Kaiser Permanente San Diego CFO Lynnette Seid personally created a hoax CD of X-ray images

UPDATE APRIL 30, 2014:

CLICK HERE for a transcript of my bizarre adventures in the Kaiser Radiology Records Department in April 2014.

UPDATE APRIL 28, 2014:

I went to Kaiser today to get medical records that I thought might be interesting. I was not disappointed. I discovered that the last doctor I visited at Kaiser wrote this:

When asked how I could help her, [Maura Larkins] states that "really I just wanted to meet you because when I asked Dr. X for a transfer to another doctor, [Dr. X] said anyone except Dr. Z". Patient felt that...I would be honest and maybe go against what my supervisor's might want me to do. Discussed with the patient that this wasn't the case at all...

Is that cute or what? I don't think the doctor who wrote this meant to be quite so truthful about her inability to give an honest second opinion.

ORIGINAL POST ABOUT KAISER CONCEALING TEST RESULTS:


Lynette Seid, CFO and chief administrator
for San Diego Kaiser medical records

See also: Is Kaiser Permanente violating the California Business and Professions Code with false advertising about digitized x-rays?

Lynette Seid is not only Kaiser Permanente San Diego Area's Chief Financial Officer. She's also the chief administrator in charge of medical records.

I asked for a CD of my digital VUCG X-ray images to take to an out-of-plan doctor, and in response, Lynette Seid created a CD with the following X-ray images.

It pretends to be a set of 13 images, but it actually consists of only 7 distinct images.

Four of the images appear twice, labeled with different numbers, but with the exact same time stamp:
#1 is identical to #4;
#2 is identical to #3,
#7 is identical to #9, and
#8 is identical #12.

One image appears three times!
(#10, #11 and #13 are identical).

Some of the copies have labels added (“scout,” “voiding,” and “post-void”), but the time stamped on each image identifies it precisely.

Image #6 is of particular interest; it is the one new image that Kaiser was willing to produce for an out-of-plan doctor.

See the 13 images--or rather, 7 images--here.

Nice work, Lynette! A particularly nice touch was the high-tech CD Lynetter sent me. When I open up the bizarre images, which were first printed out and THEN were scanned, and therefore provide extremely little information, I get a rapid slide show just by moving my cursor across the images. Lynette is pretending that someone might actually be looking at these images for the purpose of discerning information about the X-rays. In fact, the images only provide information about how desperate Kaiser is to conceal information about the X-rays it took.

Lynette Seid (Mulan7224) on Twitter

Life is truly wonderful when you love what you do and you have someone very special to share your life!

[Maura Larkins response: Seriously, Lynette? You love doing stuff like this? Do you get paid a lot to do it? And get lots of appreciation from other extremely highly-paid executives? Perhaps you are blocking out the reality that life isn't truly wonderful when one's medical records are concealed by happy folks like you.]

See all posts re Lynette Seid.

CAN BAD DOCTORS CREATE GOOD KNOWLEDGE?

I believe the answer is YES. Kaiser Permanente, for example, has guidelines that require doctors to sacrifice many patients for the purpose of increasing profits. At the same time, Kaiser collects information that helps it improve the treatment of patients who can be treated without sacrificing profits.

"IN MAY 1988, Dr Robert Pozos, a hypothermia researcher at the University of Minnesota, said he planned to analyse and republish a contemporary 56-page report on infamous Dachau experiments in which almost 300 male prisoners were placed in vats of freezing water.

"The men were observed, measured and analysed, sometimes to the point of death; sometimes they were warmed up again with boiling water. Pozos said he could learn how to treat people with hypothermia better if he understood what went on at Dachau."

This sparked off a passionate debate about the ethics of knowledge. Conferences, seminars, letters and speeches the world over have struggled with what to do about Pozos's approach. Some argued the knowledge should never be used because it was gained immorally. Others asked: "Should we not look at the pyramids because they were built using slave labour?" Eventually, Pozos used the knowledge, but the debate continues. The New England Journal of Medicine, for example, does not publish citations of the work.

Contacts and staff : Information : Nature Reviews Urology
www.nature.com/nrurol/info/info_contacts.html‎
Nature
Chief Editor: Annette Fenner, MBBS, PhD Acting Chief Editor: Sarah Payton, PhD Senior Editor: Melanie ... PhD; David Killock, PhD Cross-Journal Associate Editors: Tim Geach, PhD Editorial Support Manager: ... Clinical Practice & Research.

