Kaiser Medical Malpractice Attorney

Kaiser Permanente patients trust their doctors, hospitals, and healthcare teams to provide appropriate medical care. When a diagnosis is missed, surgery goes wrong, or another serious medical error causes harm, you may have questions about why it happened and whether the injury could have been prevented.

Kaiser malpractice claims work differently from many other medical malpractice cases. Kaiser members generally agree to resolve malpractice disputes through binding arbitration rather than a jury trial, which affects how the claim is filed and decided.

Hodes Milman has extensive experience representing patients in Kaiser arbitration. A Kaiser medical malpractice attorney from our team will investigate the care you received, consult medical experts, and prepare your claim under the rules governing Kaiser arbitration.

If you or a loved one suffered serious harm following treatment through Kaiser Permanente, call Hodes Milman at (949) 640-8222 for a free consultation. You can also reach our medical malpractice team online.

Understanding Medical Malpractice and Kaiser Arbitration

Kaiser malpractice cases are unusual because patients generally pursue their claims through arbitration rather than filing a traditional medical malpractice lawsuit for a jury to decide.

That affects who decides the dispute, the procedures involved, and how the final decision is made.

Medical malpractice attorneys Dan Hodes and Jacob Brender discuss these issues in the video below, including medical negligence, the challenges involved in Kaiser cases, and the arbitration system used for many Kaiser malpractice claims.

Types of Kaiser Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet the applicable standard of care and that failure causes a patient harm.

A Kaiser claim could involve care provided by physicians, nurses, specialists, hospital staff, or other healthcare professionals. Examples include:

• Failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis, including cancer, stroke, heart disease, and other serious conditions
• Surgical errors, including errors during or after a procedure
• Medication errors, such as prescribing the wrong medication or dosage
• Birth injuries involving negligent prenatal, labor, delivery, or newborn care
• Emergency room errors, including delays in testing or treatment
• Anesthesia errors
• Failure to order appropriate testing
• Failure to refer a patient to a specialist
• Nursing errors
• Failure to follow up on abnormal test results
• Hospital negligence
• Wrongful death

A poor medical outcome alone is not proof of malpractice. The question is whether the care met the applicable medical standard and whether a failure caused the patient's injury.

When Kaiser May Be Responsible for a Medical Error

A malpractice claim involving Kaiser sometimes extends beyond the actions of one physician.

Problems may involve communication between departments, delayed referrals, missed test results, nursing care, hospital procedures, or failures to follow up with the patient.

Hospital negligence may involve:

• Inadequate staffing
• Poor communication between providers or departments
• Unsafe hospital procedures
• Improper testing
• Problems maintaining or communicating patient information
• Inadequate monitoring
• Delays in obtaining necessary treatment

Identifying the responsible parties requires looking at who provided the care, what happened during treatment, and where the alleged negligence occurred. A Kaiser malpractice attorney will also determine how the patient's Kaiser membership agreement and arbitration requirements affect the claim.

How Do You Prove Kaiser Medical Malpractice?

Proving medical malpractice requires establishing four key elements:

1. The applicable standard of care. The claim must establish the level of care a reasonably careful healthcare provider would have provided under similar circumstances.
2. A breach of the standard of care. The treatment must have fallen below that standard.
3. Causation. The negligent care must be connected to the patient's injury.
4. Damages. The claim must establish the losses resulting from the injury.

Medical experts are central to many malpractice cases. They review the treatment and provide opinions about the applicable standard of care, whether it was violated, and whether that violation caused the patient's injury.

A Kaiser medical malpractice lawyer also needs to understand how to present that medical evidence within Kaiser's arbitration system rather than preparing solely for a conventional jury trial.

What Should You Do After a Kaiser Medical Error?

If you suspect that negligent care caused a serious injury, preserving information about your treatment can help your attorney investigate what happened.

Information that could become relevant includes:

• Names of doctors and other providers involved in your care
• Test results
• Patient portal messages
• Discharge instructions
• Medical paperwork you received
• Records of additional treatment related to the injury
• Information about missed work and other financial losses
• Communications concerning the medical care

Your attorney can obtain the complete medical record and identify what additional documentation or expert review is necessary.

Have Questions About What Happened at Kaiser?

Determining whether malpractice occurred requires a review of the treatment you received, the decisions made by your healthcare providers, and how those decisions affected your health.

Hodes Milman handles Kaiser malpractice claims and understands the arbitration process these cases typically require. Call (949) 640-8222 to discuss what happened, or contact our team online to request a case review.

How Does Kaiser Arbitration Work?

