The HMO abruptly announces that it will transfer about 2,000 transplant patients back to UC hospitals. The details are unresolved.
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Times Staff Writers
May 13, 2006
Kaiser Permanente announced Friday that it was indefinitely suspending its kidney transplant program in Northern California after revelations that it had endangered hundreds of patients.
“I think, [...]

(CBS 5 / AP) OAKLAND
Kaiser Permanente announced Friday afternoon that it is voluntarily suspending its troubled kidney transplant program.
The move follows a series of reports from CBS 5 Investigates, which first uncovered the problems.
Word of the suspension came one day after Kaiser was sued for allegedly bungling cases that led some patients to grow [...]

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Against Kaiser’s Troubled Northern California Kidney Transplant Center
Sacramento, CA - May 11, 2006 (PRN): Today a wrongful death lawsuit along with two individual personal injury actions was filed against Kaiser Permanente in Alameda County Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges that due to numerous bureaucratic problems with Kaiser?s troubled Northern California kidney [...]

From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Pleasant Hill resident Bonnie Fadavi, a transplant candidate at Kaiser Permanente’s troubled Northern California kidney unit, has been waiting for a new organ for six years.
Now she has decided that’s too long.
On Wednesday, after Kaiser said it would pay for transplants at other hospitals, [...]

(CBS 5) OAKLAND - State regulators said Wednesday they will oversee Kaiser Permanente’s troubled kidney transplant program in Northern California during an investigation into whether patients’ lives were endangered by botched paperwork and administrative errors.
The state decision follows a series of reports from CBS 5 Investigates, which first uncovered problems with the San Francisco transplant [...]

From the L.A. Times:
U.S. Begins Kaiser Probe — Officials review kidney transplant program in which errors left many patients in limbo.
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Times Staff Writers
May 9, 2006
Federal regulators launched a surprise inspection Monday of Kaiser Permanente’s fledgling kidney transplant program in San Francisco after The Times documented widespread problems there.
Inspectors from [...]

From the L.A. Times:
With reports of disarray added to their existing frustration, some don’t want the HMO performing their surgeries.
By Tracy Weber And Charles Ornstein, Times Staff Writers
May 6, 2006
“I don’t know what’s going on here,” Bernard Burks wrote to Kaiser Permanente’s kidney transplant program last October, “but whatever it is, it’s wrong.”
Burks, 56, was [...]

From the L.A. Times:
Before the HMO opened its kidney transplant center, it failed to alert regulators to the glut of crucial paperwork coming, officials say.
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Times Staff Writers
May 5, 2006
Kaiser Permanente launched its massive kidney transplant program in 2004 without holding basic discussions with regulators about how to safely transfer [...]

From the L.A. Times:
The HMO would not authorize some patients to receive organs from outside its new program.
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Times Staff Writers
May 4, 2006
Twenty-five Kaiser Permanente patients in Northern California were denied the chance for new kidneys that were nearly perfectly matched to them last year during the troubled start-up of [...]

From the L.A. Times:
By opening its own transplant center in the Bay Area, the HMO harmed recipients’ odds of obtaining organs, a Times probe finds.
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Times Staff Writers
May 3, 2006
In mid-2004, more than 1,500 Kaiser Permanente patients awaiting kidney transplants in Northern California got form letters that forced them to [...]