Kaiser Papers Newsletter for January, 2008

The Kaiser Papers Newsletter for January 2008

The Kaiser Papers A Patient Advocacy Web Site.

The Following Articles Are In This Issue:

Kaiser Fresno and Dr. Safari - by Hillarie Levy
The Kaiser/CDC Morgellons Collaboration - By Miguel Perez-Lizano
People who have no control, are easily controlled - by Jupirena Stein
When my husband was working in Iraq on a military base -By Anonymous
A rerun of Dr. Charles Phillips recollections of Dr. Hamid Safari of Kaiser Fresno - Dr. Charles Phillips
Wrap up for the month - by Vickie Travis
Kaiser Papers Internet Talk Show at TalkShoe.com

Kaiser Fresno and Dr. Hamid Safari

The January 26th LA Times article,
"Report faults Kaiser as slow to act," highlights an issue, most of us at kaiserpapers are familiar with.

This article focuses on the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid's conclusion,

"If Kaiser Fresno hospital had acted on complaints and kept a closer watch over its medical staff, two babies might still be alive,"

along with The Medical Board's conclusion, accusing this physician of

"gross negligence."

This issue involves perinatologist

Hamid Safari, botching at least two deliveries after staff members had raised concerns.

One baby died in the delivery room; another died months
after her birth. Kaiser had received complaints from staff
about Dr. Safari as far back as 1998! Kaiser Fresno
Administrator, Susan Ryan, defended the hospital's
quality oversight program stating,

"officials took appropriate action."

Dr. Safari remains on staff as a perinatologist, ignoring recommendations of additional monitoring, by the US
Center for Medicare and Medicaid.

Now that the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services report faulted Kaiser as "slow to act" and the Medical Board accused this physician of "gross negligence" will there be any improvement of care on Kaiser's part? Although these state and federal agencies have faulted and fined Kaiser, and their physicians, several times before, changes implemented do not ever provide effective remedies, as demonstrated by continuing deaths.

It is time to overhaul these ineffective, taxpayer funded,
state and federal agencies.

Hillarie Levy may be reached at:

Hillarie@kaiserpapers.info

The Kaiser/CDC Morgellons
Collaboration

by Miguel Perez-Lizano

Morgellons is a disease that has garnered widespread
attention in the past few years. The cause of the disease is unknown. The most significant aspect of the disease is the growth of multicolored fibers erupting from lesions in the skin. Many patients with Morgellons also have documented Lyme disease, and Morgellons patients typically have symptom overlap with Lyme disease.

This disease is not a new disease. In the past doctors have
dismissed Morgellons sufferers with a diagnosis of
delusional parasitosis – a psychiatric condition in which a patient believes parasites are crawling in their bodies. I know one Morgellons sufferer who is an intelligent, normal professional and was given this diagnosis. Dismissive use of the term “delusional parasitosis” should be a red flag that signifies the uninformed, uncaring doctors who parrot this diagnosis to hide their ignorance and laziness.

The Centers for Disease Control has awarded Kaiser
Permanente a grant to study Morgellons Disease Morgellons in their patient population in Northern California. The CDC uses Kaiser for studies because of their captive member base. All, or most, records for health care received reside at Kaiser and can be retrieved. In addition, patients included in clinical trials can be easily tracked. This also avoids the expense of enrolling people in clinical trials or studies.

It is more than likely that this study will validate the theorem “garbage in, garbage out.” One potential flaw is the probability that inadequate care has affected the reliability of information contained in patient records. An example that would relate to this study is the fact that many (and perhaps all) Morgellons sufferers also have Lyme disease.

Kaiser’s attitude of Lyme denial is documented in Kaiser Papers and elsewhere. It is highly unlikely that Kaiser members who have complained of Morgellons have ever received a Lyme blood test by Kaiser. And in the event that they have, Kaiser’s serodiagnostic Lyme test is wholly unreliable and will almost always result in a negative reading for West Coast members in particular. So the association of Morgellons with Lyme disease will not be made.

I am very skeptical that this study will result in anything helpful to the Morgellons community and may, in fact, be harmful. In all likelihood, this study will be tailored to suit a desired outcome: denial that Morgellons is a real disease. Some Morgellons patients who have been badly treated by Kaiser have stated that they will not participate in this study. Whether or not Kaiser will go ahead anyway and use data from their medical records without their permission is unknown.

