Kaiser Doctor Gave a False Name, Woman Claims
2-13-2015 23:11:00


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) - A Kaiser doctor gave an elderly woman’s conservator a false name, the conservator claims in Sacramento County Superior Court.

     Paula Letherblaire sued Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., The Permanente Medical Group, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Mangreet S. Brar, M.D., on her own behalf and as conservator of Adrienne L. Powell Conservatorship.
     In her pro se lawsuit, Letherblaire alleges elder abuse, fraud, deceit, undue influence, medical battery, medical malpractice and wrongful death.
     According to Letherblaire’s complaint, her now-deceased mother, Powell, had prescriptions for a variety of conditions including kidney failure, rashes, hepatitis C, mental confusion, vision problems, dehydration, depression, urinary tract infections, gout, hypoparathyroidism and dementia.
     At least 15 of her medications “contained undisclosed sulfa or sulfate ingredients,” and she was allergic to them, which was not diagnosed timely, according to the complaint.
     As a result, Powell “died of a delayed, missed or undiagnosed Stevens Johnson Syndrome – a sulfa and sulfate allergic reaction to prescription drugs,” the complaint states.
     According to a website published by the Stevens Johnson Foundation, symptoms of the syndrome include “painful blistering of the skin and mucous membrane involvement; in many cases preceded with flu like symptoms and high fever; as it evolves, the skin literally sloughs off.”
     During one of Powell’s many hospitalizations, “the emergency room requested consent to medically flush the patient of all drugs to reintroduce the patient’s vital medications one-at-a-time to discover the allergic reaction,” the complaint states. However, Letherblaire claims she saw a nurse trying to give Powell all her medications at once.
     Letherblaire says she reported that incident to Kaiser’s member services department from a hospital phone and was told to talk to Powell’s doctor.
     “After the physician begrudgingly accepted the call and heard questions whether he was performing the treatment consented to, the physician answered: ‘Well how would you like it if I just didn’t do anything – or if I refused to give her any drugs at all,’” the complaint states.
     When Letherblaire demanded his name, the doctor gave her something she could not pronounce, and then spelled it as “S-I-A-N-I-T-I,” according to the complaint.
     Letherblaire says a nurse overheard the conversation, followed her back to her mother’s room, and whispered, “That was not the doctor you were talking to . . . this is his real name,” and handed her a note that said, “Mangreet Brar.”
     Letherblaire seeks statutory relief under the Welfare and Institutions Code and enhanced punitive damages.
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