Complete Kaiser Transplant Coverage
Shifting them from the HMO transplant center to UC hospitals will take far longer than thought.
A withering report says the transplant program was poorly planned, staffed and run. The HMO does not admit or rebut the accusations.
The HMO abruptly announces that it will transfer about 2,000 transplant patients back to UC hospitals. The details are unresolved.
Despite patients' letters, area chief says she was unaware of problems in its transplant program.
'They will do what patients want,' a top regulator says. Those who were on the UC hospitals' waiting list for kidneys may return.
With reports of disarray added to their existing frustration, some don't want the HMO performing their surgeries.
Before the HMO opened its kidney transplant center, it failed to alert regulators to the glut of crucial paperwork coming, officials say.
The HMO would not authorize some patients to receive organs from outside its new program.
By opening its own transplant center in the Bay Area, the HMO harmed recipients' odds of obtaining organs, a Times probe finds.
