Complete Kaiser Transplant Coverage

August 4, 2006

Transfer of Kaiser's Kidney Patients Hits Major Delays

California HMO regulators said this week that it will take months longer than expected to transfer about 2,000 patients out of Kaiser Permanente's troubled kidney transplant center in San Francisco, prolonging patients' dependence on a program that has been plagued by scandal.

June 24, 2006

U.S. Berates Kaiser Over Kidney Effort

Virtually every part of Kaiser Permanente's massive kidney transplant program in San Francisco failed patients, according to a scathing federal report released Friday.

May 13, 2006

Kaiser Halts Kidney Venture

Kaiser Permanente announced Friday that it was indefinitely suspending its kidney transplant program in Northern California after revelations that it had endangered hundreds of patients.

May 11, 2006

Kaiser Official Apologizes

OAKLAND -- Kaiser Permanente's top official in Northern California publicly apologized Wednesday to patients who felt that their complaints about the giant HMO's new kidney transplant center had been ignored -- but emphasized that the problems came as a surprise to her.

May 10, 2006

State Steps In on Kaiser Transplants

The state's top HMO regulator said late Tuesday that Kaiser Permanente would pay for kidney transplants at outside hospitals for patients dissatisfied with Kaiser's troubled new transplant program in Northern California.

May 6, 2006

Kaiser Transplant Patients Express Their Fear and Fury

"I don't know what's going on here," Bernard Burks wrote to Kaiser Permanente's kidney transplant program last October, "but whatever it is, it's wrong."

May 5, 2006

Kaiser Slow to Transfer Patients

Kaiser Permanente launched its massive kidney transplant program in 2004 without holding basic discussions with regulators about how to safely transfer up to 1,500 of its patients from other programs to its San Francisco center, according to a Times investigation.

May 4, 2006

Kaiser Denied Transplants of Ideally Matched Kidneys

Twenty-five Kaiser Permanente patients in Northern California were denied the chance for new kidneys that were nearly perfectly matched to them last year during the troubled start-up of the giant HMO's kidney transplant program in San Francisco, a Times investigation has found.

May 3, 2006

Kaiser Put Kidney Patients at Risk

In mid-2004, more than 1,500 Kaiser Permanente patients awaiting kidney transplants in Northern California got form letters that forced them to change the course of their treatment.