December 8th, 2007 at 8:12 am
[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.
Contact the writer: 714-796-3686 or cperkes@ocregister.com
December 4th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
[The most appalling thing about the needless death of this Kaiser member -- who suffocated and died due to a severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic -- is that the Kaiser doctor and nurses that were present didn't know what to do to save her. They called 911 instead, and the patient wasn't given what should have been a life-saving shot of epinephrine until she was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, when it was too late. Let that sink in for a minute. She was in the doctor's office, where presumably the drug that could have saved her life was sitting in a cabinet nearby -- if only they had used it -- but they didn't and she died. With no medical training whatsoever, even we know that epinephrine should be administered for severe anaphylactic reactions, and that time is of the essence. The EMTs in the ambulance certainly knew it. Everyone knew it but the health care "professionals" at Kaiser. Be very afraid.]
From the Maryland Daily Record:
Family: Death from drug allergy was preventable
BRENDAN KEARNEY
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer
The family of a Temple Hills woman who suffocated after receiving an antibiotic at a Kaiser Permanente facility has filed a claim against her doctor and health plan, alleging they failed to recognize and treat her allergic reaction to the drug.
According to the filing, Laverne Williams, 54, had trouble breathing immediately after receiving intravenous Rocephin at Kaiser’s Camp Springs Medical Center.
“You don’t go to Kaiser to die,” said Christian A. Lodowski, the plaintiffs’ lawyer. “Mrs. Williams relied upon the wrong people to do the right thing. Kaiser just blew it.”
Williams, a retired federal government worker, sought treatment for urinary tract problems at the center on the evening of Dec. 11, 2006.
According to the claim filed this week with the Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office, Dr. Sharada Jain prescribed the intravenous Rocephin.
When Williams became unresponsive, Jain and the nurses stopped the intravenous drug and administered oxygen therapy, then cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillation, according to medical records.
But they never gave her epinephrine, “the definitive treatment” for anaphylaxis, which they should have had close at hand, the claim states.
“Sadly, over the next several minutes the Health Care Providers stood by while Decedent suffocated and became brain dead right before them,” the claim says.
Lodowski said the case is the worst his medical expert has seen in 20 years.
“For that doctor to not think and do something is just so far below the standard,” Lodowski said.
Lodowski is representing Williams’ husband and two adult children in the claim against Jain, a family practitioner, and the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States Inc., the nonprofit health plan component of Kaiser Permanente.
Lodowski said he plans to waive arbitration and file the claim as a lawsuit in Prince George’s County Circuit Court next week.
Amy Goodwin, a spokeswoman for Kaiser Permanente, said the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act prevents her from speaking about the specifics of the incident.
“This is an unforeseeable event,” Goodwin said. “We would like to comment on the medical facts of this claim but we are prohibited by federal privacy regulations. When the truth comes out in the court of law, it will show that we delivered excellent care.”
Williams had been given Rocephin during previous visits to the facility and had no known allergies, according to the medical records. But reactions can occur on second or third exposure, Lodowski said.
“You have to take patients as they come,” he said.
Full Story
November 19th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Ian Bogost of Kotaku has written a not so healthy review of Kaiser Permanente’s much hyped new health game for kids, the Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food Detective. It’s nice to know we’re not the only ones who recognize Kaiser PRBS? when we see it:
Kaiser is a big company with a lot of money, and it’s good that they are seeing value in games and choosing to invest in them. But they are trying to buy legitimacy they have not earned. As Spider-Man would say, with great power comes great responsibility. This game is not education and it’s certainly not health advocacy. It’s unadulterated and nefarious public relations. If you use it for anything, use Amazing Food Detective to teach your kids how corporations vie to buy their attention, not to teach them to eat carrots instead of potato chips.
Well said, Ian.
If you can stand it, read the full review for more about how Kaiser’s PR pushers have been cramming the Brand Baloney — disguised as a video game — down the throats of America’s children.