The links below provide some informative articles worth reading relating to this study.

U.S. orders study of bizarre Morgellons condition
(AssociatedPress)
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/01/27/health/
16_49_561_25_08.txt

NIELS LETTER TO THE CDC

Subject: why is CDC using a lyme-denialist organization to study Lyme-related Morgellons?

http://morgellonsgroup.proboards23.com/index.cgi?
board=priority& action=display&thread=1188617937

One question that must be asked is where is Kaiser reporting this income they generate from using their captive member base and member records for studies such as these? They are not separately reported in Kaiser’s financial filings. This would include income from not only government agencies but also drug companies and other for-profit entities as well.

Perhaps the most infamous Kaiser/CDC collaboration was the fraudulent enrollment of minority low-income children in a harmful measles vaccine trial done in the early 1990’s.

MEASLES VACCINE EXPERIMENTS ON
MINORITY CHILDREN TURN DEADLY http://www.nvic.org/History/Newsletters/nlr696.htm

The integrity of the CDC should be questioned along with that of Kaiser Permanente. It is unfortunate for the nation that an increasing number of health care advocates in specialty areas are now discrediting the CDC as a source of reliable information.

Miguel Perez-Lizano may be reached via e-mail at:
mikijean@pacifier.com

When my husband was working in Iraq on a military base - By Anonymous

........he had to rely on a military doctor when he was caught in the concussion zone when a mortar that was launched in exploded almost on top of him.

Since the contractors don't have their own doctors and they have to rely on the military doctors it seems that no medical records are kept. I find it strange that since there is almost more civilian contractors than military personnel, why wouldn't they have access to medical treatment of their own.

My husband told me that it better be serious before you bothered a military doctor since they were there for our troops not the contractors. Well, when a mortar explodes on a base it doesn't care if you are military or contractor.

Of course seriously injured are flown to Germany, then home. If this happens then you have to fight to get workers comp to even accept your claim.

I know of at least three different times my husband had to see a doctor over there. Twice for an infection and once when he was caught in the concussion zone from an incoming mortar attack.

Can they produce any medical records? No! They say there isn't any. One of the times he went in for an infection the military doctor just went to his "cabinet" and gave him some antibiotics out of a bottle he had. No record of that either.

This is a good safety net for the companies.

No record of injuries sustained while over there. So you have no proof to fight a comp claim with. I am sure the more severe injuries they can't get away with. But what about those lingering injuries, TBI's, traumatic brain injuries for example? No proof, no claim.

Note: Anonymous lost her husband to the Iraqi's war. He was a civilian hired by the Halliburton complex to spray for sand flies. He took the job overseas to provide a financial cushion for his family's future. Now he is dead and they have no future.

Be sure and read:

It is worth reading again Dr. Phillips remarks about Dr. Hamid Safari - the arrogant Permanente physician our of Kaiser Fresno that has been found by a court of law to harm mothers-to-be and their new born children.

"The stories of the last Tuesday and Wednesday on the obstetrician and "perinatologist" Dr. Hamid Safari of Kaiser Fresno reminded me of my several interactions with him during my 18 months of ER work at Kaiser Fresno 1997-1999. So I have a few comments to add:

1) he was extremely arrogant;

2) he liked to apply rules that kept patients out of the hospital - Kaiser's primary money making goal - even though it put pregnant women at high risk; in one case a woman with excessive vomiting suffered her third miscarriage related to his blocking of admission;

3) he had no hesitation to cause extreme pain - the opening of a full C-Section incision without giving an IV narcotic first to block the pain; I heard the screaming, saw what he had done, and told him in the hall that I was ashamed to share the same profession;

4) that he was part of a department that tried its best not to come down to the ER to solve OBV-gyn problems and in particular told us to call the general surgeons instead for problems with potential miscarriage below 23 weeks gestation - as if those fetuses who might have limited brain function due to being too early should be viewed as abdominal tumors.

Thus I have no problem believing that he was just as bad upstairs in labor and delivery - the mixture of arrogance, do things too fast, ignore pain control, keep people out of the hospital on phone calls, delay expensive treatment like C-sections, and generally keep patients at risk. Pregnant patients at risk generally mean their fragile passengers put at risk.