Kaiser wants the public to know the truth about Kaiser quality. So do I.

Here it is straight from the horse's mouth: Kaiser wants the public to have more information about the quality of medical care provided by Kaiser.

I'm happy to help with this blog. Of course, I agree that Covered California should post ratings of insurers. I'd also like to suggest that the California exchange public Kaiser's treatment guidelines and those of other insurers.

The desire for openness is a big change in attitude for Kaiser, a company that usually wants to keep secrets.

Kaiser faults California’s exchange for lack of quality ratings
Chad Terhune
Los Angeles Times
Oct. 22, 2013

Healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente and two other insurers say California’s insurance exchange is withholding crucial information from consumers by not posting quality ratings alongside health plan rates.

The insurance companies said “there has never been a compelling reason to deny this information to consumers…. On this issue, Covered California has surrendered its ‘pace car’ status.”

Sharp Health Plan in San Diego and Western Health Advantage in Sacramento joined Kaiser in criticizing the state’s position in a letter sent Monday to Covered California, the state health exchange. Some consumer advocates have also urged the state to reconsider, saying any delay rewards lower-performing insurers.

Thousands of people have been shopping for coverage at the state’s website at www.coveredca.com since enrollment opened Oct. 1 under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Covered California ignited this debate in August when it backed off earlier plans to include insurance company ratings in its online enrollment system.

This came as a surprise because state officials had touted the idea of consumers choosing coverage based on the overall value, combining price and quality measures.

At the time, the exchange said it reversed course because the latest state rankings examine performance from 2011, and they don’t reflect many of the new health plans and provider networks being offered for the first time under the federal healthcare law.

Major insurers such as Blue Shield of California and Health Net Inc. have offered narrower networks for some exchange policies to help lower premiums. In contrast, Kaiser and its full provider network are often more expensive.

State officials have discussed including ratings for some health plans, such as Kaiser, that are using their current network and labeling newer products as “not yet rated.” Covered California’s five-member board is expected to consider the matter at a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.

In their letter, the three insurers also point out that other state-run exchanges, such as those in Colorado, Maryland and Oregon, are displaying quality data prominently on their websites. Colorado’s website even sorts a consumer’s options by quality, rather than just price.

“The leadership of these three state exchanges faced a choice, as California’s does now – and they chose to put consumers first,” the insurers said.

Patient: Kaiser Told Me 'Redheads Bleed More'

This patient was lucky that one person at Kaiser was looking out for her. This surgery might have had an even worse outcome if someone had tried to put her back to sleep when she awoke and saw a problem. I suggest an award for the staff member who insisted, "We can't give her any more medication."

Patient: Kaiser Told Me 'Redheads Bleed More'
(Click link to see documents)
By BARBARA WALLACE
Courthouse News Service
August 05, 2013

ROSEVILLE, Calif. (CN) - Kaiser staff dismissed "blood pouring uncontrollably out of" a woman's hand during surgery and "unbearable" pain afterward by saying "redheads bleed more," she claims in court.

Deborah Kossick woke up during surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome to see "blood pouring uncontrollably out of her hand and extremity, while there was chaos amongst the staff conducting the surgery, one of which kept yelling, 'we can't give her any more medication,'" she says in a complaint filed in Placer County Superior Court.

"Several days after the surgery, plaintiff was in unbearable and uncontrollable pain in her right hand," which was swollen and blackened, the complaint continues. Kossick says she "advised defendants that the pain was unbearable, and she believed that something had gone wrong during the surgery, as there was too much blood. Defendants advised plaintiff that she had nothing to worry about because 'redheads bleed more' than other patients."

At a follow-up appointment with her surgeon, Steven Hatton Ryder, M.D., a month after the operation, Kossick says she complained of continuing pain, swelling and discoloration of her hand. "Defendant showed no sympathy or concern whatsoever, and, instead, told her that there was nothing more he could do for her," the complaint says.

"To this date, plaintiff Deborah Kossick continues to be in an extreme amount of pain in her right hand, which is now permanent. The hand is also swollen and blackened, which will impact her ability to work and care for herself for the remainder of her life," according to the complaint.

