Lawsuit Alleges Fraud, Negligence at Kaiser Transplant Program
A lawsuit seeking class-action status was filed on Monday against Kaiser Permanente on behalf of patients at its kidney transplant program in Northern California, the Oakland Tribune reports (Oakland Tribune, 6/7).
The HMO in May announced that it will close its kidney transplant program following reports of alleged problems that led to transplant delays. About 2,000 patients will be transferred to transplant programs at the University of California-Davis and UC-San Francisco medical centers from the Kaiser transplant program, which opened in 2004 (California Healthline, 5/26).
The lawsuit, which was filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that Kaiser mismanaged the kidney transplant program and acted fraudulently. The suit also accuses Kaiser of negligence (Oakland Tribune, 6/7).