how bad the care at Kaiser is.
The hospital we had to bring my Aunt to (the same night she was just discharged from Kaiser Santa Theresa’s Death Camp) was absolutely disgusted with what they did.
Yes, the GOOD Doctors in this area (south bay) are fully aware of the type of “care” Kaiser and their “Doctors” provide….bottom of the barrel.
dear kaiser victim,
Yep and speaking of bottom of the barrel I spoke with a lawyer over a year ago in DC who is all too familiar with Kaiser and what they are about. His words exactly…”kaiser employs bottom of the barrel.” He also said “Kaiser hires Drs. that are barely credentialed.” He would have taken my case against kaiser but couldn’t since he was in DC and not in California. I spoke with another lawyer in DC who was real excited about going after kaiser for fraud, that is, until he learned of the crummy MICRA law in California.
Unfortunately since Kaiser basically owns Ca many Dr.s in Ca are afraid to speak out even though they are well aware. Some lawyers even in Ca are afraid to go against the kaiser mafia.
Oh and another thing… I was told by an insurance agent here in Georgia that he knows of a surgeon in Atlanta where 80% of his business comes from repairing kaiser catastrophies.
So here we have California, DC/Northern VA and Georgia.
I have lived in all three places and I have heard nothing but bad things about kaiser in all three locations. It’s quite obvious that their business model of witholding care and misdiagnosing illnesses is a nationwide epidemic.
Oh, and let’s not forget that Kaiser was run out of Texas and I believe, Kansas too.
Dear Baby Lehna’s Mom,
Being a Doctor ( not an OB), I hope you can accept my apology for what happened to your daughter under the care of Kaiser, but know that your oldest daughter is living proof of good doctors. Like I stated earlier, I worked there for 3 months, on a temporary assignment, and what a horrible mistake. I know that I will never work for a place like that again that compromises my ability to effectively treat patients and I WILL NEVER, nor will my family, have such lousy insurance. I would rather have no insurance and have a flex spending plan, if my choice was to have kaiser as insurance. Good luck to you and Andrew-you are in my thoughts.
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/healthcare/healthcarepirates/
Baby Lehna’s Mom,
Yep, I know Kaiser has been kicked out of a couple states…..How LUCKY the people in those states are!!!
I spoke with a friend in Kentucky. We were talking about health insurance companies and I told her Kaiser is one of the major “HMOs” out here.
Her immediate response was that they (the people along with the government in Kentucky) got rid of Kaiser a bit back.
She stated she never heard any good stories about Kaiser and how they ‘treat’ people.
One day California citizens will awaken and get rid of Kaiser and its false claims to being a health care organization…..one day it will happen and Kaiser will be gone from California.
Let’s just hope it is done prior to them killing off more than half of the population…..
Kaiser *is* the Black Plague of the 21st Century!
Kaiser Victim,
I agree. The day the “black plague” is extinguished is the day Californians and all kaiser member/victims everywhere will be on the road to real wellness. I wonder why California refuses to accept what other states have long since realized. Well, we already know that in Ca our lives are worth no more than $250,000. They sure don’t value life much out west, do they?
Kaiser + MICRA = Your life has no value
(other than those empty premiums that we get suckered into paying for phony healthcare)
Pirates, they’re all pirates.
I have been with Kaiser for about 1 1/2 years. I can say in the last year they have come close to ruining my life. I have something wrong with my back and they will not find out what. I am in terrible pain, have been missing lots of work and am not bankrupt. Today my primary took away the pain meds so I may not be able to work at all. She will not put me on disability. The only test done had been an x-ray which only showed arthritis. No further test are being authorized. They dont’ even know what kink of arthritis I have. My hands and wrists are also swollen (badly swollen). I just can’t believe that they are getting away with treating people this way. I feel like it is just hopeless. I even begged my primary to find out what is wrong. I am being treated like I there is nouthing wrong with me. Bakerfield Kaiser and their doctor’s are creeps.
Sometimes the only thing you can do is seek a 2nd opinion outside of Kaiser and pay for it out of pocket. Then you can use the non-Kaiser doctor’s opinion in your grievance. If Kaiser still refuses to treat you after you appeal the denial, you can file a complaint and request a review from the DMHC.
Kaiser’s disrespect and disregard for patients and employees is ingrained in the culture of the organization, which makes the Thrive campaign all the more ludicrous.