The episode in question of pulling a head so hard as the shoulders got locked up at the pelvic outlet (shoulder dystocia) so as to severe the spinal cord is awful. I have not heard of it in my decades in medicine.

But as Charles Ornstein, LA Times reporter who should get the Pulitzer Prize for his Kaiser articles, stated - the real story is about how Permanente can keep such rotten apples. To me it is about a rotten barrel - one that attracts and keeps rotten apples.

The principal motivation for physicians at Kaiser is to "vest" in the partnership so that they can work their way toward the $15,000 a MONTH retirement program after 20 years. The key talent needed is to say "no" to expensive care and keep the patient/passenger at maximum risk. The legal department through Risk Management will have Cleaners who can mop up the blood and guts and cover up the problems that happen.

The errant physicians actually rise in the ranks to the top because they have proven that they will follow the "group ethic" of business rather than the Hippocratic Oath of patient primacy. It is almost like the Mob or a gang in which you have to have some hits to get ahead. Or else how can you prove yourself to be worthy of the partnership?

The real story is the vengeance Kaiser heaped upon the physicians who finally - not quickly - found that Dr. Safari was so dangerous as to pull them into the tar pit. Rather than being at the top - as the "high risk pregnancy" expert - he was the "high risk" physician making the whole department stink. One of the physicians got out of the business. Another commutes to work; 2 hours each way - seeing his family on weekends. All seemed to have lost "bonuses" for speaking out.

Permanente runs Kaiser. Permanente is a sick corporation with the goals of fooling the public with white coats. Long training is turned on the public to give the illusion of care. Increased death follows increased risk from their many strategies of doing less to make more. This year KP will make some $2 billion in profit - half goes to the physicians.

My own recommendation is that the top Permanente leadership go to jail for a long time. They have spent 60 years in perfecting the illusion of care and many innocents die. All those who have spoken up against Permanente should be called back in to be part of the solution - a new medical care organization that forces white coat physicians to live up to the white coat ethic."

Charles Phillips, MD, FACEP

Dr. Phillips may be reached via e-mail at:
CPhil49401@aol.com
http://drphillips.kaiserpapers.info/hamid-safari

“People who have no control, are easily controlled.”

Often, people take the defensive approach (pertaining to self - emotional behavior) when they have to confront serious facts;

I mean FACTS! Northing fictitious nor intended as slander.

It is likely to happen even more often, to those of us who are forced into having to deal with injustice rooted from medical malpractice and medical crime and on the other side - to those who have caused them or have chosen to use the laws of our country to defend the victims and to defend the wrong doers.

I am no exception.

It is of major importance to me that I continue to write about all facts, and direct them primarily to all Kaiser Permanente patients.

By all means, I am not excluding the advantage to learn a thing or two, that all other patients in the U.S. can and will benefit from my experiences and struggles throughout many years of learning step by step, the restrictions (in all senses) that life offers you after having trusted Kaiser Permanente with your health/life.

Since Medicare fraud was part of this process, the federal government, the California DMHC, the media and the attorneys who defend Kaiser and or defend injured patients, would certainly gain by paying attention to my words.

I know they read my articles. Today's material describes how in my case, a victim of a terrible medical crime caused by Dr. Timothy Wilford Wild

Kaiser Permanente's, Dr. Timothy Wilford Wild, can "get it" from all sides.

Then months after my surgery at Kaiser Permanente, I called the Law Firm of attorney Clifford Blackman in Burlingame, California, now located in Redwood City, California and in other offices throughout the state.

http://www.blackmanlegal.com/

I had found his law firm advertisement in the yellow pages. It clearly explains how his law firm is always there to protect injured patients.

So, "...., I thought to myself" "..., here is a professional that can truly help me."

I called, set up an appointment with Clifford A. Blackman

Mr. Blackman. He talked to me in a professional manner.

During our appointment I explained to him about my surgery at Kaiser and that I was felling very sick.
He said to me:

“... this is awful!!! I can not represent you but, I am going to pass your case to Mr. Bruce Albion Bailey, one of our Law Firm’s competent attorney who knows the ins-and-outs of Kaiser Permanente and can best represent you.

