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Patients at Kaiser Permanente cannot sue a physician in the traditional court setting; they must arbitrate their claims according to an agreement they sign when becoming a member with the company. While arbitration and litigation are similar in many ways, their differences might surprise you.

To find out more about these two forms of dispute resolution, we asked Jeff Milman, a member of the Advocate Law Group Network who has been practicing law for over 25 years and specializes in medical negligence. According to Milman, “Well, generally they’re about the same. In courts, it used to be five years to get a case to trial. Now, California statewide has gotten involved with a program called FastTrack and generally when you file a lawsuit, for example, in Orange County, California, or Los Angeles, your case is going to have to work its way through the court system within 12 to 18 months. Kaiser, now that a case called Engalla has pushed the envelope for them, is aggressive and you can get your case arbitrated within a few months to 18 months as well.

Arbitration may be a bit more … relaxed

Unlike the formality of the litigation process, arbitration may be a bit more relaxed. Milman continued, “Chances are you’re going to spend less time than you would with a jury trial because with juries, there are a lot of rules of evidence. There’s certain things the jury can and can’t see. The judge is deciding issues that may or may not be shown to a jury and what can be told to them. Generally, it’s a little more relaxed when you’re dealing with a retired judge who’s just deciding the arbitration.”

The costs involved in arbitration

While the arbitration process might be a bit more relaxed than the litigation process, there are still costs involved. We’re sure you’re not surprised by that statement, but you may be surprised to learn what those costs involve. Milman explained, “Generally they’re going to need to get their records and that may cost them some money, but sometimes Kaiser will waive the cost. Or if you send them to an outside physician, they’ll waive that as well.”

“But above and beyond the cost of the records, most lawyers, unless it’s a slam-bam case that can be evaluated right up front – for example, they were supposed to take out my left kidney and they took out the right by mistake – will generally want an expert to review the case. So, I generally ask the clients to front the initial cost of an expert review, which can be anywhere between a few hundred dollars up to a couple thousand. Once I’m assured that there is a good case, then fee agreements are executed.”

“Generally, the rest of the case is on contingency basis whereby the attorney will front all the costs in an attempt to secure a verdict or a resolution for the client and then get their costs back at the end of the case.”

Getting the right help

If you’ve been the victim of medical negligence by Kaiser Permanente, it’s important to get the right help. Attorneys whose practices specialize not only in medical negligence, but who also know the Kaiser system inside and out are available to help. To contact an attorney, click here.