As a former Kaiser Nurse (17yrs) I have seen my share of cover-up crap. I was called as a witness is a case against Kaiser and had to give a depositon as a Kaiser Nurse on behalf of Kaiser. Kaisers attoneys prepped me all morning with what I should say and how I should word it. Its the biggest crock of cover-up their is!!! I was never more disgusted to be a Kaiser Nurse then during that time, I stood firm to the “truth” and refused to give the attorneys version of what happened. When you refuse to follow what Kaiser’s Lawyers want, Management finds out labels you as a “risk” & “trouble maker” and harasses the hell out of you to try and make your work life miserable so you will quit and leave. Im glad the family that sued won, they deserved too!! And YES its true many lawyers are afraid to take on a Kaiser lawsuit but there are some who are well known for doing it–Look them up!! Kaiser hates it when they see lawsuits with certain Attorney names!! Ten years later when I fought agressively and strongly on behalf of my patients and reported an incompetent Dr and the lack of care he was giving, the tables were turned on me and suddenly after 17yrs of glowing reviews and being loved by my patients–I wasnt a”good enough Nurse” to be a Kaiser Nurse anymore…..beware the Dr still practices there today and could be treating you or your family members!! Good Luck people when Kaiser becomes part of the Universal Health Care system!! Many High ranking Kaiser Managemnent have been in bed with Washinton for years and its just a matter of time before it becomes reality!!
1.8 million won’t come close to covering the man’s round the clock expenses for the next 30 years.
These same mass murderers and destroyers of lives will be forced down the throats of every American if the democrats or republicans have their way. ALL are owned by HMOs and their ilk. Romney got kudos for forcing MA residents to buy health ins while health ins cos are the entire problem. Expect the next president to force us all to buy health ins from the mass murderers.
America is dying of a 1000 cuts, one cut at a time, because this is the most corrupt congress in the history of America.
Ingrid, I am one of the ‘e’ (encephalitis) survivors you spoke of. I was sent home from kaiser twice, after which I had a stroke when my fever continued to go up past 105. I suffered permanent brain damage and disability, much of which I was told was all in my head. After spending 5 years being sent by Kaiser doctors to psychiatrists and being fed medication and recommendations of institutionalization, they finally did an MRI which I immediately payed the $4 or 500 for and went to a legitimate doctor. 7 years later I still have lesions in my brain, volume loss, abnormal EEGs, abnormal blood work, severe chronic pain, cognitive difficulties, a speech impediment and must use either a wheel chair or scooter to get around. Kaiser ‘lost’ most of my records and complaints and any way, I am financially swimming in a sea of medical bills so as to not be able to afford a lawyer. Kaiser also repeatedly gave me medications I was allergic to during my time with them, sent my brother who was dying from pneumonia home (he later went into a coma) and refused pain medication and documentation or signatures for myself, family and friends, citing us in their system as difficult patients seeking attention, pain medication or other drugs to get high, ssdi out of laziness and greed and other “free rides”. i have been told for so long that it was all in my head, that i was the only one subject to this treatment with such frequency that it must be me who is in the wrong. thank you for this validation. i one day Kaiser will take responsibility for their fatal, cruel and tragic negligence. i always say, one ‘we are so sorry’ would be enough retribution for me.
My son has headaches,no appetite,is irritable and all kaiser wants to do is put him on anti-depressants.I have asked for tests to be done and they look at me like I am crazy and my son should be taken away from his parents because we are concerned about the side deffects of the medicine.He is only 17. I was very grateful to find this website.
30 years ago my dad was complaining of headaches and went to the er at Kaiser Hayward and was given muscle relaxers and told its stress related and to go home that was in May of 1978 and he died on Oct 2 1978. According to the S.f. coroners report and the death certificate he died of an sasubarachnoid hemorrage and acute rupture of berry aneurysm. as far as I am concerned Kaiser MURDERED my father and would be alive today had he received the proper care. I wonder is it to late to sue them on his behalf? The sad thing is he never got to see his two grandsons and that is what hurts the most. Also because of Kaiser’s misdiagnosis my brother could not handle his fathers death and committed suicide 4 yrs later. So in actuallality they committer 2 Murders. I WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO KILL MY SON.
in Feb of 2008 my R knee selled up for no apparent reason. I went to work for a month before seeing treatment for it @ Kaiser. My primary dr. sent me to the urgent care clinic to see an ortho dr. and all they did was give me meds and said take these meds and elevate your knee and put Ice on it. I was in so much pain that 2 days later I was in the E R in Hayward that the drs.there gave me more meds and said that Vicodin and Percoset and a full leg brace those meds had no effect on me. they were supposed to knock me out but instead Hyped me up because of the severe extreme pain that I pissed off my son to tell me to shut the f up because the drugs had the effect of motor mouth. I got home fell asleep and 2 hours later woke up screaming in pain. I was seen by 3 ortho drs and was diagnosed with a torn meniscus disc with bursitis and tendonitis and they refuse to do the surgery. The first thing they did was you have gout without any blood tests. they took x-rays eventually they did an mri but the mri tech refused to do it because of a questionare that I had answered before having it done. I had to get a nursing supervisor and my personal dr. involved to have it done the same night. Finally after the diagnosees i had demand to see a ortho surgeon he comes in with an attitude takes a cusory look at my right knee and says “you have osgood-schlatters disease and walks out he did not even spend ten minutes with me. After all this it took me 2.5 months to finally get back to work. I still have pain in that right knee and now because favor my right leg I am starting to have pain in my left knee. the one thing that sticks in my mind as to why they have treated me this way is that they kept asking is this a workers comp injury? and as soon as I said no that is when they have refused me proper treatment and left me to suffer on my own. These people do not care they use minimal treatment they insult you and treat you like filth. my dog gets better treatment.