I was pleased.

Time went on.

Mr. Bailey claimed the wrong injury and at the end, I was left out believing that my right Spinal Accessory Nerve (11th right cranial nerve) had been severed by Kaiser’s surgeon, Dr. Timothy Wilfred Wild. I was also left with the responsibility to pay for 20% of ALL my future medical care, and Medicare,

-YES! Medicare!!

Through the fraudulent actions of judge Rebecca Westerfield, Mr. Bailey and Kaiser’s defense attorney My. George E. Clause, forced Medicare with the responsibility to pay for the remaining 80% of all my future medical care.Well ... since neither I nor Medicare had caused this “injury” to my body and retired judge Rebecca Westerfield from JAMS made sure she was silent about this subject when she signed her final award, I thought,

“... there is something wrong with all of this! “ and I refused to signed Kaiser’s award check for US $75,000. 00.

Mr. Clifford Blackman and Mr. Bruce Albion Bailey were not happy about my decision and I was informed in a letter that Mr. Blackman signed this check himself, in my name, because he too; had to be paid for having passing on my case to Mr. Bailey.

Mr. Blackman never asked me what reasons I had to refuse signing Kaiser’s check for $75,000.00.

More time passed and I decided to investigate Stein v. Kaiser. Something was wrong.

- Why was judge Rebecca Westerfield implying fraud from my part?

- What were the connections between judge Rebecca Westerfield - short term term now retired Rebecca Westerfield, and the attorneys possible involvement in Medicare fraud, their possible involvement in corruption and the serious abuse involving Kaiser Permanente’s Mandatory Binding Arbitration System?

As well as the involvement of Kaiser Permanente’s Legal Department, - attorney Mary Parks, in charge of my case, and the reasons behind why she had made the decision to exclude Dr. Timothy Wilfred Wild -the surgeon - from my lawsuit Stein v. Kaiser?

At the end of 2003 my findings up to that point and time, went on printing at kaiserpapers.org simply titled “My Story.”

On Friday, December 19th, 2003, I received an e-mail from Mr. Clifford Blackman - in his name and in the name of his Law Firm.

Mr. Clifford Blackman was putting me on notice and threatening me with a lawsuit of $3,000.000.00. At the following link is a true copy of his letter:

Letter from Blackman Law Group
http://jstein.kaiserpapers.info/blackmanletter.html

Mr. Blackman's threat to sue me for $3,000,000.00 got me very upset and puzzled. What could I possibly have written in "My Story," that made an attorney such as Mr. Blackman who is an expert in matters of medical malpractice, an intelligent and in my opinion, - an ethical attorney, make this serious decision to put me under a lawsuit warning for $3,000,000.00.

I was certain that Mr. Blackman had read my entire webpage. Of course he did!

That is how he started his letter to me;

"...I have read your website about your injury..."
otherwise, why would he expose his professional integrity and leave an open door for me to raise questions:

Since each month that has passed since my refusal to sign Kaiser Permanente‘s award check for $75,000.00, I was getting closer and closer to finding out the truth about Kaiser’s Mandatory Binding Arbitration System involvement in Medicare fraud and corruption.

Could it be that Mr. Blackman was following my case by reading every single word I wrote about my discoveries?

That’s it! He read the entire contents of all my writings and found in them, enough proof that led him to take a safe decision to write me such letter.

On January15th, 2004 I responded his letter/threat . Here is a true copy of such letter at the following link:

http://jstein.kaiserpapers.info/januaryletter.html

On January 22, 2004, Mr. Blackman responded my letter. Here’s a true copy at the following link::

http://jstein.kaiserpapers.info/jan222004.html

“ ... I have read your site today, and the references to me and my firm on your site did not say anything negative.“ “ Therefore, you can disregard the previous letter I sent you.“

Simply that? Just disregard your threat to sue me for $3,000,000.00?

After reading this part of his letter, I realized, this entire thing was about intimidation !

Years passed and on July 3, 2007, I sent this letter (registered) to Mr. Blackman.

http://jstein.kaiserpapers.info/blackman2007.html

He never responded.

Dear Kaiser patients:

After been injured by Kaiser Permanente’s physicians or by Kaiser’s executive medical decisions, I ask you,

amongst the feelings of fear, pain, confusion, sickness, lack of proper medical care, wrong and diverged medical care and injustice, do not allow yourself to loose control.

