Patient Files Suit against Kaiser

By Cecilia Green

Published on June 22, 2006

Bernard Burks, 56, filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court against Kaiser for punitive damages. He claims that the HMO has continually ignored his phone calls and failed to arrange a kidney transplant. Burks' daughter, a compatible donor, is both willing and able to donate a kidney to her father, but they have been unable to schedule a surgery.

Burks is one of several Kaiser patients suing the HMO due to its failing kidney transplant program. A couple years ago, approximately 1,500 Kaiser patients, including Burks, were moved to Kaiser's new San Francisco program, which has recently announced that it will be shutting down due to several problems.

As a result of the lawsuit, Kaiser will pay for Burks to have his kidney transplant surgery at Stanford University Medical Center.

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