It is outrageous to me that Kaiser refuses to test my son to see if there are any physical reasons for my 17 year old depression.When I took him to a regular physician because I am concerned about side effects of anti depressants the doctor informed my son .who agrees with meds ,that if his parents let him have the medication he can call child protective services.I am worried about side effects of medication and kaiser looks at me as a child abuser!!!!!! Iwould like to hear from any parents who had similar problems with Kaiser.
please edit comment 49 to read if his parents do not let him have instead of let him have
Kaiser is like the judge who believes that all defendants are guilty until proven innocent. I do in fact have a psych history. I am a Manic Depressive not a psychotic. My primary presentation is rapid mood swings, not hallucinations. My IQ is probably higher than my doctor’s. Having said all this, I am routinely treated like a crock, a malinger, and in the hideous tradition of the Western Medical Paradigm a second order mutation of my male counterparts. Consequently, my menopause has been in Rimbaud’s words, “A Season in Hell.” Things that helped me were denied or taken from me and were replaced with over the counter crap. When I found myself in acute distress, I was denied care by an arrogant nurse who refused to give me a timely appointment with my GYN. There is no point in complaining to Membership, they just take the information and file it in the circular file. Kaiser is the greatest single advertisement for Holistic Medicine on the planet. It is a toilet. It would be best to clean it out with a large scrub brush and a truck full of Lysol.
My father in-law was semt home four times with Gangrene on his leg after a bus ran over it. Because there were no broken bones they felt no injury was sustained. The problem was that his leg was turning black after a few days. The doctors kept saying it was bruising and scabbed. Finally one ER doctor saw it and freaked out. He took pictures to make sure he was not held responsible. My father in-law lost the majority of the muscle, fat and tissue of that leg nearly loosing it to amputation.
Ever since I was 10 or 11 I’ve been doped up on drugs for depression, bipolar and schiphrenia until I was 19. Those years were the worst of my life and after I finally went off them and through withdrawal I developed a rare form of gastroparesis. I found out I don’t have any of those conditions from two outside doctors, so all those years are lost now. Now I haven’t been able to drink water for 2 years, among with other conditions including ptsd from the experiences in my past from the medicine, been fighting kaiser, but they keep sending me around in circles, refusing to pay for the hospital stay I really need. Now I have no future, thanks to Kaiser. They also drugged up my mom on painkillers and other pills at the same time to the point where she is so far gone I don’t know if she will ever get off them. Sorry is not enough. I want them to give me my future back.
My deepest sympathies to everyone else there being tortured by this sadistic company they call themselves healthcare. Yeah right. I think they get a kick out of this, honestly.
The one good doctor I had left after a few months, but she helped me more than anyone else in the last 10 years and i’m forever grateful to her and all the good nurses who’ve also helped so much.
me too with kaiser..I had dysphagia(couldnt swallow, even gagging on my own spit all day ) the stroke likekind.. the doctor refused to referr me to an ENT (ear nose THROAT doctor)she even said “I dont even know the REASON to put into the computer WHY to refer you to an ENT) when all I was complaining about was my difficult swallowing… after almost THREE MONTHS of begging..she referred me… and HE found I was completely NUMB and ordered a brain scan… AFTER that… the neurologist said it was all in my head and gave me a print out saying so.. after a 10 minute first appointment with him..after reading the ent’s comments that I was numb he aaID HE “DISAGREED” WITH THE ENT.. AND THAT WAS THAT! i WAS HUMILIATED AND SCARED FOR MY LIFE… AND NEVER GOT ANYHELP AND NOW THEY ARE SUING me FOR NOT PAYING one months PAYMENT, AFTER $300+ A MONTH OUT OF POCKET WITH NO JOB.. AND FOR A MONTH THAT i never saw any doctors..SO NOW THIS IS PROMPTING ME TO SUE THEM. EVEN MY BLOODWORK SHOWED A PROBLEM AND THEY SAID ITS “NORMAL”THEIR DAYS ARE NUMBERED AND THEY KNOW IT AND PERFORM ACCORDINGLY.
