LAC+USC Medical Center

Reviews 4

PA

Pam Dunbar

Ive been to the ER many times and have never had an experience that made me swear off a hospital before this. The ER is staffed with disorganized, inexperienced young residents, with no oversight from an experienced Dr. There was no nurse assigned to my room. The residents failed to diagnose severe soft tissue injuries throughout my neck and back, and forgot to order a CT scan for two hours after doing their initial tests. Resident Jennifer Farrah treated me in a dehumanizing and spiteful way after I asked how long she thought Id be there. It had been almost 7 hrs and Id be walking home alone, I didnt want to walk home late. She took my question as a challenge and yelled at me in front of patients and staff, called me selfish, and treated me in a dehumanizing and spiteful way the rest of my time there. Of my question about the wait she shouted, "Some people were in car accidents and need help!" In no way was she behaving like a health care provider or Dr who can be trusted around vulnerable people. If shed had been working any other job shed have been fired on the spot. I asked for food (hadnt eaten in 12 hours, again there was no nurse.) She acted like it was a trick, and refused me food. She lied and said someone comes around with trays. I had to ask the desk staff shed just yelled at me in front of, and someone grabbed me a bagged sandwich from a cabinet that was easily accessible the whole time. She yelled at me when I asked to be discharged. I was tired and in pain, and didnt want to be released late at night to walk home alone (my phone was dead at this point and no bus goes directly to my house.) She said If I dont wait for the CT scan I could die, which went against what shed just said about my case being low priority. It had been 7 hrs at this point. She made me vacate my room while she got my papers. She took an hour and I had nowhere to sit but a used stretcher in the hall. She didnt go over my discharge papers with me. A very young desk staffer brought them over with no explanation. Diagnosis: "car accident." No record of tests theyd done, a blank next to referral Dr. Most pages were generic printouts of clip art about "what to expect after a car accident." The last page was to sign, saying a Dr had explained the papers and I understood the information. I pointed all this out and the guy laughed at how badly her work done but said "I dont know anything about it, if you have questions the Dr can answer them." She yelled at me again, blaming the lack of information on me "refusing" a CT scan. Being under out of state insurance, my follow up care was only covered if referred through the ER. She said theres nothing to refer me for since Id they didnt do a CT scan, regardless of my other pain and the tests they did. When I said I needed a referral she lied and said a Dr would call me. Again, that isnt how it works, she was lying so Id leave (yet wanted me to stay? A spiteful control freak who should be fired.) Id signed up to have my medical records available for download and those forms are completely different than my printouts. Jennifer Farrahs name was off it completely, replaced with the name of someone who wasnt there at all. The only info was my vital signs. Its useless for my medical history or to get further care. I had to miss work the next day, take the bus to an urgent care place, and pay out of pocket for treatment my insurance would have covered. The Dr at Hollywood Urgent Care is also an ER doctor and said the order the residents did things was confusing, didnt see how they could have missed my back injuries, and expressed shock that I was able to get to his office at all because they were so bad. Diagnosis: severe soft tissue injuries throughout neck and back. Treatment: Rxs, advice on returning to work, referred for chiropractic care. All paid out of pocket though my insurance would have covered them at the ER. The chiropractor also confirmed the severity of my injuries, put me in neck and back braces, and expressed concern that this hadnt been done at USC.

---

CR

Cris Trujillo

Es una mierda de hospital, vengo a sala de emergencias por un dolor muy fuerte en la espalda desde hace seis meses, tardo 5 horas en pasar, otras 2 en que me cheque el doctor, y solo para que me diga que no sabe que puede darme? Me dice que solo para el dolor, le dije que se me dormia mi hombro y me dice que tengo sintomas de algo fuerte pero que no sabia que podia ser porque no hacian examen de MRI en emergencias, que porqueria de hospital, emergencias y no te hacen nada de examenes? Aparte doctores muy jovenes que no saben mucho, yo sabia que los doctores tenian que ser mas grandes porque para ser doctor te lleva anos de estudios, doctores menores de 27 anos. porqueria de hospital. Nunca vuelvo a ir. Mejor voy a una clinica privada tardo menos y me recetan lo mismo. Motrim

---

MA

Mary Long

As other reviewers have said, yes, it is a wàit whenever we come here. But it really cant be helped, considering how many patients they see per day. This is where everyone goes who cant afford to go anywhere else. This place is huge ànd there àre people everywhere.The Phàrmacy is àt least à 4 hour wait, thats after you hàve waited at least an hour in line to drop off your prescription. From the time you get there and wait to go through security, to wait in line for financial clearance, to waiting in the clinic to be registered, to wait for the nurse to call you back, wait for the doctor to see you, wait to get your return appt, wait at the pharmacy....well, you understand, its a waiting màrathon and usually takes all day. I am sure improvements could be made to reduce at least some of the wait. For instance, kudos to another LACounty facility, Martin Luther King Jr medical center. They now have a system in place that greatly reduces the wait time at their pharmacy. Co USC would do well to adopt it. Granted, MLK is crowded, but they dont have the volume of patients that Co USC does.Still, I think it would be good if they used MLKs system. Having said all that, I have received competent, professional, compassionate and respectful care whenever I have come to Co USC and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

---

HE

hendro waskito

I came last week and it was the first time I went to hospital in US since I am an international student here. I came there with my wife because she is pregnant my first child and she has no insurance. So at that time I had no idea how everything would work. It was thurday afternoon, and at the front desk i was told that it would need 8 hours to wait in line, so i was suggested to come again on saturday morning. And it was true, i came again on Saturday morning, and we didnt have to wait for long line. And it was a great experience. Everyone was great and nice. The administration, the nurse, the doctor, security, everyone. Since my wife has hyperthyroid, she got a lot of examination by the doctors, Fraser and Velazque, and the nurse, Lupita. They are very professional and caring. Yeah... We had to wait for the doctor several hours in examination room, but I didnt need to complain since the doctor had to help other patient. I am sure they work very hard to serve a lot of patients there. And what made me feel so lucky to come here is that they offered me medical that can cover my wife. Keep the great work LACUSC!

---

---