Patient: Kaiser Tried to Hide Damage, Made it Worse

7-29-2013 23:57:00

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) - When Kaiser operated on Dawn Garibay for fibroids, her problems escalated as Kaiser tried to hide mistakes from her, she claims in Alameda County Superior Court.

“This improper treatment included procedures and medical steps that caused the loss of control of her urinary functions to the extent that plaintiff was unable to hold her urine and had urine leaking out through her vagina,” her complaint says.

Garibay sues for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent concealment, constructive fraud, medical battery and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Kaiser “had a duty to disclose to plaintiff the nature and extent of her injuries and the nature and extent of the medical conditions and maladies caused by the missteps of treaters at Kaiser,” the complaint states. Instead, Garibay was “further damaged by the failure to disclose the injuries to the urinary system and the bladder such that without disclosure plaintiff’s condition deteriorated,” according to the complaint.

“These problems included improper surgical treatment of fibroids and the disruption of the urinary tract and the damage to the bladder and interference with the proper functioning of the bladder resulting from multiple treatments of the urinary issues in such a substandard fashion that plaintiff experienced pain and bleeding from her urethra and in the course of voiding urine,” the complaint says.

Over a period of several months, Garibay, “was mistreated and misdiagnosed, and was not informed of the correct diagnosis; was not given the correct treatment; was handed off to multiple treaters at defendants Kaiser and suffered repeated mistreatments and missteps thereafter, including the incorrect insertion of catheters such that they fell out and including the insertion of a catheter in such a fashion as to cause days of severe pain, bleeding and discharge,” she says in the complaint.

Plaintiff is represented by Robert C. Cheasty of Cheasty & Cheasty in Berkeley.