dear friends. I am saddened and at the same time thrilled to find you dear sweet people on this site. i have been sent home again and again every time i have a problem without treatment. i have a lasting problem because of it. I had no idea that they were doing this to other people. i must have known. I am confused though, that whenever i am with kaiser i am sick with no treatment LIKE THEY DON’T BELIEVE I’M IN PAIN. they withhold care and pretend i have a problem that is only in my head. I explain, why would i be missing work/school life to drive over here and be told there is nothing wrong. They are doing this. they are withholding TREATMENT. This makes sense. they have written things in my chart because i was sick for three years without proper diagnosis to make it look like i have psych problems, which i do not. Also, i was in level 10 pain for three years, unable to work and they would not help me or even suggest pain killers. This is insane. I’m angry and don’t want to tell you what happened because it’s a woman issue and i feel like a fool for letting them tell me i was nuts. as an example, they did a bladder procedure on me without anesthesia and then told me i didn’t need pain meds. i kept going twice a week for a two/three years and they kept saying nothing was wrong and what i had/have is completely easy to diagnose just by looking. they left me in pain for three years and not once tried to help me. i came to the urgent care every day after work for weeks and they would just look at me in an OB/GYN type way and send me home. i gave up many times but was too sick to not keep trying. i am much better than i was, but i didn’t realize this was a standard problem for everyone. Had they been properly trained, they would have seen and easily diagnosed me. i saw too many doctors to even mention before getting a proper diagnosis. I am sorry for all of us that we aren’t rich and can’t afford better coverage with doctors that care for us. i am sorry for your illnesses and the loss of your friends and loved ones and your children and parents. please know that you are not alone. I am here and I care about you and your frustrations even though i am not schooled enough to treat you. I just wanted to write you all and say, me too and thank you.
as a healthcare professional in training i have to comment … these problems are not unique to kaiser, but are definitely being magnified by the high load of patients and the open mantra of managed care. every healthcare organization, hospital or insurance company has to manage its financials… and decisions are made to force certain treatments or medications on their patients that may not be ideal but balance benefit and outcomes on a population wide scale, not on an individual basis. also changes in practice standard are made only to comply with regulations and retain medicare funding or comply with federal laws. in general changes are not going to be made proactively to be more “ideal” as long as everyone seems to be doing “fine”. i have seen severe mistakes by otherwise incredibly competent phsyicians NOT at kaiser, and these errors are covered up by uncertain diagnoses, vague speculations towards other causes, and physicians and the healthcare team supporting one another in avoiding outright blame to preserve the relationship with the patient…and i have seen physicians make very reasonable diagnoses and decisions, only to see a patient worsen… we are all human, and mistakes do happen, and every treatment has its risks and failures… so what would you do as a healthcare provider if after reviewing 100s of charts, you mix up a number, maybe mix up a patient, and a patient is harmed by your mistake… patient often recovers, or may have a complication… then do you throw your career away by admitting fault to your patient, lose their trust and end up in a malpractice suit based on one mistake out of the hundreds of patients you have saved– do you stop practicing? i am not saying one way is wrong or right, but there are realities…EVERYONE makes mistakes, even well trained professionals. honestly I am dreadfully frightened of being admitted to ANY hospital. even if you could afford fancier insurance and “better” care, mistakes can happen. and you might not even know. i whole heartedly call for reform and better processes to avoid medical errors… kaiser which is one of the largest employers in california is only just the tip of the problem and an easy target to focus on. all i know is that for now i am going to save as much as i can to pay for healthcare regardless of health insurance!
I only wish “anon student in healthcare” had left his name so we could warn our readers to avoid his services in the future. Anyone who goes into health care with the expectation of protecting his license over his patients…well, that’s why we continue to exist. Carry on…
Kaiser is unexplainably horrific. I’ve been dealing with a undiagnosed illness for 3 and a half years now. I’ve been persistant with my Doctor/s at Kaiser. Telling them that it’s not normal for me to be having tingling sensations on my face, fatigue, tremors,eye dialation accompannied by weakness, loss of weight, insomnia, diarriea, abdominal pain, back pain, stomach bloating, declining memory, and so on (KEEP IN MIND I’M ONLY 22). The Drs. think I’m making this stuff up. They talk to me defensively, and like I’m just some idiot that doesn’t know jack s*it. My previous Dr. in Oakland, Ca precribed me Xanex, and Ativan, saying I was suffering from “anxiety” and “stress”, but I know that’s false and has nothing to do with what I’m going through. When I lived in LA I had to convince my primary care Dr. to refere me to the Nerology department so I could get a MRI done. Eventually I did get the MRI, but never got the results back. On top of that I called to check with the delay, and they told me they had no record of me getting a MRI. Now today I was scheduled for another MRI, the nurse gives me a call to let me know that the machine is “broken” so now I have to wait untill It’s fixed. On sunday I went to the ER because I found something in my feces that looked like a worm. They sent my sample to pathology, and come to find out today from another nurse, they ordered the wrong test!!! The head of supervisors was indeed confident that that particular test would tell if my sample was in fact a worm. Kaiser’s Drs. need to take a look in the mirror so they can see their devilish appearance. At my last appointment my lovly Dr. suggested I attend Behavioral Health Counseling. I’m like are you for real, you have to be kidding, maybe you should go, dumbas$ fu$k. All I know is that what comes around goes around and Karma is inexcapable!!! Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.