Kaiser members generally agree to resolve medical malpractice claims through binding arbitration rather than a jury trial. The process is administered by the Office of the Independent Administrator (OIA), an organization independent of Kaiser.

A Kaiser malpractice claim begins with a Demand for Arbitration. The demand identifies the nature of the dispute and the relief being sought.

The case then proceeds through stages that can include:

• Selection of the neutral arbitrator
• Discovery
• Depositions
• Medical expert review and testimony
• Motions and other legal proceedings
• Settlement discussions
• An arbitration hearing

At the hearing, both sides present evidence and witnesses. The neutral arbitrator serves as the decision-maker instead of a jury and ultimately issues a binding decision.

Opportunities to overturn an arbitration award are limited, making preparation for the arbitration itself an important part of the claim.

Who Selects the Kaiser Arbitrator?

Kaiser does not simply choose the person who decides the claim. The Office of the Independent Administrator oversees the neutral arbitrator selection process, with both sides participating.

For a particular case, the OIA provides a randomly generated list of potential neutral arbitrators from the appropriate geographic panel. The parties participate in narrowing that list and selecting the person who will hear the case. They can also jointly agree on a neutral arbitrator under the applicable rules.

The arbitrator matters because this person will hear the testimony, evaluate the evidence, and decide the claim if the case proceeds to a hearing.

Experience with this process is one reason representation in a Kaiser case differs from handling a standard medical malpractice lawsuit. Kaiser arbitration lawyers need familiarity with both the underlying malpractice issues and the forum in which the dispute will be resolved.

What Compensation Is Available in a Kaiser Malpractice Claim?

Compensation depends on the injury and losses caused by the negligent care. A claim could seek damages associated with:

• Additional medical treatment
• Future medical expenses
• Lost income
• Reduced future earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Loss of consortium
• Wrongful death
• Other economic losses associated with the injury

The extent and permanence of the injury affect the damages involved. For someone with a permanent disability, for example, the claim could involve future medical treatment, assistance with daily activities, reduced earning capacity, and other needs extending years into the future.

Attorneys may work with medical, vocational, economic, and other experts to evaluate those losses when appropriate.

Hodes Milman's Experience With Kaiser Arbitration

Hodes Milman has handled significant medical malpractice claims involving Kaiser, including a $17.25 million arbitration award for a 39-year-old patient who suffered a major stroke after undergoing elective surgery despite evidence of compromised kidney function.

Kaiser offered $4 million to resolve the case. Arbitrator Thomas Weaver ultimately awarded the client $17.25 million.

That result gives prospective clients an example of the firm's experience presenting a substantial medical malpractice claim through Kaiser arbitration rather than a jury trial.

Past results do not guarantee the outcome of another matter.

Dan Hodes on Complex Medical Malpractice Litigation

Dan Hodes joined Cases 4 Causes to discuss complex medical malpractice litigation and his work representing patients and families after serious medical injuries.

The conversation also addresses the firm's $17.25 million Kaiser arbitration award and Dan's experience litigating medical negligence claims. Dan and his longtime legal partner, Jeff Milman, were both inducted into the Orange County Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame in 2022.

Listen to Dan Hodes on Cases 4 Causes

How Long Do You Have to Bring a Kaiser Malpractice Claim?

Medical malpractice claims are subject to filing deadlines, and the applicable time limit depends on the circumstances surrounding the injury.

Factors such as when the injury occurred, when it was discovered, and the age of the injured patient may affect the deadline. Kaiser arbitration also has procedural requirements that must be satisfied when bringing a claim.

Waiting to investigate a suspected medical error risks losing important information and, in some circumstances, the ability to pursue the claim.

If you are unsure how much time remains, a Kaiser malpractice attorney can review the dates and circumstances surrounding your medical care and determine which deadlines apply.

Why Experience With Kaiser Arbitration Matters

Kaiser cases require familiarity with procedures that do not apply to a standard courtroom malpractice case. The attorney needs to understand how the claim is initiated, the neutral arbitrator selection process, OIA requirements, discovery, and preparation for a binding arbitration hearing.

Hodes Milman has represented patients in Kaiser arbitration, including a case that resulted in a $17.25 million award after Kaiser offered $4 million to settle.

For someone evaluating a Kaiser malpractice lawyer, prior experience with the arbitration system is relevant because Kaiser malpractice cases are generally resolved in that forum rather than before a jury.

Talk to Hodes Milman About a Kaiser Malpractice Claim

If you suffered a serious injury after treatment through Kaiser Permanente, Hodes Milman will evaluate what happened and whether the circumstances support a medical malpractice claim.

Call (949) 640-8222 to speak with a Kaiser medical malpractice attorney, or reach out online to schedule your free consultation.