Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

I chose to have back surgery at Cedar's Sinai Medical Center on June 7, 2010 only to regret it later. I arrived at the hospital at 4:45 am on that day with severe back pain and I asked the admittance desk clerk for an ice pack to help ease the pain that I was having. I was told by the admittance clerk that she had to go to the emergency area to get it but instead she returned to her desk and continue whatever it was she was doing. Fifteen minutes later, a second admittance clerk came and repeated the same thing as the first clerk. At that point, I said just get the ice she rolled her eyes and went back to the desk and start talking to the first clerk.

Fifteen minutes later, the second clerk got up and went to the emergency area to get the ice but walked like it would be a couple hours before she would return. When she did return, she handed me the ice but did not assist me to place it underneath me and I stated to her that I could not put it underneath me. She ignored me and the guard looked at her and apologized and came over and placed the ice pack underneath me. The pain eased up for a moment but I was still very uncomfortable and needed to lay down to take the pressure off my back but was told that I had to wait until the registration office open up and to go there before I could be taken to be prep for surgery.

Another fifteen passed before I was wheeled to the eight floor where there was no one there and I asked the attended how long would I be there, because I could not just sit there in this pain and he said no one was be on duty until 6:00 a.m. and he left. Full of agony and pain I could do nothing but cry and pray that someone would come to rescue me but no one did. However, ten minutes later, the attendant came back with a pillow and gave it to me. I thanked him and took the pillow and got on the floor to take the pressure off of my back.

While lying on the floor several people passed by and looked at me including doctors and nurses, but no one said and word nor offer to help me. It seems like an hour when the same admittance clerk came up to that floor with a group of people who were wondering why I was on the floor and ask me if I needed help. I said yes and and one lady asked the admittance clerk could she call someone that could bring me a guard and she said that she could not do anything because she only admitted people someone would be on duty shortly.

Finally the prep nurse came and asked that all that were there for surgery to follow her. She looked down at me and asked if I needed help to go the prep room. I said yes and she assisted me to get up off the floor in the wheel chair. The prep room was like stalls for each individual which accommodated forty people. The people waiting for surgery were very loud including the doctors and nurses, which caused me to have an anxiety attack. After the surgery, I thought things would go well but I could not get the food that I requested and each meal had to be returned to the point that the food manager came to find out what the problem was and tried to make thing right but at no avail. Finally I was told by one food clerk that if I wanted good food, I would have to pay $199.00 per week for that.

The next day, I was transferred to the rehabilitation flood where there was another experience that I could not handle. The nurse assistance did not speak nor understood English well enough to assist me which created stress for me, trying to explain to them that I had back surgery and could not be moved without assistance and that I needed help to get to the bathroom. Those that worked at night just could not seem to get things right. They would try to push me, pull me, and could not understand the care that had to be given to me because of the back surgery. On two occasions for several hours, I had to lay in my own urine because no one would answer the call button or I would just have to get up on my own to get to the bathroom, so I would not have to lay in my urine to the point were they had to put a buzzer to let them know that I was trying to get out of bed.

The night staff were not informed as to why I was there and what care I needed which made thing worse. I asked the doctor why they did not let the nurses and helpers on duty know what care I needed and what were the dos and don't for me. They could not get my medication right as to what I was suppose to be taking and the medicine I brought in, they could not find it and tried to give me something else.

The second day signs were posted on the wall and the door that I could not bend, left or twist and the room should stay warm. The worst thing that could happen to a person is to have someone waiting on you and you can not communicate with them because they don't speak English. I was so stressed out when I got home that I could not sleep and had to take medication to do so.

My daughter was being treated at Cedars Sinai Hospital since she was diagnosed with cancer in April. During the many stays at the hospital, there had been some issues (most did not result in any harm to my child, only because I was there to stop them before they occurred). The first incident was the nurse reading the label on the bottle wrong and was pouring a dose of medication 2 times the amount that was supposed to be given. I am a pediatric nurse by the way. After arguing with me for a while, she finally asked her superior and guess what? I was right.