Ps. Would love to get a bunch of people together to talk about this problem. JUSTICE NEEDS TO BE SERVED, IT’S NOT FAIR PEOPLE PLEASE OBSERVE. I’m ready to protest and make some change happen In the bay area and everywhere else.
If you want to make change somehow lets do so
imeraldbay@yahoo.com
This is very sad I know the Psych Doctor I saw at Kaiser Bonita California was a joke I was majorly depressed and grief stricken after losing my child with special needs.I knew my diagnosis was Major depressive disorder and this man barely even knew me but chose to put another label on me and changed my meds and at first I thought surely he must know better than I do.
To make a long story short he diagnosed me with BiPolar which was shocking so he prescribed me high doses of Seroquel and Depakote promising to make sure I am screened to make sure my liver was functioning properly,He failed to do so as well as failed to tell me that Depakote can cause Liver problems like acute Hepatitis so guess who has even bigger More painful problems now?
Thanks alot Doctor Alan Mayfield
I left out that I was also suffering with PTSD at the time as I found my child’s lifeless cold body and it is a picture I struggle to get out of my head still.
I was a self-employed Kaiser patient who suffered the same brain aneurysm my deceased father and several other family members did not survive. I was self-insured, and four years earlier survived 9-11 with heavy depression to follow. I was given large doses of Valium, only 10 sessions of therapy, and eventually told by my Santa Rosa psychiatrist that ‘Kaiser doesn’t support disability’. I was denied by the state, suffered horrible cognitive impairments, including agoraphobia and mail-phobia, and have lost everything. Now I am homeless and my family won’t talk to me or help with anything even though they are well-proportioned with money and material needs. I need an attorney here in California that is willing to pursue Kaiser as they even dropped my health insurance when I did not pay one month, and I do not want anyone else to suffer if I am able to stay on earth and educate people about the need for disability intervention at early stages. If just one Kaiser healthcare advocate who saw me recommended an MRI or even encouraged it, there may have been a different outcome for me. However, Kaiser’s policies too often disregard the fact that people are unique, but also fail to recognize that mental impairment as well as physical illness can often run in families, and allow their doctors to endanger patient lives by not even recognizing specialty organizations’ predicated care to minimize damage after a family trend becomes another senseless tragedy.
I have the similiar thing happened to my Late Mother. In late 2006, my late Father was diagnosed Colon Cancer last stage due to blood marker misinterpreted. While caring for my Father’s cancer, my Mother started have symptoms out of her norms. We took her to see Dr. at Cigna. Couple months later, as a caregiver for my Father, Kaiser invited my Mother to enroll their program for 100 dollars less compared to Cigna.
This is where we, the children made a huge fatal life error. At Cigna, her doctors were willing to offer any tests we suggested (we were wrong to just suspect the Colon / Cervical / Breast Cancers – Colonopscopy, Papsmear, Mammogram).
Once we transfer our Mother to Kaiser, we ran into a big brick wall to ask for help. Dr. KhanhXuan Nguyen, a DO did not listen to our complaint and just ordered simple lab works only. He constantly blamed on Seasonal Allergy, Sinus and High Blood pressure that caused my Mother exhibited the cough (in blood), joint pain, sinus and difficulty of breathing.
At one point, he even blamed on Zodiac Birth year conflicted that caused him not able to treat my Mother properly. He even blamed my Mother was depressed for the loss of her beloved husband of 45 years that caused she reacted that way. Dr. Nguyen and many Kaiser ER drs even said those symtoms were just in my Mother’s head, that she was OK. Several trips to see Those Doctors to hear they gave us a non medical sounded advice but did not mind to take our money. Not once, all the often visiting trips alerted them after we begged that we just lost our Father on Cancer late stage and are not ready to loose the Mother. Even when our Mother coughed in blood, he blamed on High Blood pressure med was the demon instead Cancer. The X-ray read was normal but during the Arbitration, expert reviewed, we found out there was abnormality findings. Many trips in ER to be discharged with only Cortisone shots.
One of the ER discharged note, the blood test clearly pointed out that our Mother potentially had some Cancer – hypokalamia. They still ignored even we pointed out. 3 months later from this ER test, my Mother became total collapse and no longer able to stand up on her own feet anymore. They then now decided to offer Ct-Scan.
It now was 14 months from the first time we brought her in to see Kaiser Dr. Nguyen on an on-going acute symptoms several months already. We begged Dr. Nguyen for CT_scan on her chest as all symptoms pointed to the Upper area than the lower area cancer and for her age – 64 years old, she should be tested for such cancer possibility even she was not a smoker or 2nd hand smoker. They denied and told us that we had no medical background to request such things.