Plaintiff seeks general, special and punitive damages, attorney's fees and costs of suit. Her husband, Robert Kossick, sued for loss of consortium. They are represented by David M. Poore of Brown Poore in Walnut Creek, Calif.

Kaiser: Guts Pulled Out through Cervix, Woman Claims

Kaiser: Guts Pulled Out Cervix, Woman Claims
By BARBARA WALLACE
Courthouse News
April 04, 2013

LOS ANGELES (CN) - During uterine surgery, a Kaiser surgeon perforated a woman's uterus and pulled part of her small intestine out through her cervix before realizing what it was, the woman claims in court.

According to the complaint, Dorothy Ho had uterine surgery performed by a Dr. Murray because of postmenopausal bleeding. "During the operation, as was later discovered, defendant Murray apparently, in attempts to remove a polyp during the course of the medical surgery, noted a protrusion of tan colored tissue, which defendant Murray then attempted to remove from plaintiff's cervix. As defendant Murray continued to pull on the tissue, it continued to elongate and when the tissue was sufficiently removed from the vaginal area, it was discovered that the tissue was not of gynecologic origin. Upon further consultation and confirmation with other medical staff, it was determined that defendant had perforated plaintiff's uterus and instead caused a small bowel injury to plaintiff's bowel due to a tear in her bowels caused by said surgery," according to the complaint.

"In this, defendant Murray failed in defendant's position as a trusted surgeon to perform the surgery with the level of skill, knowledge, and care that other reasonably careful surgeons would use in similar circumstances when confronted with a tissue of unknown origin attached to and protruding from an abnormal growth," the complaint states.

Next, defendant Murray, "immediately performed" a procedure, "during which a large portion, i.e. approximately 40 cm, of plaintiff's small bowel had to be removed," according to the complaint.

"After the operation, defendant Murray informed plaintiff Ho that despite the complication during the procedure, i.e. perforation and small bowel tear, that plaintiff would make a full recovery and would suffer no further, significant effects from the medical complications from the procedure," the complaint says. However, Dorothy Ho remained hospitalized for nine days, during which she "suffered from vomiting, abdominal cramping, bloating, and pain, which she was advised were normal complaints arising from such surgery," according to the complaint.

Dorothy Ho did not learn the full extent of her injuries for four months, during which time she continued to have abdominal pain and needed to take a leave of absence from her job as a Kaiser pharmacist, the complaint says.

Having lost 40 centimeters (about 15.6 inches) of her small bowel, Dorothy Ho's medical problems continue, including "inability to eat much, inability to eat greasy foods, inability to undertake hikes, [and] travel abroad," and "major depressive and anxiety disorders," requiring prescriptions for Xanax, Cymbalta and Ativan, according to the complaint.

Plaintiff is represented by David Lin of Pasadena.

Two San Diego hospitals fined by Dept of Public Health for violations

Two San Diego hospitals fined by Dept of Public Health for violations
CBS Channel 8 San Diego
June 1, 2012

...Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Grantville was fined $50,000 for leaving a towel in the abdomen of a 69-year-old woman who underwent gall bladder surgery in 2009, according to the CDPH. Towels were used because of complications during the procedure, and one was left inside her - requiring a second operation in 2010 to retrieve it...

"While these incidents are very uncommon, we take them seriously," Nicoletti said. "We reported the event immediately, and cooperated fully with CDPH's investigation."

[Maura Larkins comment: Perhaps Kaiser figured out it would be unable to cover it up. I have witnessed doctors, nurses and administrators working smoothly together, without batting an eyelash, to cover-up mistakes, including when they force someone to leave the emergency room.]

Kaiser made procedural changes to avoid a repeat of the incident, she said.

Kaiser Permanente whistle-blower Emily Ryan from Roseville, California

My name is Emily Ryan. I'm a Courage Campaign member and psychiatric social worker for Kaiser Permanente in Roseville, California. Recently I came forward, along with several colleagues, to blow the whistle on Kaiser's illegal and morally inexcusable mental health policies.

