KAISER FOUND GUILTING OF KILLING PATIENT WITH INSULIN OVERDOSE
Los Angeles, CA, February 5, 2008
An Arbitration Panel has just held Kaiser, the largest HMO in the country,
guilty of medical malpractice, and liable for the death of Peter Lakos, Sr. (73)
of San Pedro, California. Mr. Lakos was a patient at Kaiser’s Harbor City
facility in December of 2005.
On December 13, 2005, he was scheduled for release to an extended care facility
for physical therapy. The next evening, Mr. Lakos, a Type II Diabetic, was
injected with ten (10) times the prescribed NPH insulin, a high alert
medication, by Kaiser nurse Mark O’Bannon. Cross-examination of Kaiser staff
during Arbitration revealed that after injecting Mr. Lakos with 80 rather than 8
units of insulin, Nurse O’Bannon commented: “Whew. That was a lot of insulin.”
Only then did another nurse check the medication record and confirm the
overdose. As expected with insulin overdose, Mr. Lakos’ blood sugar level
plummeted. That starved his brain to where it no longer performed automatic
functions such as breathing. As a result, Mr. Lakos went Code Blue, suffering
respiratory arrest which overstressed his heart. For days thereafter he
deteriorated, until he finally succumbed on December 27, 2005.
Raymond Paul Johnson of Manhattan Beach, attorney for the Lakos family, stated:
“Kaiser, in a staggering display of corporate arrogance, launched a frivolous
defense through its designated expert, Sharon Rennick, R.N. of Orange County.
She testified that because Nurse O’Bannon ‘perceived’ that 80 was the correct
dosage (even though it was 8), the overdose was not negligent and his actions
were within the proper ‘standard of care’ for patients.”
Johnson further remarked: “When I first heard this defense, I thought I had
fallen down a rabbit hole into ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Later that feeling turned
to dismay that a portion of our justice system had become so Orwellian that a
corporate wrongdoer would try to sell such a story to decision-makers. According
to Kaiser’s defense, making an error that harms or kills patients is always
acceptable as long as it was not perceived as error at the time. I only hope,
for all of us, that the practice of medicine in California never really sinks
that low.”
The Arbitration Panel rejected Kaiser’s defense. It found that the overdose was
below the standard of care and led to the death of Peter Lakos, Sr., awarding
$318,944.00 to the Lakos family. The Panel also rejected Kaiser’s second line of
defense in which it argued that Mr. Lakos died because he was old, sickly and
had not cooperated fully with hospital personnel during his stay at the Harbor
City facility. Johnson explained: “The resounding irony here is that Mr. Lakos’
wife, Rose, was a retired nurse who served 28 years at Kaiser. She related that
she was horrified about how patient care had deteriorated there since she had
retired.” Mrs. Lakos testified at Arbitration that her husband had not only been
overdosed, but had developed bedsores because of inadequate patient care, had
been confused with other patients while at the hospital, and had been
essentially ignored during most of his Kaiser stay.
Her attorney Mr. Johnson stated: “Despite what the Lakos family experienced,
Kaiser used a ‘scorched earth defense’ because of the staggering odds against
patients in these types of lawsuits. First because of draconian caps on damages
set over thirty (30) year ago, the maximum recovery is $250,000.00 plus
out-of-pocket losses such as burial expenses. Those caps apply regardless of how
the defendant hospital maims, cripples or kills its patients. Because of that,
most of these cases are economically prohibitive for patients to maintain. Just
the cost of the arbitration process, depositions and finding doctors brave
enough to testify against hospitals wipes out much of the recovery, and that’s
only if the patient wins. If they lose, it’s devastating to them in every way.”
Johnson further explained: “In addition, the Kaiser arbitration process is
stacked in favor of Kaiser who has essential veto power over the present and
future arbitrators who decide these cases. Additionally, Kaiser has a
ready-to-go stable of medical experts to testify on its behalf, and controls the
documentary evidence (mainly medical records) in all of these cases. Mix all
this with the fact that the 30-year-old cap on damages makes patient
representation essentially a pro bono effort, and the end result is that
patients who are harmed cannot find lawyers to represent them.. My firm for
example has a perfect record of victories at arbitrations and trial in medical
malpractice cases, yet we accept and prosecute very very few. We are pleased
however that, in this particular case, we were able to bring at least some sense
of justice to the Lakos family.” End of Press Release.
END OF PRESS RELEASE
For further information, please contact Attorney Raymond Paul Johnson directly at (310) 246-9300, the Law Offices of Raymond Paul Johnson, 10990 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1150, Westwood, Los Angeles, California.