Once she was diagnosed of last stage of Small Cell Lung Cancer, we requested to see the Head of Oncology dept at Anaheim, Farah Brasfield for additional test. Instead, during this visit, she was unethical by saying ” old pple is going to die anyway, just like my parents die on Cancer ” and refused to transfer my Mother to UCLA or City of Hope for Clinical Trial or willing to consider the suggestion from 2nd Opinion Dr we seeked at UCLA for different Chemo Treament and additional Mutation tests to confirm. We said if Kaiser is not a Prestige Cancer Caner, pls transfer her as she was all we had left. Brasfield denied.
Dr. Thutam Huynh and Brasfield said if we enrolled our Mother to Clinical Trials and if anything happened to her, they won’t take her back or willing to treat her if things progressed.
On 2nd CT-scan review visit, we pointed out the Chemo did not seem to work as cancer tumor size was the same and asked Dr. Thutam Huynh to change the drug, she refused.
So 5 months under Kaiser Cancer treatment, my Mother received the MAX radiation dosage a person could endure in one visit, they then kicked my Mother to Hospice to die.
Through out the course, they tested a bunch of medicines that so fatal to my Mother’s. The lyrica, morphine many times brought down my Mother’s heart rate and then Kaiser Hospital Dr. Villicana blamed she was near-death and did not want to continue to treat her anymore. When we complained, the ER Dr Ming Chen, Dr. Villicana said ” what you expected, she got cancer ” and did not want to treat her fully. I had to tell them, the reason my Mother at this stage due to their negligence.
Through out this ordeal, none of Kaiser doctors once apologized for their mistakes but constantly blamed my Mother had Cancer. If they listened to our complaint more seriously.
We filed a complaint and forced to the Arbitration even we knew nothing about that. That should consider Fraud as when they signed us up, they never once mentioned about this.
This is where we made a 2nd fatal mistake that hired a bunch of idiot attorneys through the Radio Host Show Bill Handle website. They tricked us to get the money in advance for Contigency Fee and advised us to drop the case even they did very little for our case but took 28K from us. All they did was wrote a demand, reply to the first Discovery/Interrogatory demand. We then decided to do the case Pro Per. With 4 doctors back us up, 2 ERs, 1 Internist, 1 Rad Oncologist, we still yet lost the case. The Arbitrator C. Kamansky said our experts lacked of skills (like their doctors were) and did not clearly spell out the Causation and ruled favor on Kaiser, the moving party. All of my experts said due to the delay diagnosis that caused our Late Mom Cancer Discovery at late stage that shorten her life span and Kaiser doctors exhibited gross negligence & incompetence. It is a common sense, everyone knows if cancer was discover at early stage, the live can be saved with a greater chance than discovery in the last stage. We already proved the Kaiser Dr. incompetence and presented gross negligent acts and Arbitrator even agreed that by denied Kaiser’s reply to MSJ Opposition motion on our calling the doctors out in our motion. I guess the claimants from now on have to spell out words by words to tell them otherwise case will be tossed out. It is said to hear for over 10K cases and only a 300 cases to be reach at Arbitration Hearing. This Kaiser Arbitration is not working period.
Other has suggested us to file the complaint to Dept of Managed Health Care but by reading all of this, it seems this Dept is also being bought off by Kaiser. Their website said Kaiser is a 5 star Health Care Provider (even lately in TV, they ran the same ad that they provide superb care and urge pple & elderly to sign up for their premium). I again dont know where they got those facts.
I think we, the victim should team up with the Consumer Watch dog to bring down Kaiser or at least make they change the Arbitration System as it has not worked at all. The arbitrators are clearly working for Kaiser and being led by Kaiser Corp Attorneys instead.
I am gathering past victims to sign up for our petition that we should use the Social Media to bring down the Corporate Greed by going along with the current Occupy Wall street ride (kaiser put their profits on top of their member well being, lives!) to expose Kaiser Greed along with Kaiser Corp Attorneys and Arbitrator lists. Many pple I spoke to that being mistreated by Kaiser accepted as God calling and would not willing to fight for their rights. We need to make a public awareness or we will never able to defeat Kaiser or change how they treat their patients in the future.
You can contact me at bizusa2000@yahoo.com. We need to unionize to fight the big guys.
Thank you for listening to my story.
Victoria
It seems if we don’t unionize to make our voice to be heard, then those corp greeds got away with murders.
Pls check this following website, sign the petition (upper right), add your story, print the no more binding arbitration letter and mail to the Minority Leader Mr. Reed.
I am sending out my MSJ opposition story that outlined date by date how they killed my late Mother. I lost the case as the Arbitrator sided with Corp Kaiser Lawyers even I had 4 doctors siding with me on the substandard care, delay diagnosis, mis-diagnosis. Never once they tried to apologize to my family and tried to rectify the mistakes instead many times they tried to kick my late Mother to hospice to die instead offered additional treatments.