We've risked our careers to contribute to “Care Delayed, Care Denied” a report by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which was featured in USA Today¹ and The Huffington Post.² Now, Kaiser will use its army of lobbyists and PR flacks to try to stop an investigation. This "non-profit" corporation has made more than $5.4 billion in the last three years and pays its CEO a salary of $9 million a year. Unless Governor Brown's Department of Managed Health Care pursues an investigation, Kaiser's billion dollar spin machine will succeed in silencing our voices.

We need your help. Please click here to demand Governor Brown start an investigation.

If you or anyone in your family suffers from mental illness or acute emotional pain, you know how damaging it can be. If they have Kaiser, they're likely to have an experience like Timm Sinclair, who told us,

My mother, a Kaiser member of 20 years, is 77 years old and has Parkinson's. She also suffers from chronic recurrent depression and severe anxiety disorder. The difficulties in getting her psychological and psychiatric needs met at Kaiser have been distressing for her and for me. Along with a revolving cast of doctors and therapists we have encountered lengthy delays of up to three months. I find it inconceivable that an organization that is supposedly dedicated to ensuring that their members 'Thrive' would allow this to happen.

Join us to demand Governor Brown direct the Department of Managed Health Care to investigate Kaiser!

Kaiser puts profits before patients. This year, they raised rates an average of 9.5% and are planning another hike -- their second in six months -- this January, but they refuse to hire enough staff to serve their patients adequately. Our report -- based a survey of over 300 Kaiser mental health professionals practicing at 57 Kaiser facilities in Northern and Southern California -- revealed the following:

• 90% report there is insufficient staffing at their clinic;

• patients, including those suffering from major depression and thoughts of suicide, are frequently forced to wait four weeks or longer for return appointments, despite California law requiring they be seen within ten business days;

• Kaiser falsifies patient scheduling records to conceal these delays from state regulators;

• and Kaiser often funnels patients into group therapy even when clinicians believe that individual therapy would be more effective.
Please ask the Governor to stand up for Timm, his mother, and the thousands of patients who rely on the country's largest HMO for their mental health services.

Emily Ryan
Kaiser Permanente psychiatric social worker and Courage Campaign member

1. USA Today
2. Huffington Post

Kaiser fired Dr. Moran for complaining about Hamid Safari, the doctor who killed two babies

Kaiser retaliation for patient advocacy

Kaiser fired the Chief of the OB/GYN Department for complaining about a doctor who has since become notorious for killing babies. At the same time, Kaiser offered $2 million to the baby-killing doctor to resign.

Dr. Gilbert Kenneth Moran's lawsuit says he was fired for complaining about "Dr. X," whose negligence resulted in three deaths at Kaiser in Fresno, which is where Dr. Hamid Safari worked when his notorious misbehavior occurred.

The lawsuit states:

...Between 2002 and 2004, while he was Chief of the OB/GYN department and oversaw the quality of care committee, petitioner complained to hospital officials about substandard patient care given by a doctor identified as Dr. X. The physician-in-chief told petitioner to stop complaining, and dismantled the quality of care committee; he demoted and otherwise disciplined petitioner as a result of the complaints. Dr. X's negligence resulted in the death of three patients.

Petitioner was told he could work harassment-free at Kaiser-Bakersfield if he resigned his partnership, returned to employee status, and accepted a reduction in pay and job security; he was told he would likely be promoted to partnership again after one year, rather than the usual three years. Petitioner agreed to this. His first day of work for SCPMG in Bakersfield was January 8, 2007. He subsequently filed a lawsuit alleging retaliation for patient advocacy; that suit was resolved on June 29, 2009. Petitioner was later told he would not be promoted to partner at Kaiser-Bakersfield; he was terminated effective February 22, 2010...


Hamid Safari: Kaiser tried to bribe baby-killing doctor
Kaiser Permanente Thrive Exposed
March 8th, 2008

[How do you like that? Only at Kaiser can you kill two babies and endanger countless others, only to be handed $2 million of member money to quietly resign. The pattern should be glaringly obvious by now. Kaiser always tries to lie and buy its way out of a scandal, and only does the right thing when its malfeasance becomes a media event. Note that even after Safari turned down the settlement, Kaiser still would have declined to suspend him if only CMS hadn't rejected the first plan of correction (pdf).]

From the Fresno Bee:
Kaiser doctor rejected a deal
Hospital offered beleaguered Safari $2 million to resign.
By Tracy Correa

Three months before Kaiser Permanente suspended a Fresno physician at the center of a state investigation into the deaths of two babies, the hospital offered him $2 million to resign.

