Category Archives: Kaiser Permanente: Failure to Thrive

Another mother buries her child thanks to Kaiser Permanente

This heartbreaking story arrived in our in box a few days ago. There is only one thing we can think of that is more tragic than a mother having to bury her child, and that is having to live with the knowledge that the death occurred unnecessarily at the hands of the doctors entrusted to save him. Justice rarely prevails in these situations, because the system has long been stacked against patients and in favor of corporate abuse of money and power. We ask our readers to keep Sean Berlin in heart and mind as they witness KP CEO George Halvorson making his rounds, touting Kaiser-style health care “reform” for all… because your child could be next.

Kaiser responds to Arce vs. Kaiser autism lawsuit

Kaiser Permanente is attempting to compel arbitration in the Arce vs. Kaiser autism lawsuit. Why? Because arbitration is a closed proceeding that is rigged in KP’s favor, of course! We don’t know what this would mean for the class action portion of the case, but hopefully someone with a more brilliant legal mind than ours will explain in the comments.

LA Times covers Kaiser’s refusal to pay for autism treatment

In April we posted a request from California attorney Scott Glovsky, who is seeking plaintiffs for a class action lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente for refusing to cover treatments for autism as required by law. The lawsuit — which was filed on behalf of Andrew Arce, a two-year-old child Kaiser has denied treatment — alleges breach of contract, bad faith, and unfair dealing, and is seeking class action status on the third complaint.

Kaiser Permanente Sued By Executive for AIDS Discrimination

SAN FRANCISCO, June 5 /PRNewswire/ — Jeffery Sterman, Public Affairs Director and voice of Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco for ten years is claiming AIDS discrimination and breach of contract. A person with AIDS, Sterman is one of those who helped create the hospital’s response to HIV and AIDS. David J. St. Louis, Sterman’s attorney,… Read More »

Catching up

Our apologies for the dearth of updates lately, but by no means does our temporary silence indicate that the Kaiser Krappola hasn’t continued to hit the fan. There’s too much to post individually, so please enjoy this Kaiser Permanente News Roundup: Now that Kaiser has completed the nationwide roll out of the outpatient side of… Read More »

California attorney seeking plaintiffs for autism class action

On 04/08/2008 a lawsuit was filed against Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles Superior Court, on behalf of a two-year-old child that Kaiser has refused to treat for autism. The lawsuit accuses Kaiser of breach of contract, bad faith, unfair dealing, and is seeking class action status on the third complaint. As a result of the case, the DMHC is conducting a massive investigation into Kaiser’s practice of dumping all autistic children onto the government for care, and shifting its financial obligation onto taxpayers.

George Halvorson 5, Lehna Brewer minus 18 months

[kaiserthrive.org’s editor’s note: We love birthday parties — especially our own — but even so we were taught to be humble on these occasions, and that it would be less than polite to toot our own horn. Not so George Halvorson, who appears to revel in insulting Kaiser Permanente victims by refusing to address their… Read More »

Fourth season of Brand Baloney on a $45 million Kaiser roll

[kaiserthrive.org editor’s note: Yeah, everyone is ‘Thrive’-ing at Kaiser Permanente…unless you need a kidney transplant, or have pneumonia, or cancer, or a past due pregnancy, or a consumer complaint, or need a prescription, or, or, or… Thrive has been so “successful” that nationally Kaiser membership has remained mostly flat since the campaign began, and the… Read More »

Non-profit in name only

[kaiserthrive.org editor’s note: Our apologies for not posting this sooner, but due to recent personal obligations it has been difficult to update as often as we would like to. Unfortunately I also don’t have much time tonight for commentary, although this article and Kaiser’s news release certainly scream out for more than a little of… Read More »

DMHC levies $3 million fine against Kaiser for poor handling of member complaints

[kaiserthrive.org’s editor’s note: Is this vindication for Kaiser critics, who have been making these claims for years only to be erroneously discredited, abused and marginalized by Kaiser management and its less than ethical PR and legal departments? Feels a little like vindication, but in our experience these people seem to regret their horrendous actions quite a bit less than they do being caught.

We received an email from a Kaiser employee a few days ago, asking us if we would be willing to post some tangible steps that Kaiser could take to improve itself, as well as a score card listing some of these steps and how Kaiser is doing with implementing them. Kaiser makes a point of pretending it doesn’t respond to anything we do, even though we know for a fact that isn’t true, but in the spirit of supporting what is best for Kaiser members, we are more than willing to report on positive steps in the right direction. We’re still hoping to find even one Kaiser member or employee who has been treated fairly in a dispute, and as soon as that happens it will be our pleasure to report it here.]

From the L.A. Times:

State fines Kaiser again — The HMO’s second such penalty in a year targets its handling of patient complaints at nine hospitals. […]