You can contact me at bizusa2000@yahoo.com
http://www.fairarbitrationnow.org/content/what-arbitration
Kaiser So Cal Neurology has cancelled my IVIG and prednisone treatment, and is refusing me care of any kind. After 12 years of treating me, suddenly my medical record is sabotaged and I have been labeled “somatic”. I’ve been fighting for treatment for a year. My body is reduced to 85 lbs and I look like a skeleton. I’m prepping my mom to take wrongful death action. NEVER TRUST ANY NEUROLOGIST IN KAISER!! They are killing me! Ignore this warning and Kaiser might kill you too.
hELLO I BEEN WITH KAISER MOST OF MY LIFE I HAD GOOD CARE UP UNTIL THE LAST 7 YEARS OR SO. THEY MISDIAGNOSED A LOT OF PROBLEMS WITH ME ONE WAS MY CONSTANT ABDOMINAL PAIN TO FIND OUT 4 YEARS LATER I HAD REALLY BAD ENDOMETRIOSIS AND PUSHED BIRTH CONTROL ON ME AND ALREADY HAVING MENTAL ISSUES I WAS NOT ABOUT TO PUT MYSELF THROUGH HORMONES. THE MENTAL HEALTH YOU GET IS NOT THE BEST THEY BLOW YOU OFF AND MAKE YOU TAKE MEDS THAT GAIN WEIGHT AND TURN AROUND AND BLAME YOU THE PATIENT FOR WEIGHT GAIN WHEN IT IS THEIR FAULT TO GIVE ME THOSE MEDS. I FELT DISCRMINATED BY KAISER NOW DUE TO MY WEIGHT I REFUSED MY WEIGHT QUITE A BIT DUE TO THE SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT GAIN FROM MEDICATIONS BUT THEY TRY AND FORCE ME TO GET WEIGHED BUT ALL I GET IS BULL FROM THEM SAYING I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT AND THEY TREAT ME REALLY DIFFRENT SINCE NOW BEING 273 POUNDS DUE TO MEDS AND THEY USE THAT AGAINST MY PROBLEMS NOW AND NOT TREAT THE REAL PROBLEM. LAST YEAR I HAD CHEST PAIN AND NAUSEA WENT TO THE ER AND THEY SAID IT WAS MY GALLBLADDER THAN NOT EVEN TWO DAYS LATER I STARTED TO COUGH UP BLOOD I CALLED THE URGENT ADVICE LINE THEY HAVE AND THE LADY JUST BLEW IT OFF AS SINUS INFECTION THAT FOLLOWING FRIDAY I WENT TO THE ER AS THE SYMPTOMS GOT WORSE. THE FIRST DOCTOR STARTED IN ON MY WEIGHT MY FIANCE GOT IN THEIR FACE ABOUT THAT BUT THEY TRIED TO BLAME THE PROBLEM ON MY WEIGHT BUT MY FIANCE TOLD THEM TO SHUT THE F UP ABOUT IT AND GET TO THE PROBLEM THANKFUL FOR AN INTERN HE FOUND OUT I HAD A BLOOD CLOT IN MY LUNG AND I WAS IN THE HOSPITAL FOR TWO DAYS. NOW IM ON WARFARIN FOR LIFE ALL DUE TO KAISER NEGLECTING TO LOOK FOR THESE PROBLEMS WHEN SYMPTOMS ARISE. bUT LATELY BEEN HAVING HEAVY MENSTRUAL BLEEDING FOR THREE WEEKS THEY JUST THINK ITS THE WARFARIN NO ITS NOT AND SO I TRIED THE MIRENA IUD NOT EVEN TWO WEEKS HAVING IT IN IT CAME OUT AND I BLED MORE AND CRAMPED MORE. I TRIED TO GET AN APPOINTMENT YESTERDAY THEY DID BUT THEN CALLED TO TRY AND CANCEL IT AND MAKE ME WAIT TILL MONDAY I GOT MAD AND TOLD MY MOTHER THAT SHE CHEWED THEM OUT THAT IF THEY DON’T GET ME IN SHE WAS GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE ER AND THAT SHE CAN TELL MY DOCTOR THAT. OF COURSE I GOT THE SAME ROUND ABOUT WITH MY GYNO WANTING TO PUT ANOTHER IUD IN ME TO SEE IF IT WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM I DONT THINK IT WILL. THEY WON’T DO ANY OTHER TESTS ON ME TO FIND OUT IF THE ENDOMETRIOSIS HAS GOTTEN WORSE OR WHAT! I GOT SO MAD AT THEM AND SAID IF THIS DON’T WORK WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP THEY SAID A HYSTERECTOMY WILL BE THE NEXT STEP TO STOP THE HEAVY MENSTRUAL BLEEDING ALL TOGETHER. IS THIS FAIR? I FEEL KAISER IS OUT TO WANT ME TO DIE DUE TO THE FACT OF MY WEIGHT AND MENTAL ISSUES? WHAT SHALL I DO?
The only way to get the correct diagnosis and get the proper medical help may be to have an evaluation with the very best independent specialist you can find. Get his recommendations for a diagnostic and treatment protocol. Take this to Kaiser- Be CALM, but persistent. Also, be aware that Kaiser absolutely practices punitive behavior against patients who are very persistent. Keep a journal ( with photos? ) on every interaction with Kaiser. If you are too ill, ask someone to help. It is always good to have a second person with you. May God and the power of Truth be with you.
