If you or a loved one have suffered a severe birth injury, such as cerebral palsy, cephalohematoma, or any other kind of newborn brain damage due to the medical malpractice of a Kaiser Permanente physician, you may be eligible for compensation. The brain injury of an infant can be detrimental not only to the health of said newborn but to the health and well-being of the mother as well. Experiencing such trauma and attempting to pursue legal action against the liable party should not be done alone. At the top-rated Normandie Law Firm, our team of highly skilled legal consultants can walk you through the complicated process of filing your claim and suing the Kaiser Permanente responsible for the birth injury. With our main offices in Los Angeles, our expert attorneys can help anyone in the entire state of California to sue Kaiser Permanente for his injuries. If you have any questions after reading this article, please feel free to contact our law offices for a free consultation. An accomplished attorney who has experience handling birth injury claims will be able to help you with your case.
Newborn Brain Injury
Medical malpractice during the delivery of a child can often time on heartbreaking and irreversible damages that can affect not only the newborn but the infant’s mother as well. Sometimes the harm could have been unavoidable under certain circumstances, and a physician cannot be held at fault for the grave outcome. In other situations, however, the skill of the doctor can have a damaging effect on the delivery, injuring the baby. Below is a list of some of the possible common injuries a newborn child can endure due to the medical negligence of a physician.
- Caput Succedaneum: This injury involves the swelling of a newborn’s scalp, which is often caused by prolonged pressure on the baby’s head. This pressure can come from a prolonged head-first delivery, or from a vacuum extraction procedure (a procedure during vaginal childbirth wherein a cup, with a handle and a vacuum pump are used to help guide the baby from the birth canal). The symptom of Caput Succedaneum typically fades within a few days after childbirth.
- Cephalohematoma: This is a type of brain injury that occurs when blood collects between the skin and skull bones. Often this condition is caused by a vacuum extraction and can be a precursor to jaundice. The symptoms of this condition usually fade on its own within a few weeks to three months
- Brachial Plexus Birth Palsy: Often referred to as Erb’s Palsy, a Brachial Plexus injury, is a nerve injury that occurs if the newborn’s neck or shoulders are stretched too far during delivery. Statistics collected by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons show that one to two out of every 1,000 babies are inflicted with this condition. While some infants will recover feeling and movement in the area affected, others may need to undergo physical therapy or surgery if there is no sign of improvement within three to six months.
- Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy: This condition occurs when a newborn’s brain does not receive enough oxygen. This can often result in: the death of brain cells, brain damage, developmental problems, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, or even death.
- Birth Bone Fractures: Birth Bone Fractures are sometimes unavoidable during childbirth; however, they can also occur when a physician is aware of the possible complications and disregards alternative procedures like a C-section.
- Subconjunctival Hemorrhage: This condition is caused by the rupture of small blood vessels in a baby’s eye. Typically it appears as a small red blotch on the white portion of the eye. It is caused by different pressures placed on the baby’s body during delivery. This condition usually resolves itself and fades after one to two weeks.
All of these birth injuries can occur in cases where the physician is performing to the best of their abilities. While some of them are life-threatening, others are only minor complications that resolve themselves over the course of several weeks. Dangerous, irreversible mistakes do happen, however, and in the event of those mistakes, the operating physician should be held liable for their negligence. In these cases, a birth injury lawsuit can be filed against the operating doctor and the hospital for the damages. Regardless, no two healthcare providers are the same, and the act of pursuing legal action against Kaiser Permanente is an especially challenging venture. It is highly advised that you seek the assistance of a qualified attorney with expertise in birth injury lawsuits.
Kaiser Permanente & Arbitration Courts
If you or a loved one attempts to sue Kaiser Permanente for a mistake made during the delivery of a baby, you are going to want to have a lawyer experienced in birth injury cases on your side to help you handle the claim. Kaiser Permanente operates under a different process than most other healthcare providers. When a lawsuit is filed against Kaiser Permanente for medical malpractice, they are usually settled by an arbitration court. Arbitration is the process of two parties trying their case before a neutral third party, also known as the arbitrator. The arbitrator takes all of the case information and then decides what (if any) kind of injury damages the plaintiff should receive. While this may seem vastly different from typical court proceedings, arbitration is a widely accepted alternative to the traditional court-based lawsuit system. An arbitration trail proceeds much like a standard personal injury trial. The pre-trial process is much like any other standard pre-trial lawsuit process. When it comes to the actual trial process, a judge or jury is not involved. Only the parties, their representatives, and the neutral arbitrator are present.
Claims made by Kaiser are arbitrated by the Office of the Independent Administrator or OIA. In Kaiser Arbitration proceedings the plaintiff (or patient) must submit a demand for arbitration to the OIA. This submitted demand must include: a short statement that describes the patient’s injury and how Kaiser is responsible, the amount of money the plaintiff is seeking damages, the plaintiffs as well as the attorney’s contact information (name/address/phone number), the name of those the plaintiff believes are responsible for the damages.
