Kaiser Doctors Forgot to Read X-Ray, Delayed Treatment For 18 Months Leading to Patient Death
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — A New Carrollton woman is suing a Kaiser health plan and its doctors saying they first neglected to read her husband’s chest x-rays for eight months and then delayed needed treatment for nearly a year, resulting in his death from lung cancer at the age of 59.
Shirley Cole filed the lawsuit today in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States and Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. The suit seeks unspecified damages on behalf of Mrs. Cole and the estate in the death of InRoss Cole on November 12, 2006. Cole was a bus driver for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority for 23 years.
In April, 2003, Cole underwent a chest x-ray at a Kaiser facility as part of the routine process of clearing him for back surgery. According to the suit, the x-ray was not read by a radiologist until approximately eight months later, in December, 2003. Although at that time a Kaiser radiologist discovered suspicious spots on Cole’s left lung and recognized medical attention was necessary, no one at Kaiser notified Cole, according to the Complaint.
“There is no reasonable explanation for this delay. It appears the film was overlooked, the process at Kaiser was inexcusably slow or there was no system in place for reporting and/or following up on films,” said Howard Janet, of the Baltimore-based law firm of Janet, Jenner & Suggs, one of the attorneys representing Shirley Cole and her husband’s estate.
Not until Cole complained of shortness of breath in November 2004 was another x-ray taken. By this time the spot had grown and cancer was diagnosed. Cole underwent surgery and radiation treatments, but by then the cancer had spread throughout his body. “He spent the last few months of his life in great pain, paralyzed on one side,” Janet said.
Had Cole’s x-ray been interpreted in a timely manner and treatment started, it is likely Cole would still be alive today, the suit maintains. “This lapse in care is unconscionable, leading us to suspect either a serious problem at Kaiser among its physicians or a deeper problem with internal systems. Either way, the ultimate responsibility falls on Kaiser,” said Christian Mester, also of Janet, Jenner & Suggs.
Kaiser, which operates one of the largest HMOs in the country, has recently come under fire for a number of patient care issues. In February, the University of California assumed control of Kaiser’s post-transplant clinic for kidney patients after an investigation by the Los Angeles Times reported hundreds of patients had been endangered after the clinic lost track of them and delayed critical surgeries. Also this year, the HMO’s new $4 billion electronic medical information system has been faulted for numerous outages which have placed patients potentially at risk.
About Janet, Jenner & Suggs, LLC:
Janet, Jenner & Suggs, LLC, comprised of 14 attorneys, concentrates in prosecuting complex pharmaceutical and medical negligence cases. The firm also represents plaintiffs in business litigation involving fraud and other egregious conduct. The firm’s principle offices are located in Baltimore, Maryland and Columbia, South Carolina.
“This lapse in care is unconscionable, leading us to suspect either a serious problem at Kaiser among its physicians or a deeper problem with internal systems. Either way, the ultimate responsibility falls on Kaiser,”
Yep, keep looking because you’ll find lot’s of negligence, corruption and fraud at kaiser because this is how they do business. Take it from one who knows firsthand.
My sympathy to the family.
too bad that the district attorney could not prosecute. Someone should be held responsible for the incompentcy or at least failing to “do no harm to their patients”. I don’t believe that anyone in kaiser sets out to do harm. However, there are bad employees, whether they are doctors, admnistrators, nurses, pharmacist etc. Why can’t they be weeded out? I know, unions, affirmative action, low pay, overworked etc etc. Poor excuses. I don’t know the answer but jail time might. I know that I will die but I hope that I don’t die because of incompetency or laziness of individuals.
I can truly say that I sympathize with this family. When I read this story, I felt like I was reliving a nightmare.
My mother had Kaiser as her health plan from the 1970’s till she died in 1991. Her story is very similar. In Ohio, Kaiser no longer has it’s own “hospital facilities” as they originally did in the 70’s. They contract with other hospitals for their inpatient and certain diagnostic & treatment needs. As a healthcare professional in the Cleveland area, I can honestly say that Kaiser has a poor payment history with their contracted providers. Therefore, they change their contracted providers frequently.
My mother’s story begins in 1987 or 88, she was diagnosed with throat cancer. Because Kaiser did not have the facilities to treat her, she was referred to another facility for her chemo and radiations treatments. The radiation therapy was concentrated in the throat and upper chest area. These were ongoing till mid 1988. When she was finished with her treatments, she returned to Kaiser for follow-up. She received chest x-rays every 3-6 months to monitor her radiation exposure. After approximately her 3rd follow-up a physician noticed a spot on 2 prevoius x-rays that we never knew about. He was visibly disturbed by what he saw and asked if my mother was treated for lung cancer as well as throat cancer. We indicated that she had not. He wanted her to have a needle biopsy of her lung to confirm or deny a malignancy, and told us he was making a referral request. After 3 months of calling for the appointment confirmation and getting the run around, I threatened legal action if we did not have a referral. By the end of the day, my mother had an appointment for 1 week later, at a totally different contracted facility. The biopsy confirmed adenocarcinoma of the lung and she received an appointment with the Oncology Department. WHen we went to her Oncology appointment, the doctor screamed at her and berated her for her health habits. After he settled down, he told us that she was a poor surgical risk, and since she had chemo and radiations so recently, that was not an option either. He stated that the chemo that she had was too much, and she could not be given any more at that time. The radiation she could have would only be a limited amount and would only serve to shrink the tumor. She was given about a year to live.
To my mother’s credit, I must say that I watched her make the most of her “sentence”. She was never a burden, and insisted on doing everything she could to enjoy her grandchildren till the day she died. I miss her terribly and her grandsons were denied a grandmother because of Kaiser’s greed and negligence. Although I never pursued a malpractice suit, I have continued to preach healthcare insurance awareness and, in my profession, have remained a patient advocate.
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