$2 Million Fine Small Potatoes For Kaiser Transplant Disaster

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By Evelyn Pringle (about the author) Page 3 of 5 page(s)

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"These "zero mismatch" organs from cadavers are prized," according to the Times, "because they offer patients a greater chance of long-term survival and minimize the risk of rejection."

They are considered the best possible option aside from a living donor's kidney. "And they allow patients to get their transplants immediately," the Times wrote, "no matter where they are on the waiting list."

Patients missed the opportunity because Kaiser never completed the paperwork to transfer the patients to its program, and at the same time, Kaiser refused to allow UC San Francisco to transplant the kidneys into Kaiser patients.

On August 4, 2006, the LA Times reported more bad news for patients when California regulators said it would take months longer than expected to transfer about 2,000 patients out of Kaiser's transplant center in San Francisco. Preparing patients and their records for transfer has taken more time than anticipated, officials said, pushing the target to the end of the year.

Not surprisingly, Kaiser is already facing a barrage of litigation over the transplant program debacle.

Ella Haynes filed the first lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court back in May 2006, alleging the HMO had botched paperwork and caused her husband Ronald to be removed from the transplant waiting list.

In the case of her husband, having to wait so long caused his condition to deteriorate to the point where he could not even be considered for a transplant. Ronald died of a blood infection in March 2005 at 60-years-old.

Ella learned from the LA Times in May 2006, that her husband never had a chance of receiving a transplant because the 2 1/2 years Ronald spent on the waiting list at UC Davis had never been transferred to Kaiser, effectively eliminating him from the program.

On May 3, 2006, the Times reported that many experienced transplant programs accept kidneys from a separate pool of risky donors, such as older patients or people with health problems, in attempt to cut down the waiting time.

The pool supplied kidneys for about 15% of the transplants in the Bay Area last year, the local organ bank told the Times, but said Kaiser only accepted one.

Kaiser's chief surgeon, Dr Arturo Martinez, claimed it was because only one patient signed up for the kidneys, but officials from UC Davis and UC San Francisco told the Times that their records show many Kaiser patients had been interested.

In fact, at UC Davis, before the contracts were cancelled in 2004, 20 Kaiser patients had signed up for the organs, and at UC San Francisco there were 23 more Kaiser patients signed up.

Ella Haynes said her husband Ronald had signed up for two riskier kidneys at UC Davis, but when he was transferred to Kaiser, they were told that Ronald "would be better served to wait it out and get one good kidney."

A month after Ronald died in April 2005, Ella received a call from Kaiser asking about her husband's transplant status and she told the caller that her husband died.

"I told them, 'well gee, my husband is dead,' " she told CBS 5 investigators. "The doc said, 'I'm so sorry. We didn't have the paperwork that would have told us this. Otherwise I wouldn't have called.' "

Ella's attorney, Stuart Talley says Kaiser lost track of Ronald's case altogether. "We have info that leads us to believe he was actually never put on Kaiser's list," Mr Talley told CBS.

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