Note to Kaiser: Perhaps you misunderstand what critics mean when we call for more transparency at KP? What we don’t want is another transparent attempt to manipulate public perception. What we do want is more honesty and openness, and less ulterior motive behind everything you say and do. Hope we were able to clear that up.
November 8th, 2007 at 8:37 am
[We're practically speechless, so we'll just ask one question: How can a non-profit double its net income -- with zero membership growth -- and still call itself a non-profit?]
From San Francisco Business Times:
Kaiser Permanente’s 9-months’ profit more than doubles to $2.5 billion
by Chris Rauber
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries announced gigantic jumps in net income, operating income and investment income for the third quarter ending September and the year’s first three quarters, including startling increases sure to raise questions about the organization’s non-profit status.
Operating income more than doubled from $868 million in the first three quarters of 2006 to $1.8 billion this year, and first nine-months’ net income soared from $1.1 billion to $2.5 billion, officials said Nov. 7.
Net income in the third quarter, meanwhile, jumped 56.8 percent, from $417 million last year to $654 million for the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
In other major developments, officials at the Oakland-based health-care giant said Wednesday:
* Third-quarter operating income jumped 26.5 percent from last year’s $355 million to $449 million.
* Operating revenue for the quarter was $9.4 billion, up 8 percent from $8.7 billion a year earlier.
* Operating revenue for the first nine months jumped 9.3 percent, from $25.8 billion to $28.2 billion.
Kaiser also posted $205 million in non-operating third-quarter income, resulting in a quarterly net income of $654 million, up nearly 57 percent from $417 million in 2006’s third quarter. Kaiser attributed that explosive growth to a strong performance in finanical markets.
* Capital spending totaled $641 million for the third quarter, compared to $631 million a year earlier, while year-to-date capital spending for the nine months ended September 30 was $1.8 billion, compared with $1.9 billion during 2006’s same nine-month period.
Membership remained “relatively flat” at 8.7 million members. Officials at the Oakland-based health-care giant said “ongoing efforts to address health-care delivery costs and administrative efficiencies” contributed to the strong financial results for the quarter.
Full Story
Previously:
November 7th, 2007 at 8:06 am
[Another day, another lawsuit settled. In an unprecedented move Kaiser Permanente admitted no liability, even while handing over the check. Ha ha. That was supposed to be funny, but it's difficult to see the humor when you realize that there are real human lives that are being disrupted -- and in some cases ruined or ended -- because this organization has taken refusing to accept responsibility for its actions to the level of absurdity. It's this simple: you can't correct problems that you won't admit exist.]
From the Associated Press, via Forbes.com:
Kaiser to Pay to Settle Lawsuit
By JAYMES SONG 11.07.07, 9:48 AM ET
HONOLULU - Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. will pay $180,000 to a labor and delivery nurse to settle a lawsuit that claimed the woman’s promotion was rescinded after she disclosed her pregnancy, officials said Tuesday.
Margaret McIlroy was offered a promotional transfer in 2003 from Kaiser Permanente Southern California to a clinic on Maui. Two weeks before starting the job, she disclosed her pregnancy and in less than 24 hours, she was told the offer had been withdrawn, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.
“Standing up for my civil and God-given rights has come at an incalculable and a never-ending cost to my family and myself, but I felt strongly that I had to speak out,” McIlroy said in a statement.
McIlroy, who was 44 at the time, eventually lost her job. She and Kaiser also entered into a separate confidential agreement to settle her non-civil rights claims.
“Pregnancy discrimination strikes its victims at a time when they are quite vulnerable,” said Joan Ehrlich, EEOC’s San Francisco district director.
In a statement, Kaiser said it has always been an advocate for fair hiring practices and respects and adheres to all equal opportunity requirements.
“From the outset of this case, we have maintained that we followed all state and federal hiring laws; however we agreed to resolve the matter in the interest of all parties concerned,” Kaiser said.
It added that the settlement was reached with no admission of liability on Kaiser Hawaii’s part.
