Kaiser Gave Bad Pregnancy Advice, Woman Claims

3-27-2014 00:53:00

     SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (CN) - Kaiser didn’t tell a woman everything she needed to know about her two ectopic pregnancies, she claims inTwo Kaiser medical professionals gave a woman bad pregnancy advice, and two ectopic pregnancies later she learned the truth, she claims in San Bernardino Court.
     Holly Dague and her husband Stephen Dague sued Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, LLC, Kaiser Permanente International; Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.; Kaiser Permanente Insurance Company, Jinny Y. Kung, CNM, and Meaghan Moreen Pinheiro, M.D.
     The Dagues claim Dr. Pinheiro and Certified Nurse Midwife Kung both misinformed and/or underinformed Holly Dague about her true medical situation.
     “After a blood test revealed that plaintiff Holly Dague was pregnant, defendant Kung performed a sonogram (ultra sound test) of plaintiff Holly Dague but could not find the pregnancy,” the complaint states. Kung should have consulted with a doctor about the discrepancy, but instead told Dague she was not pregnant, according to the complaint. (Parentheses in complaint.)
     “Defendant Kung concealed from plaintiff Holly Dague that: (a) Kung had not consulted with a doctor(s) before representing to plaintiff Holly Dague that she (Dague) was not pregnant; and (b) as a result of Kung’s failure to consult with a doctor, plaintiff Holly Dague’s left fallopian tube ruptured,” the complaint states. The Dagues say they learned these details months later.
     Five days after the sonogram, Holly was in the hospital, having emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy, she says.
     Afterwards, Dr. Pinheiro, Holly’s surgeon, told her that she and her husband could start having sex again in about two months and try for another pregnancy, according to the complaint.
     Following Dr. Pinheiro’s advice, Holly stopped taking birth control pills two months later and was soon pregnant again, she says.
     The Dagues claim the doctor gave bad advice, because this second pregnancy was also an ectopic pregnancy.
     After further testing, a Kaiser infertility doctor told Holly that her two ectopic pregnancies put her at risk of a third, and she “learned that she had no left fallopian tube and that her right fallopian tube was swollen and/or enlarged,” according to the complaint. He recommended in vitro fertilization, she says.
     The Dagues seek a jury trial and are represented by Robert S. Shotofman of Encino, Calif. and Lawrence K. Shelton of Ontario, Calif.