Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in California
Kaiser Permanente in Fontana is building a 700+ million dollar addition to that facility. Last year they reported over 2 billion in profit. Couldn't it be considered malpractice for them to not offer treatments based on proven technology such as "proton therapy", as is used by Loma Linda University, for cancer?
What about co-pays? How can it be legal to accept money every month for medical coverage, and then invent a new concept; "co-pays" so they can get paid a second time for everything?
The fact that they can tell a 70 year old man (my father) in the ER at 1am that he may have had a stroke but then send him home because they haven't got any beds available .... that's beyond ludicrous. I told them he was too weak to get up the steps to our home, and too heavy to carry. I asked them if they had some kind of transport service and they said the ambulance could do it for 800 dollars, or we could wait in the waiting area until 3:30am for a cheaper shuttle at around 80 dollars; which is what we did. Now, any time we have to get to the hospital I actually have to rent a wheelchair accessible van ($120) for the whole day. To call a shuttle service for the round trip it costs twice what the rental costs. They'll schedule a barrage of appointments over a two week period that can ultimately (initial visit, specialist, blood clinic, pharmacy, follow ups and evaluations for procedures) generate co-pays totaling well into the hundreds. How can that be legal?
My mother was probably killed by a bumbling staff at Kaiser when they adjusted her coumadin (blood thinner) based on the nurse "eyeballing" the blood analysis (the blood lab is supposed to run the blood through tests to determine viscosity, then order a change in dosage of coumadin).
That was 6 years ago now. Is it too late to go after them for that?
thanks
2 Answers from Attorneys
People who want to live don't join HMOs. Simple as that. You can't sue for stuff that happened 6 years ago. And if you think Kaiser committed malpractice, good luck with that, because all their members agreed to Arbitration.
The statute of limitations on medical malpractice is one year from the date of reasonable discovery of the negligent act. I believe that the nurse is not in a medical position that is covered by malpractice; there would be a two year statute of limitations from when her action occurred. It is believed based upon studies that a very large number of people unnecessarily die because of lack of proper care in a hospital.
I am sorry for the problems you have had with Kaiser. Your anger is understandable, but aside from the questions about your mother, those are not really legal issues. You can complain to your local elected officials, but little if anything will happen. You could post the situation on a web site and try to sham the Kaiser officials into changing their policies, but they are looking at what they consider to be needed to run the system without being in a deficit.
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