Besides the monetary settlement, Kaiser agreed to revamp its pregnancy policies and training programs. The company must also provide annual reports to the EEOC detailing its investigation and resolution of any internal complaints of pregnancy discrimination in Hawaii.
Kaiser, based in Oakland, Calif., serves nine states and operates 16 clinics on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island.
“We have an outstanding record of supporting and caring for staff and physicians throughout their pregnancies and as they transition back to work,” the company said. “We will augment our already extensive policies and training programs to better reflect what our actual practices have always been.”
A record 4,901 pregnancy discrimination complaints were filed with the EEOC last year.
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:20 am
[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 ruined this poor woman's life and he couldn't even be bothered to reply. Instead, she had to call him.
Rather than a return call from the man himself, Mr. Halvorson saw fit to have 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 destroyed 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
Please Keep in mind that I have all proper documentation to support my words. I believe (my opinion,) that KP’s doctors are treating patients to an extreme level of lacking medical knowledge, with disrespect, intolerance, and indignity.
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.
Continue Reading »
November 2nd, 2007 at 8:06 am
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Doctor admits to perjury in trial of man he sponsored in drug rehab
Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
A San Francisco surgeon has pleaded guilty to perjury, admitting he lied under oath in an effort to get a man he had sponsored in a drug rehabilitation program off the hook for gun charges.
Bruce Barker, who remains a physician for Kaiser Permanente, was the key witness in the 2002 trial of Marvin Washington, a felon accused of illegally possessing a gun outside his home in San Francisco’s Holly Courts public housing project.
Prosecutors said a security officer at the housing project reported hearing gunshots at 5 p.m. on May 1, 2002, and saw Washington running with a gun. Police officers responded to the scene and found a semiautomatic pistol on the ledge outside Washington’s kitchen window and found a substance on his hands that tested positive for gunshot residue.
But Barker testified at length that he had been visiting Washington at the time and that he had been carrying a cell phone, not a gun. Barker had sponsored Washington in an organization he called Men in Motion.
“I know he’s innocent,” Barker testified. “I was there. I saw this. I know he’s innocent.”
Prosecutors said Barker’s account was impossible because the doctor had been performing surgery at the time - 4 miles away at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center on Geary Boulevard. Hospital records showed he’d been working in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit until 5:35 p.m. that day.
Washington’s trial ended when he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a gun with an altered serial number. A judge sentenced Washington to more than eight years in prison.
The FBI began an investigation into Barker’s testimony. A federal grand jury indicted him last year on three counts of perjury and one count of making a false statement to law enforcement.
Barker pleaded guilty to one count of perjury on Wednesday, admitting he knowingly and intentionally provided false testimony in Washington’s trial.
The sentencing of Barker is scheduled for 11 a.m. Feb. 8 He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Barker is not in custody pending sentencing.
Kaiser spokeswoman Meg Walker said, “Dr. Barker does practice here at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, and we are reviewing this latest development.”
Previously:
Kaiser surgeon indicted for perjury
November 1st, 2007 at 9:36 am
It’s our guess that most Kaiser Permanente members aren’t aware that Kaiser was run out of Texas like a stray dog with its tail between its legs, but that is about to change, thanks to Vickie Travis and The Kaiser Papers:
In 1997 the State of Texas, Division of Insurance took formal action against Kaiser Permanente. This action and the resultant Kaiser ceasing of conduct was the start of serious financial concerns for the Permanente.
This information is just as relevant as the Nixon tapes are. Do not allow anyone to try to tell you differently.
This is one of the key actions that resulted in numerous patient deaths, for the next several years.
In this instance Kaiser had been found to be deceiving the public, harming the public and endangering the public and the people of Texas did not like it. The standard Kaiser excuse of poverty just didn’t work for them in Texas. The people of Texas also have a very long memory.
The State of Texas has provided to us the documents showing why the Insurance Commissioner took the steps that he did, what he did and what Kaiser had to do. I wish that the state of California would do something solid like this instead of being a bunch of wishy, washy fools.
