Kaiser Permanente, the United State’s biggest HMO, will pay $1 million after a personal injury medical malpractice lawsuit claiming its kidney transplant program put patients at risk for personal injury and wrongful death.
We, as personal injury lawyers in San Diego, are always concerned when we hear about cases of insurance companies being liable for fault over their methods of treating injured persons. Our office processes medical malpractice cases that are responsible for pain and suffering and emotional trauma that remains with our clients for the rest of their lives.
“As the largest HMO in the country, Kaiser’s gross mismanagement of the kidney transplant program certainly did not allow their patients to thrive,” said Lawrence Eisenberg, an attorney for two former injured persons and the families of three wrongful death patients.
The lawsuit comes after Time Magazine revealed the mess behind the Kaiser curtain in August, 2006. Kaiser’s Northern California kidney transplant program put injured persons at risk of wrongful death by forcing them into the program, while the insurance company itself was unequipped to handle the amount of casework it required.
“The failure of the program resulted in the deaths of some patients who did not timely receive kidney transplants. The health of others was severely jeopardized,” commented Eisenberg.
Trouble began when Kaiser began moving up to 1,500 kidney transplants for injured persons from highly regarded medical centers, such as UC San Francisco and UC Davis, to the first Kaiser transplant center which opened fall of 2004. After a few months, Kaiser’s waiting list was among the longest in the country and its odds of getting an injured person a kidney took a sharp decline.
In 2005, twice as many people suffered wrongful deaths on the waiting list as received kidneys. The opposite was true for statistics showing statewide patterns for transplant centers, where twice as many injured persons received kidneys as died after their medical treatment was complete.
“As we said at the time, we deeply regret the problems, difficulties and concern that some of our members experienced with transfers involving the San Francisco kidney transplant program,” said Tony Rau, Kaiser Permanente representative.
Being San Diego personal injury lawyers, we know the stress and agony that comes with a personal injury involving an organ transplant, especially if it results in wrongful death. If you or a loved one is in a similar situation and needs a trustworthy legal team, we are here to help you.
Please contact us for a FREE CONSULTATION with an experienced personal injury lawyer—in either English or Spanish—at (800) 655-6585 or click here to submit your case for a Free Review.
About Michael PinesMichael Pines is a former insurance company attorney who specializes in car accident injury. While he was an insurance attorney, he learned from behind the scenes on how insurance companies work and how they decided to pay injured people. Now that he works against insurance companies, Michael's inside knowledge has resulted in significant benefits to his clients injured in car accidents.
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Tags: HMO, Kaiser Permanente, kidney transplant, medical malpractice
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