"They left a gaping hole between the urethra and the bladder—it wasn't connected very well," Greg explains. "I experienced a lot of leakage—my urine was not going through the catheter into the bag; instead it was leaking into my body. That happened over many days. By the seventh day of my hospital stay, the doctor moved the catheter to the correct position and it worked; now the urine was coming out properly. But the massive leaking caused irreparable scarring and my urinary system was compromised--I am still dealing with it today.When I tried to get Kaiser—my health maintenance organization (HMO)--to correct this problem, they told me that they didn't know what my problem was. My doctor said he didn't know what was causing the leakage but he would keep trying to fix the problem. I would go into the Kaiser hospital periodically and they would run some tests—they checked my urinal system for blockage and indeed it was blocked. It got so bad that I couldn't pee due to so much scar tissue. Eventually it shut down and I wound up in ER about 3 months later.
Next up, they misdiagnosed my problem—saying I had a bladder infection. But the problem was the scar tissue; I have undergone 4 subsequent surgeries since they first removed the tumor.
Kaiser Mediation
In my attempt to get help, Kaiser denied responsibility. When you are a member of Kaiser you must sign a consent form before their doctors can operate—that applies to all major operations. In a nutshell, the form says if something goes wrong, Kaiser cannot be held responsible or liable.
Secondly, as a Kaiser member, you must agree to mediation rather than a lawsuit. My only recourse was to take them to mediation. The mediator determined that Kaiser was at fault. Malpractice in the state of California pays a maximum of $250,000 and I was awarded this amount plus my wife was awarded $75,000 because of my loss of ability to perform sexually. I was awarded an additional $31,000 for additional medical procedures. My total settlement was $356,271.
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Arbitration is final and by doing this, I think Kaiser wants to limit their liability. They have deep pockets so this amount is nothing to them but our lives have been drastically and deeply changed. Before this happened my wife and I enjoyed a healthy sex life, now we look forward to nothing. That is just the way our cards fell."
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Personally, I have had two terrible experiences with Kaiser, one of which cost my husband his life.
Several years ago he was diagnosed with a high prostate level. Follow ups were not done. His doctor left Kaiser. When my husband was assigned to another physician they tested his prostate. His level in the blood was 1100. It was stage 4 and had spread to his bones. Eventually we were forced into hospice care. Hospice provided a nurse one time a week. She left medications and inspected our home. The nurse determined our stairs were unsafe due to his weak condition. However they refused to provide help when he would fall on the floor. They never gave him a bath or a meal. They did bring their supervisor to our home. They inspected not only the interior but also the exterior. Kaiser Hospice was intrusive, dictitorial and useless.
Recently I broke my back and Kaiser primary physician would not see me. She prescribed two prescriptions and sent me home. In desperation I went to a private orthopedic surgeon who ordered MRI and saw the brake, along with the compressed disk and stenosis that had been causing me pain for years. Kaiser took no interest in my back and diagnosed it as arthritis.
I am out several hundreds of dollars for private care. They refuse to pay for the servies of the private doctor. Additionally they say they can provide care. I'm leaving Kaiser as soon as possinble.