The Administrator then sends each party a list of twelve arbitrators to choose from with an option to agree on a neutral arbitrator from outside the system. The respective parties have 20 days to return their selections. The selected arbitrator then must hold an arbitration management conference between the parties within 60 days. This conference involves the organization of the claim schedule, such as the mandatory settlement meeting and the arbitration hearing date. If no settlement is reached, the arbitrator conducts the ‘trial’ which is expected to be resolved within 18 months from the submission of the plaintiff’s demand letter.
The process of Kaiser Permanente’s medical malpractice arbitration procedure can be incredibly complex. The likelihood of a successful trial is far from guaranteed, especially if pursued without the aid of an experienced attorney. Courts are also fairly reluctant when it comes to overturning an arbitration holding. To overturn the decision, the plaintiff must be able to show the following:
- That there was some fraud involved
- The awarded damages were severely disproportionate to the actual damages
- That there was no possible way that the evidence supported the arbitrator’s final decision.
The chances that the courts might overturn an arbitrator’s decision is rare but is not impossible. It is best to seek significantly experienced legal counsel when pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente. While the process still falls under the same complex legal rules that a standard medical malpractice lawsuit must abide by, a Kaiser patient who has sustained severe damages is almost always recommended to retain proper legal counsel from an attorney who has experience in birth injury cases.
Contact Us Today For A Free Consultation
Contact one of Los Angeles’s top legal groups, Normandie Law Firm, today and be one of the many clients benefiting from our zero fee guarantee policy. One of our attorneys with experience in birth injury cases can give you further information. This policy is a further commitment to you and your case, as we believe that you should not have to pay for our services until we follow through and help you win your case. In the unlikely event that we do not manage to get you the compensation and benefits you deserve you don’t owe us any money. You only pay once we win your case. We can also provide a second opinion on your case if you already have an attorney. Call us today to speak to one of our experienced lawyers.
List of Kaiser Permanente Hospitals in the State of California:
Northern California
- San Francisco’s Bay area has several Kaiser hospitals in such locations as Antioch, Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Richmond, Union City and Walnut Creek.
- Antioch Medical Center 4501 Sand Creek Rd. Antioch, CA 94531 (925) 813-6500
- Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center Hospital and Main Campus 27400 Hesperian Blvd. Hayward, CA 94545 (510) 675-5959
- Kaiser Permanente Richmond Medical Center 901 Nevin Ave. Richmond, CA 94801 (510) 307-1500
- Kaiser Foundation Hospital 2425 Geary Blvd. San Francisco, CA 94115 (415) 833-4077
- Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center and Medical Offices 1200 El Camino Real South San Francisco, CA 94080 (650) 742-2000
Central Valley
- California’s Central Valley is home to about five Kaiser-affiliated hospitals, offering emergency and other medical services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center 7300 North Fresno St. Fresno, CA 93720 (800) 262-6663
- Hospital and Emergency Services 1777 W. Yosemite Ave. Manteca, CA 95337 (209) 825-3700
- Modesto Medical Center 4601 Dale Rd. Modesto, CA 95356 (209) 735-5000
- Emanuel Medical Center 825 Delbon Ave. Turlock, CA 95382 (800) 464-4000
- Dameron Hospital 525 West Acacia St. Stockton, CA 95203 (209) 944-5550
Southern California
- Starting from the northernmost county of southern California–Ventura–and going south to San Diego, southern California is home to the following Kaiser-affiliated hospitals:
- Community Memorial Hospital of San Buenaventura 147 N. Brent St. Ventura, CA 93003 (805) 652-5011
- Antelope Valley Hospital 1600 W. Avenue J Lancaster, CA 93534 (661) 949-5000
- Lancaster Community Hospital 43830 10th St. West Lancaster, CA 93534 Driving directions (661) 948-4781
- Downey Medical Center 9333 Imperial Highway Downey, CA 90242 (800) 823-4040
- Los Angeles Medical Center 4867 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027 (800) 954-8000
- West Los Angeles Medical Center 6041 Cadillac Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90034 (800) 954-8000
- Panorama City Medical Center 13651 Willard St. Panorama City, CA 91402 (818) 375-2000
- Woodland Hills Medical Center 5601 De Soto Ave. Woodland Hills, CA 91365 (818) 719-2000
- Baldwin Park Medical Center 1011 Baldwin Park Blvd. Baldwin Park CA 91706 (626) 851-1011
- South Bay Medical Center 25825 S. Vermont Ave. Harbor City, CA 90710 (800) 780-1230
- Anaheim Medical Center 441 N. Lakeview Ave. Anaheim, CA 92807 (714) 279-4000
- Orange County-Irvine Medical Center 6640 Alton Pkwy. Irvine, CA 92618 (949) 932-2885
- Fontana Medical Center 9961 Sierra Ave. Fontana, CA 92335 (909) 427-5000
- Moreno Valley Community Hospital 27300 Iris Ave. Moreno Valley, CA 92555 (951) 243-0811
- St. Bernardine Medical Center (note that there are no emergency medical services at this location) 2101 N. Waterman Ave. San Bernardino, CA 92404 (909) 883-8711
- Palomar Medical Center 555 East Valley Parkway Escondido, CA 92025 (760) 739-3000
- San Diego Medical Center/Kaiser Foundation Hospital 4647 Zion Ave. San Diego, CA 92120 (619) 528-0140
FURTHER INFORMATION:
