Software Glitch, Lost Leg

4-27-2011 15:38:00

     LOS ANGELES (CN) - A couple filed a lawsuit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in the Superior Court. Jeffrey and Jacquelyn Perry accuse Kaiser of the electronic record system defects which caused Jeffrey Perry to lose his leg as a result of a "software glitch."
     According to the suit, on April 29, 2008, Mr. Perry "presented to the Kaiser West Los Angeles Emergency Room with left knee complaints, including swelling, pain, restricted range of motion and inability to bear weight ... However, the April 29th Kaiser physician lab order for the critical 'Non-Sterile Culture' needed to diagnose and/or rule out the presence of a more serious septic organism was 'cancelled' upon Plaintiff's discharge from the Kaiser emergency room.
The cancellation of the critical Non-Sterile Culture lab was characterized as a 'software glitch' in the KP HealthConnect system."
     Because of this system glitch, Mr. Perry alleges that he "received multiple surgeries to his knees, hands and elbows with the eventual amputation of his left leg."
     "The implantation of KP HealthConnect electronic record system by Defendant Kaiser, Epic and Citrix routinely confronted scalability and reliability issues which Defendants knew or should have known failed to meet the size and needs of Kaiser Permanente members with a host of software glitches and programming flaws that placed patient safety at risk," the suit states.
     Mr. and Mrs. Perry seek general, special and punitive damages among other costs. Nicholas Heiman represents them.