Kaiser to pay $49M after California AG says investigators found ‘body parts’ in trash
Kaiser Permanente agreed to a $49 million settlement this month after state and local law enforcement found the health care giant disposed of confidential patient information, hazardous waste and medical waste including blood and body parts in regular trash streams.
“We saw bodily fluids and body parts that should not have been in the public waste stream,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference Friday. “The settlement requires Kaiser to take significant steps and spend money to invest in preventing unlawful disposals from happening again in the future.”
Bonta said Kaiser Permanente was “extremely cooperative” with the investigation, which began in 2015 as undercover personnel from local district attorneys’ offices peeked into unsecured dumpsters whose contents were headed straight to landfills. The health care provider conducted its own trash audits as it worked with authorities.
Kaiser Permanente in a statement said the health care system was “not aware of body parts being found at any time during this investigation.”
“There were isolated examples of what appeared to be small amounts of tissue debris,” Kaiser’s statement continued.
“About six years ago we became aware of occasions when, contrary to our rigorous policies and procedures, some facilities’ landfill-bound dumpsters included items that should have been disposed of differently. Upon learning of this issue, we immediately completed an extensive auditing effort of the waste stream at our facilities and established mandatory and ongoing training to address the findings.”
Bonta said some of the hazardous waste at the 16 facilities was combustible or could leach into the surrounding environment. Among other types of trash, they found aerosols, batteries, syringes, medical tubing with bodily fluids and pharmaceuticals.
District attorneys from Yolo, Alameda, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo and San Bernardino counties joined the state Department of Justice in the lawsuit, which was filed in San Joaquin Superior Court. Pamela Price, the district attorney for Alameda County, called the settlement “historic.”
During the news conference, Bonta noted that it “shouldn’t be overlooked that the communities who often live near landfills and transfer stations are disproportionately lower-income and people of color, meaning these vulnerable communities are most at risk from the potential water pollution, fires and toxic smoke-filled air that we’re talking about.”
Law enforcement also identified documents containing the confidential information of 7,700 patients. Kaiser violated state and federal law, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 or HIPAA.
This story was originally published September 8, 2023 at 12:10 PM.
