Litany Complaints of Systematic Abuse by Medical Staff at Saddleback Memorial

PATIENT X-RAYED WITHOUT PROTECTION – TOLD “IT’S JUST A LITTLE BIT OF RADIATION”

Now as we stated earlier – you notice that the Patient Care Coordinator at Saddleback Memorial sometimes responds to some of these negative reviews – yet the negative reviews seem to keep piling on.

Now it turns out that after a patient who was coming out of surgery was in a lot of pain and administered anesthesia – a radiologist came to take an x-ray to x-ray the area.  

Before the x-ray the patient was alarmed since his genitals and testicles were not protected and to his dismay, the radiologist laughed and said, “it’s just a little bit of radiation” while proceeding to radiate the patient without ever offering the patient something to protect the area.

Notice above in Saddleback Memorial’s response – they had the audacity to insinuate the following:

• The incapacitated patient coming out of surgery and sedation consented to being radiated while being under the influence of anesthesia.
• Upon pointing out that he had been provided no protection from radiation – you would think the radiologist should have offered protection.
  This was in effect the patient asking to be protected.  In response – she admittedly stated – “It’s just a little bit of radiation”.  Instead, the hospital states that, while the patient was heavily sedated and coming out of surgery – that he consented.

PATIENT ALLEGES SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY MEDICAL STAFF

Now this same patient was having a sensitive procedure involving his private areas and did not feel comfortable with another male in the room for the procedure.

As the grievance report reads – before the procedure the patient was aware that the anesthesiologist was going to be male and he informed the nurse in a discreet way by whispering of his preference and  if there was a way it could be accommodated.

Now you would think the nurse would come back and inform the patient of the situation since the nurse is the one supposed to be taking care of this patient before this procedure.

Instead, according to the grievance report – a large 6’3″ man comes lumbering in and while standing over the patient at the foot of the bed and in an obnoxious and intimidating tone states, “We don’t have any female anesthesiologists.” He then followed it up with, “The male anesthesiologist will take great care of you!” in a disgusting tone.

Now if you read the above reviews – they speak about an ER nurse named Jeffrey who has no talks is a rude and disrespectful manner:

Sounds like the same person, but we can’t confirm it.

Any normal and rational person would be alarmed and ask themselves the following:

• Why didn’t the nurse come back and inform the patient in a discreet way?
• Why did this creepy man approach and also     
• not introduce himself
      
• not speak in a discreet and comforting manner and speak in a creepy unsettling tone while adding the statement as he was walking away, “He’ll take great care of you!

Only a sick and twisted person would communicate in such a way. 
And that seems to be many of the types of people that work at Saddleback Memorial – judging by this report and the reviews on Google and Yelp.

What’s more is that Saddleback Memorial’s response acknowledges this account – except white washes it and states that, “the OR nurse was just checking on” and “there was no malice” as evidenced below:



Notice at the very end they apologize for the unwanted male OR nurse approaching the male patient that had just requested that no male be present – which served nothing other than to make him feel even more uncomfortable – by saying, “we are sorry that it was not your pre-op nurse.

No malice?  Absurd, because no one said anything about malice – just being creepy and sexual harassment.  

PATIENT ALLEGES ABUSE BY MEDICAL STAFF

Now after all the outrageous bedside manners by the doctors, nurses, radiologists and virtually everyone who this patient came into contact with – any normal person would reach their breaking point and lash out.

Which is exactly what happened here! 
After putting up with all the terrible bedside manners from so many “medical professionals” – this patient was no longer – patient – as evidenced by both the grievance report and the response from Saddleback Memorial.


To keep the patient in line – the grievance report alleges that the medical staff left an IV in his wrist even though it was connected to nothing.  They did not even remove it for him so he could pack up to leave – which almost led to an accident!

He was forced to wear this as he packed his things and the IV got caught on his bag, which could have caused serious injury.  Lucky for the patient, he was able to avoid serious injury while packing.
The hospital defended their actions as you can see below and put everything on the patient:


And as you can see in the response from Saddleback Memorial – they blame the patient for acting angry.  They mention how he initially was fine but after everything – he suddenly became angry.

This grievance report and response from Saddleback Memorial gives us an idea as to why the complaints keep piling on and nothing ever seems to get corrected.

Is this really the hospitality people are looking for when they get medical care?

CONCLUSION

Saddleback Memorial seems to have a systematic problem with bedside manners – and they seem to have a knack for blaming the patient – as evidenced by the complaints on Google and Yelp keep recurring all along with their very own Patient Care Outreach personnel reaching out and how they handle an issue once someone actually files a grievance report.

If you have gone through anything like the above, report it to the medical board in your state.
Concerning Saddleback Memorial is in California – go to The California Medical Board to report your complaint.