The text version leads on the following page. Following the text are the actual documents. Again why can’t California be grown up enough to do the same?
http://fines.kaiserpapers.info/texasorder.html
October 26th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
[kaiserthrive.org editor's note: Surprise, surprise! Kaiser Permanente spits in the face of its victims once again, with another empty expression of sympathy while refusing to take responsibility for killing yet another innocent Kaiser member. Do you suppose this is what they mean by "Thrive"? An even bigger surprise is that George Halvorson can't seem to grasp where all of the bad PR is coming from. Drop us a line, George, we might be able to enlighten you.]
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Kaiser Santa Clara to appeal $25,000 fine imposed after infant’s death
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Medical Writer
Kaiser Permanente’s Santa Clara hospital plans to appeal a $25,000 fine assessed by the California Department of Public Health for a medication error that led to the death of an infant earlier this year.
Although the hospital admits that an error occurred, Kaiser contends its corrective actions had passed federal review and met state standards. “Therefore, we are appealing the DPH’s action,” said hospital vice president Mary Ann Barnes.
The California health agency announced the administrative penalty against the Kaiser hospital on Thursday. At the same time, eight other hospitals throughout the state were assessed similar penalties for life-threatening infractions - the first medical centers to be cited under a new law that became effective on Jan. 1.
According to documents disclosed by the state, a baby boy born on Jan. 6 at the Kaiser facility was diagnosed with a rare congenital metabolic disorder. He was transferred to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford for a month of specialty care. Two weeks after he returned to Kaiser, he was rushed back to Stanford in liver failure. He died Feb. 24.
An investigation determined that, after he returned to Kaiser, he was tube-fed a mixture of nutritional supplements and drugs. But the powdered material had been repackaged with a mislabeling of the weights, a mistake overlooked by a pharmacy technician. The child, therefore, was fed an overdose of the mixture.
Kaiser attorney Mary Parks declined to say whether there has been litigation or a financial settlement with the child’s family.
Barnes said the hospital will not be fined or sanctioned by the federal government, which has approved of Kaiser’s “plan for correction.”
However, in its citation against Kaiser, the state health agency said that, five weeks after the error, hospital pharmacy technicians still had not received promised training on correct use of scales to prevent similar repackaging errors.
In her prepared statement announcing the appeal, Barnes apologized for the incident. “Unfortunately, individual human error does occur, as it did in the case DPH is referencing,” she said. “We are deeply sorry for the family that experienced this sad event, and have expressed our sympathy.”
The new state law allows the California Department of Public Health to assess penalties against hospitals for situations that create “immediate jeopardy” - violations of rules that have caused or are likely to cause death or serious injury. The sanctions are separate from federal rules that can lead to loss of Medicare and Medicaid funding and loss of licensure to operate.
Full Story
Previously:
October 16th, 2007 at 9:16 am
[The only thing more reprehensible than Kaiser's failure to protect its patients from this known repeat malpractice offender, is its PRBS release defending its despicable actions. Kaiser Thrive Exposed joins Justen Deal in his demand for the resignation of The Permanente Medical Group CEO, and lead obfuscater, Dr. Robert Pearl. In the meantime, Kaiser CEO George Halvorson wants you to "be well and be green" (as in keep giving Kaiser your money for its repeated failure to provide the basic standard of medical care.)]
From the L.A. times:
Kaiser doctor, accused of negligence, remains on the job
“I’ve been telling these guys for years that he was going to kill someone,” said Dr. Gilbert Moran, the former ob-gyn chief. “And no one would listen.”
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
Late one April night, the first of Sarah Valenzuela’s twins arrived with little trouble, but the second stayed put.
Though the baby was not in distress, Kaiser Permanente perinatologist Hamid Safari attached a vacuum extractor to the boy’s head to draw him out. Again and again he tugged, but still the baby would not come.
He vigorously shook the vacuum, up and down, side to side, according to government documents and hospital incident reports.
It took 90 minutes and six tries — the last with Safari on his knees, pulling. Horrified staffers — and the boy’s father — looked on as baby Devin finally emerged. His skin was a bloodless white, his neck elongated and floppy.
His spinal cord had been severed.
Safari lashed out at a nurse. “What did you do to that baby? I gave you a good baby,” he said, according to a complaint letter the nurse sent to her union representative.
Staffers at the Fresno birthing center were devastated and angry — and not just because of the twin lost that night in 2005.
Over the years, doctors and nurses repeatedly had complained to higher-ups — including Kaiser’s top medical officer in Northern and Central California — about problems they saw in Safari’s skills and behavior, according to interviews and documents.
This is a story not just of tragic medical outcomes, but of a health plan that did not prevent them.
A year before Devin’s death, the doctor had waited more than three hours to do a Caesarean section even though the baby girl was in distress and her family said they had been pleading for the procedure, according to interviews and government records. She was severely deprived of oxygen and died months later.
As far back as 2002, a physician review committee at the hospital concluded that Safari provided “inappropriate” care and that his “conduct needed significant improvement,” according to a lawsuit later filed by two of his peers.
Still, the doctor continues to work at Kaiser Fresno, practicing under restrictions that staffers say have not been explained to patients.
Regulators acted only recently. This July, the state Department of Managed Health Care fined Kaiser a record $3 million for its haphazard handling of complaints and physician errors throughout the state. Officials said in an interview that the Safari matter played a significant role in their decision to investigate the HMO’s practices.
Late last month, the state medical board accused Safari of gross negligence, seeking to revoke or suspend his license.
The board also has faulted Kaiser, the nation’s largest HMO with 6.5 million members in California. The health plan made the board’s investigation of Safari “protracted and difficult” by providing incomplete medical records, a spokeswoman said.
Kaiser did not allow senior officials to be interviewed for this story — and warned staffers at Kaiser Fresno not to talk, several said. In a statement, hospital administrator Susan Ryan said the HMO has cooperated with the medical board and is “committed to ensuring the safety of our patients.”
In July 2005 — three months after Devin’s death — Kaiser imposed its restrictions on Safari, barring him from performing vaginal deliveries and requiring him to be monitored by another physician or an advanced-practice nurse, Ryan said. The restrictions became permanent in April 2007. Kaiser and other hospitals typically do not notify patients of such actions, officials said.
Safari, 49, declined to comment. His lawyer, Stephen D. Schear, said the accusations are “completely unwarranted” and that Safari intends to challenge the medical board’s action in a hearing. Safari, he said, has the support of many at the hospital and in his department.
“If you’re doing thousands of high-risk deliveries over the years, it’s almost inevitable that there’s going to be some unfortunate cases where children die, where things don’t go right,” Schear said.
“You’re talking about one minute maybe where he pulled too hard to try to extract this baby. . . . Just look at his whole record, 10 years.”
But doctors and other staffers allege that Devin’s death was the culmination of Safari’s troubles, not a fluke.
“We do not feel that our perinatologist is competent,” reads an August 2005 petition signed by eight of Safari’s peers, about half of the ob-gyn department. “Over and over again he put our patients at risks and most recently with the undeniably terrible outcome.”
Kaiser was “misleading our patients and the public” by advertising that it had a perinatalogist on staff even though his practice was restricted, said the petition, which was addressed to the hospital’s medical director.
The petition, complaint letters, depositions and other documents used in preparation of this story are part of the ongoing lawsuit by the two doctors and arbitration cases against Kaiser, or have been provided to state regulators investigating Kaiser and Safari.
Dr. Gilbert Moran, one of the doctors who sued Kaiser and its affiliated Permanente Medical Group, alleges that they punished him and others who complained, rather than address their legitimate concerns.
“I’ve been telling these guys for years that he was going to kill someone,” said Moran, the former ob-gyn chief. “And no one would listen.”
Continue Reading »
Kaiser Thrive Exposed would like to personally thank Dr. Geoff Galbraith - Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute board member; and Vice President, Hawaii Permanente Medical Group, Quality Improvement Management - for inspiring us to create this website. Did we make it into the top 5?