Be strong!

Kaiser Permanente is out of control and with it, Kaiser drags down doctors, attorneys, judges, in their hands, - and being part of Kaiser’s fat pay checks, some of these professionals important decisions, becomes vulnerable and out of control.

Take as another example, all of those in the internet (alone) that speaks and writes about Kaiser’s crimes, their unethical medical behavior and more.

We are all ignored by Kaiser‘s legal department, Mr. Halvorson and the others involved. Their silence is a response to all of us. Their silence is saying:

You are correct about the facts stated and we will not dare to challenge the proves that you must have!

I know for a fact that if anyone (in person or publicly) called me a criminal, corrupted, dishonest, unethical and fraudulent, I would seriously ask them to prove it in the court of law.

But that’s just me. ... perhaps, I fear not the truth.

Jupirena Stein

The contents of this material is of my full responsibility and it is entirely based in the proof of all facts here related by me and by the undeniable proof of the truth of all facts; - in my possession.

Jupirena Stein may be reach via e-mail at

j_u_stein@yahoo.com

Kaiser Papers is now hosting an Internet Talk Program at
TalkShoe.com
http://talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/11886

If you would like to be added to the Program Notification
Mailing list please drop me a note asking to be placed on
the list at:
vickie@kaiserpapers.info

You will be notified via e-mail of new programs to be aired
live a day or two before.

Wrap up for the month - by Vickie Travis

This has been a very busy month.

We learned that Kaiser Downey is built on the site of a
former nuclear reactor, where numerous aerospace companies developed and spilled rocket fuel, and several other things that are known to cause harm to humans.

In fact they started building before the site was even cleaned up. Employees have reported that each morning gases have to be vented out of pipes surrounding the facility. I sure ope that the government realizes that maybe the company hired to clean up the property might need to have their work checked into.

Also numerous employees have developed serious illnesses since working at that facility. See the story at:
http://kaiserpapers.info/downeyradiation.html

We have listed information on the page obtained from NIOSH Actions and Benefits paid for Nuclear Weapons Workers out of the Downey Facility - The site of Kaiser Permanente Downey - showing the number - so far of employees that are being re-compensated by the
government for illnesses developed at that location.

I wonder if when they get the full hospital set up if the newborns that are born there will glow in the dark. For that matter I wonder if the employees that work there already do.

But then maybe it is rocket fuel that is causing the problems as they also have a little environmental problem with arsenic, TETRACHLOROETHYLENE (PCE) -
TRICHLOROETHYLENE (TCE) and the groundwater is just plain ruined.

Then of course the information about Dr. Hamid Safari and the resultant resignation of the now former hospital administrator, Susan Ryan was astounding this week..

See what was written over at Kaiser
THRIVE about the matter:

"This is a change for Kaiser. Usually what we hear are a lot of denials, and some of the worst offenders in these scandals can end up being promoted, not fired — especially the ones who have learned to keep their mouths shut, or are willing to perjure themselves to keep Kaiser out of trouble. "

See:
http://www.kaiserthrive.org/2008/01/31/administrator-
at-kaisers-fresno-hospital-steps-down/

I guess someone had to be their sacrifice to the Medicare God.

Myself, I have worked very hard putting the business practices of George Halvorson and HealthPartners on the website for all the world to see.
http://kaiserpapers.info/minnesota.html

Old George tried to keep this information from the people in California. It is everything and more that we have come to expect from these insurance companies, but still -- to actually see the documentation and their attitude that they deserve even more, while denying patients care is almost hard to believe. Of course, I live in California and there is little that is not hard to believe.

I am sure that not many people noticed or cared that George is a Bambi killer. See:
http://writetogeorgehalvorson.kaiserpapers.info/
halvorsonthehunter.html

It is pretty well documented just like it was well documented that the NRA was pretty upset with Kaiser's stand against guns. Kaiser and George are kind of hypocritical I think.

We also have a new section devoted to Jack Cochran -
the new guy over at the Permanente. Jack provided the world with a nice chart showing the Permanente Net Income in Millions - Colorado data - that I was kind enough to place on the web site to help him spread the word.