The second incident, a nurse was to start an IV antibiotic. She fiddled with the pump, clearly not knowing what she was doing. I asked her if it was running, she insisted it was. After several attempts to tell her it was not running, I had to get the supervisor and guess what? It was not running. While there, my daughter, because of the chemo was getting nauseous and vomiting when she smelled the food. One dietitian came in and spoke with her and offered her food from the 8th floor menu (this menu being a lot different since it feeds the social elite of LA). In any case, my daughter was able to tolerate this food except that the hospital refused to give it to her. When I spoke to another dietitian, she said how do you know about the 8th floor food? She then said she would see what she could do and told me that if my daughter could not stand the smell of the trays, they would not send anymore trays. Guess what? They did not send anymore trays nor did they send any more food.

My daughter was sick with cancer, 38lbs at 7 years old and they rather starve her than feed her the food that they did have available to the 8th floor patients. My husband and I had to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner for her. This was a financial burden on us and unnecessary. She also lost more weight! The worst experience came July 9th, when she had a follow-up MRI. Two staff members held down my daughter while she was kicking and screaming to stop. She said she told them to stop over and over again, but they held her until they could sedate her. When my husband finally lost it and was verbal to them, they treated him like a criminal. When I later went to pick her up, I was questioned by a social worker as to how we raise our children. She was insinuating my husband was violent and may be abusive to our children.

Let me tell you I would have pulled them off of her and no, I am not abusive. We need to protect our children from incompetent staff like we experienced this day. The hospital later called the Department of Children and Families on us. When they came out, we knew who called by the questions they asked, which by the way were the most insane things I have ever heard in my life. So to make things sort, my daughter was denied the appropriate diet she needed in the hospital and allowed to lose further weight all the while knowing she was losing weight from the chemo. Her rights were abused when they physically restrained her to get their job done. They should have rescheduled knowing how scared she was and they filed a false and malicious report to DCF regarding our ability as parents.

This is immoral and disgusting. I want the social worker's license to be investigated. I want the staff who held down my child, while she was screaming, investigated and I want the hospital investigated for not providing meals to my child when they were available. I think some of the nurses need refresher courses as to how to run IV pumps, how to flush PICC line (they clogged up my daughter's because they were using the wrong size syringe). I had to tell this nurse that she needed a 10 cc syringe and she clearly stated "I didn't know that"!

On May 22 I had a dental exam with Dr. Weizenberg. The exam result was I had a cracked tooth and a gap tooth. I wanted to get my tooth spaceless so I asked him what would be the best solution to fixed the gap between my tooth. I wanted to get a crown but he insisted to get an onlay since it last long. Then on June 6, he did the onlay to my tooth and I felt good. But then I had checked to another dentist at USC school and the x-ray showed that the tooth was cracked.

It showed that Dr. Weizenberg instead fixing my tooth, he made my tooth cracked and sensitive. And the dentist recommended that I should get my tooth redo with a crown and possibly a root canal, which is even worse I had to pay thousand dollars more due the inexperienced dentist at Cedar-Sinai. I asked for the dentist at Cedar-Sinai to redo it again but they refused to do so and they said they will charged for emergency visit. They will also refused to give a refund. Another case was since Dr. Weizenberg left on June. I was transferred to another dentist, Dr. Brandon Seto.

I spoke to Theresa, the receptionist, and she said I needed to pay for another teeth exam for $56. I asked her why do I have to pay another exam. And she said it was because I was transferred to another dentist and I have to be treated as a new patient. Then on June 6 I agreed to pay $56. Dr Seto only take a look at my tooth but didn't take the X-ray. And he recommended me to get the crown on the cracked tooth and scheduled me another appointment on August 4. On August 4, I paid full amount for $726 for crown procedure and Dr Seto, put temporary cap on my tooth.

However, on September 5, I got a bill statement from Cedar-Sinai, said that On August 4, I owed $75 for emergency visit. And I call Sandra, person who in charge with billing, and I told her that my visit was not for an emergency visit on August 4, it should have been no charged since the dentist working on crown procedure. She refused to void the bill and insisted that it was for emergency visit which it's not, I was scheduled for a Crown. My question are how can I can get my $300 and $75 dollars back.

I was told to get an onlay($300) by Dr Weizenberg but I wanted to get a crown, and he just made a huge cracked on my tooth and made my tooth sensitive and full of bacteria. Instead of paying $500 for a Crown, I had to pay $1500 for root canal and a crown due to inexperienced dentist, Dr. Weizenberg, at Cedar-Sinai