I can relate to this scenario all too well I’m afraid. I have been having some pretty bad lower abdominal pain in recent months, and have had to go to the KP emergency department on four occasions. After doing some blood work, urinalysis, and taking basic vitals, I was told that I have “an elevated white blood cell count, indicative of an infection”. I was given NOTHING for nausea, NOTHING for pain, NOTHING for the infection and I was released on all four occasions and sent back home. As I later learned from somebody inside KP, because I was diagnosed last year as being transsexual, and since this requires at least a year of psychological therapy, KP decided to put in my file that my symptoms are “psychosomatic, and the nausea and pain are more than likely being caused by this condition”. From that point onward, KP has decided that my symptoms are all in my head, which I suppose includes the elevated white blood cell count and infection – something that is utterly insane in and of itself. On one visit, one of their ER “doctors” (I use that term lightly!), saw that I’m TS, and she openly started giggling and laughing at me! I wanted to slap her! They are “supposed” to have specialized training to deal with transgender and transsexual patients – training which this “doctor” obviously didn’t care to take. Please don’t get me wrong – I’m not trying to turn this post into an LGBT rights issue. I’m just making the point that if ever you’re diagnosed with some psychological condition, KP is very likely to use that as an excuse to keep from treating you from very real and serious conditions. I am still having the abdominal pain, but unfortunately I’m on my wife’s insurance plan (KP), which is the only option her employer offers. However, we’re getting ready to drop them in favor of spending the extra out of pocket money to get reliable health care coverage. Maybe then whatever my condition really is at least I’ll be able to get treated for it, and not be considered “crazy”. In my humble opinion, KP isn’t interested in REAL patient care – they’re only interested in the financial “bottom line”, and the many ways in which they can deny their members the professional, and dignified healthcare that they truly need and deserve.
On Behalh of the Vela family, I want you to know how
we feel about Dr. Damian Vela Ramon dying from hunger.
This was a horror Story that happened to Dr. Damian
Vela Ramon.
How could you see every moment passing, without feeding him
and accepting this to happen.
We E-mailed many times and left messages on your phone,
to feed him and SEND HIM TO THE HOSPITAL.
WHY DID YOU NOT LISTEN?
Dr. Damian Vela Ramon suffered from Depression he lost his
job, his license, remember, two months ago he was working
in Kaiser Permanente Fairfield medical offices 1550 gateway
blvd, fairfield, ca 94533.
It is not like he was disable for twenty year.
How could you live with yourself this a tragedy and
sad story why you did not feed him.
He died from Hunger not from cancer.
his Doctor es David Danzeinsen, md .
the widow Patricia Neale.
Dr. Damian Vela Ramon died without care suffering a horrible
Death. he died Dec-31-2013 at 43 years old.
He died from hunger not from cancer
Kaiser perforated hole in Franks bladder, had to do surgery to clean up the blood & toxic urine going over Franks organs, blood clots got through the hole causing strokes & brain damage. Few days later Frank had a non cancerous tumor removed and a few days later went to Rossmore Kindred in Walnut Creek, CA to get well and go home, he was there only for a few weeks when he got bed sores and the Doctor never was around to talk to me and Doctor abandoned Frank and Frank got Gas Gangrene, and they made tunnels, Kaiser took out most of his thigh to the hip bone, few days later they removed this big black patch which was gas gangrene, Frank had 3 surgerys and has Wagner 4 wounds. Medicare said he doesn’t have any more days Frank used his 100 days and now have to pay almost $300,00 day. Frank went for service to get well and he still isn’t well. How do I appeal all these cost caused from gas gangrene and negligent care. I told Kaiser Frank didn’t know this was going to happen to him and they are responsible for all costs. Please advise. Sylvia
I am the daughter spoken about in the article above. Kaiser ruined my family 10 years ago now, and I’m glad to find a thread of people as outraged towards them as I am.
I had Kaiser when I was 34 years old, was having headaches,and neck pain for 6 months or more, went to ER one night and was sent to a Psychiatrist who asked me why I was there, I said no one believes I’m in pain, he gave me valium and sent me home.Thank God open enrollment was up with my employer, I dropped Kaiser and went to a Dr. In Pleasanton,Ca who I found in the phone book, two week’s later I had surgery at UCSF for a aneurysm. Wish I had sued Kaiser, but was so grateful just to be alive, just went on living my life, I’m now 72 years old.. Hate Kaiser… Stay away.
this happened to my father. he went in multiple times because he felt gravely ill. in the end they told him it was all in his head. a few weeks later he was rushed to the er because he couldn’t urinate and was diagnosed with cancer. if the doctors had run a few tests it would have been diagnosed earlier and we could have had more time with him.