Wednesday, May 30, 2007

U. C. Davis Medical Group - their time is MUCH more important than yours

Well, once again I find myself disappointed with the U. C. Davis Medical Group. We have multiple options for medical groups to join since I am a U. C. Davis employee. Originally, I joined the U. C. Davis group but have since left due to incredibly poor treatment by their system (surprising, given that I am a Professor in the U. C. Davis Medical School, but nevermind that for now).

Now today was the last straw in a long series of annoyances so I am going public with it. My wife had a Dr's appointment with Steve Oliver of the U. C. Davis group here in Davis. Her appointment was at 10 AM. They even called a few nights ago to remind us. So - I stayed at home with our 2 year old and our 4 month old. My wife rushed off, stressed about ditching the 4 month old since he had not eaten at the regular time and she was worried about him getting too hungry while she was gone (we avoid taking kids to Drs offices whenever possible).

So she showed up for her appointment a little early. And then she waited and waited. Finally she went up to the counter and asked what was going on. The receptionist flippantly told her that her appointment was actually at 10:30 but that they tell people it is earlier than it really is because many people are late. In other words, they lie to the patients. I am simply stunned by this. Yes people are late for things. So develop some system to punish the late ones or reward the early ones. But lying to your patients is pathetic. I am once again embarassed to be associated with this system, even if peripherally. So - we are now going to switch to the Sutter group - which I have had great experiences with.

6 comments:

  1. Hi-
    I appreciate your blog. I have 2 stories about UC Davis medical group that I would like to share.
    1) A few weeks ago I had a 4pm appointment with my primary care physician. when I arrived for my appointment I was told that my doctor was running behind but they would take me to an examination room where I could wait. I sat in the exam room and waited and waited and eventually fell asleep. I woke up at 5:40pm got up and walked out of the exam room only to find that everyone was gone!Lights were out,
    desks were straightened up, chairs were put away and there I was alone in the office. Luckily I was not locked in!!!So, I went home.
    Did anyone from the office call to find out why I had not been seen or what happened? NO!!!!!

    2)Last week I had a bike accident and went to the ER with a knee injury.The ER doctor told me I had a possible fracture and needed to see my primary care physician for a referral to an orthopedist.So,the next day I see my physician, she says she will put in for a referral and call me back that day with the final x-ray report.Well,5 days later I have not heard from her, I have no referral, and I my husband and I are spending our time fighting through the red tape to get the referral.During this time, the ER doctor had called and confirmed the fracture and told me I needed to see an orthopedist ASAP as the longer I wait the more damage can be done to my knee. My husband has taken 4 days off from work, I am bedridden and cannot walk. We have issued a complaint and are still waiting for the referral. We have emailed, called, called and left messages, and called to issue a formal complaint.
    My doctor does not work on Mondays so I am now at the mercy of the on-call doctor.
    Thank you for your story and the opportunity to vent.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am pretty stunned by your story and my experiences. We switched everyone in our family to the Sutter Medical Group and it has all been great so far. My personal Dr., Jamie Saben, is the best I have ever had, including Drs when Iw as a student at Harvard and Stanford. The only negative is that Saben just moved to San Diego but I am sure that I will find a replacement that is good there. As importantly, they treat patients with respect.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi,
    just reading your blog about dr. saben. my brother and his family recently moved to san diego, do you know of dr.saben's practice so that i could pass on the info.

    ReplyDelete
  4. no clue about where he is headed specifically but you could call the sutter west medical group to get a forwarding address

    ReplyDelete
  5. i tried, but theres no information they can give for some reason. the lady who answer the phone was very rude. im not sure i'd want to go there...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have had a very bad experience with Sutter West at Davis and will not recommend then to anyone from UC Davis community. They first lost my results then will not give me an appointment. In fact they keep me on hold for 35 mins in 3 calls so I can talk to the manager only to be told that she is not avaiable to talk. At this point I think are among the worst service providers I have come across so far. So Davis Sutter Medical Family Practise is a big NO for me.

    ReplyDelete

Most recent post

My Ode to Yolo Bypass

Gave my 1st ever talk about Yolo Bypass and my 1st ever talk about Nature Photography. Here it is ...