Dr. Hamid Safari, who treated high-risk pregnancies, said he refused the Nov. 28 offer because he wanted to continue working and believes he has done nothing wrong.

“I have spent my life to be a perinatologist and help patients, mothers and babies. The money was not my intention or my goal in life,” Safari said.

Kaiser officials acknowledged that they have discussed a settlement with Safari, but would not confirm the $2 million figure. The hospital suspended the doctor last week.

“We have considered many alternatives over time regarding Dr. Safari leaving the organization, including settlement, because we believed it was in everyone’s best interest,” Linda Monte, interim senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser’s Fresno hospital, said in a written statement.

The doctor and his lawyer, Stephen Schear, said Kaiser buckled under the pressure of bad publicity. They also criticized Kaiser for telling reporters about the suspension.

Schear said Safari was not interested in taking any amount of money in exchange for his career.

“Our counteroffer was to sit down and work things out so he could continue to treat patients at Kaiser Fresno,” he said.

Safari said a Kaiser representative showed up at his home about 5 p.m. on Feb. 29 and handed over a letter stating that he was suspended, effective immediately. He had been off that day for his deposition in a lawsuit filed by two Kaiser doctors who said they were retaliated against by hospital administration for questioning Safari’s competence.

The suspension followed months of criticism and public pressure on the doctor and Kaiser Permanente since details of the deaths — in 2004 and 2005 — became public late last year.

In September, the California Medical Board accused Safari of gross negligence — charges that could lead to loss of his California medical license. A hearing is pending.

In 2004, Safari waited more than three hours before performing a Caesarean section on a patient even though the baby was in distress, according to the accusation. The baby girl, who was deprived of oxygen, died 10 months later.

The other case occurred in 2005, when Safari allegedly severed the spinal cord of a baby boy, a twin, in what has been described by investigators in documents as a brutal delivery.

Medical staff and nurses have said they had raised questions about Safari’s competence but hospital administration failed to act.

Drs. Gilbert Moran and Robert Rusche are now suing Kaiser for retaliating against them after they complained about Safari.

Safari, in turn, accuses Moran — the former head of the OB/GYN department — and Rusche of complaining to the state medical board as part of a vendetta against him. He said they did so after he complained to superiors that one of the doctors was abusing his power on a quality review committee to go after doctors he didn’t like.

In January, federal health officials issued a critical 68-page report following an investigation into the situation. The report suggested that if Safari had been monitored more closely, the deaths might have been prevented.

Days later, Susan Ryan, the hospital’s then-top administrator, stepped down.

Schear said the bad publicity had become too much and Kaiser was determined to get rid of Safari. He also said that even though the doctor is suspended, he is collecting his Kaiser paycheck and is still entitled to due process, involving hearings and appeals, that can take months or years.

Schear said the $2 million settlement offer was an attempt to quickly disassociate the hospital from Safari and shortcut that process.

Schear provided The Bee a copy of a Nov. 28 letter from a Los Angeles law firm he said represented Kaiser. He blanked out all but one passage in the letter, which reads, “Kaiser will pay Dr. Safari $2 million, provided Dr. Safari complies with all conditions set forth herein.”

Schear said the letter also set forth conditions, including a confidentiality agreement and a pledge that Safari wouldn’t sue Kaiser.

“The essence was, you leave and we give you the money,” Schear said.

He said $2 million was a starting point and that the offer came “with indications they would pay him significantly more than that if he immediately resigned.”

Schear said he believes Kaiser moved to suspend Safari because it doesn’t think the medical board will end up revoking his license when all the facts come out.

“They just decided to throw him overboard,” Schear said.

Safari said he has performed well in recent months and that there have been no reports of any problems since 2005. He said his patient satisfaction rates are the highest they have ever been and only eight Kaiser patients have asked to be reassigned to another doctor.

“I think the action [suspension] was taken because he’s performing too well and building up a track record,” Schear said. “The longer he goes without problems, the harder it is to get rid of him.”

Safari now serves primarily as a consultant in high-risk births. Kaiser restricted Safari in July 2005 from performing vaginal deliveries and made the restrictions permanent in April 2007.