Kaiser Permanente Ordered to Pay $5 Million in Misdiagnosis Case
Posted on Nov 24, 2009 2:10pm PST
Today, arbitrators ruled in favor of a middle school administrator who filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente. The administrator, Timothy Howard, filed his claim after physicians failed to diagnose his symptoms, which led to him becoming disabled permanently.
Kaiser Permanente, California's largest non-profit HMO, was ordered to pay Howard $5 million for his injuries. According to Howard's claim, his physicians failed to diagnose signs of an impending stroke, which later left him paralyzed and disabled indefinitely. Additionally, an infection related to his stroke led to him having both of his legs amputated.
On November 18th, a panel of three arbitrators ruled in favor of Howard. They said that the physicians at Kaiser Permanente were negligent and failed to properly diagnose Howard's symptoms, some of which included blindness and persistent headaches.
Howard's lawyer argued that if his client had received proper treatment with medication, his artery would have repaired itself in a few months and the stroke may have never occurred. However, the condition remained undiagnosed and led to a traumatic stroke two years later.
Jim Anderson, a spokesman from Kaiser Permanente said, "We all agree that this is a terrible tragedy for Mr. Howard and his family, and all of them have our deepest sympathy."
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