Providence Portland Medical Center

Reviews 4

JU

Julian Kelly

Dr.Todd Buerk is a quack, if ever there was one. He misdiagnosed me with HSV two days ago, then had the audacity to tell me it was a PCP issue and not to come back to the ER. I went to my PCP who immediately hospitalized me and was HORRIFIED by the lack of medical treatment I received under his care. I am currently hospitalized elsewhere and awaiting emergency surgery because “dr” Todd Buerk did not appropriately treat a LIFE THREATENING infection. It rapidly spread. Dr. Buerk didn’t bother to do a culture...hell, this moron didn’t even run a blood panel to check my white blood cell count. He did nothing but write a prescription for prednisone, which he told me not to take for 48 hours. Well...here I am, not even 48 hours later and I’m getting prepped for the operating room. Had I been started on antibiotics when I first came in, I probably wouldn’t be in this mess, but due to the delay in care, I have suffered terrible consequences. Do not let this doctor touch you. The treatment I received at this hospital was abysmal. Even worse, the bureaucracy system at this hospital is protecting his interests. I called the ER last night to inform Todd of his grave error and was put in touch with patient relations. I’m not interested in speaking to a bunch of 3rd parties so that they can regroup to protect this man from the consequences of his behavior. I want to speak to both Todd and his superiors to ensure that this doesn’t happen again to another party. If I don’t hear from Mr.Buerk directly, I will be filing a lawsuit against both he and the facility and may press charges for medical negligence. So, the initial misdiagnosis was bad enough, but the lack of integrity within this system to at least apologize brings it to a whole other level. I would not recommend this hospital or Todd Buerk under any circumstances whatsoever. It is also worth noting that when Todd made his misdiagnosis, I immediately googled it on my phone. When I did so, he seemed surprised that I had the intelligence needed to do this. I dont know if this man is some kind of classist, racist, or just lacks couth-- but the experience was terrible. As a professional, as a business owner and as a female minority I am disappointed not only by his failure to diagnose, but also his failure to just be a decent human being and act with some integrity. This man, and those like him should not be working in an emergency room, if they are going to see a medical emergency and do nothing. This was a really terrible experience for me, and I had to have surgery because of it.

---

VI

Virginia Rich

Professional & compassionate care - remarkably excellent. I was in Portland recently for a conference and ended up in the ER with what I thought might be appendicitis. Being sick while traveling stinks, but I felt *incredibly* well taken care of by this hospital. I was taken back into the ER within 15" of walking in, and nearly cried when the desk nurse said, "Im sorry you feel so badly. Were glad you came in. Were going to take care of you." I mean, have you ever had that sort of compassionate, kind reception at an ER?!? Dr. Trueworthy (I kid you not, that that was his name!) back in the ER was similarly kind, but also astute and a very clear communicator. Im not an MD but I am a scientist, and he was able to clearly and compellingly answer my detailed Qs about what he thought might be wrong, and why, and what they were going to do about it. I ended up being admitted to a room on the surgical floor, where they spent the following 3 days seeing if my issue (an inflamed colon that had obstructed - super painful and sucky - never had anything like it before) would resolve with IV fluids and walking, or would need surgery. The entire team there, from Drs. Yu, Zink and others, to nurses Ginny, Raquel and colleagues, to even the meal people (once i finally could take clear fluids again), were just *exceptionally* professional, courteous, and very clear at communicating. Ive been fighting cancer for the last year so have spent a lot of time with medical staff, at a nationally respected facility, and yet the care I received at Providence Portland was even better than I receive at my home institution. One example: I was supposed to either be walking or sleeping, to try to resolve my blockage without surgery. Walking on the hospital floor gets boring. So they let me go outside and walk on the sidewalk to get some sun and fresh air, when I wasnt hooked up to anything. This made such a *huge* difference in my experience, to be able to get fresh air, sun, and be under the trees through some of the hours of walking. In addition, at night they gave me some gentle sleeping medication to help me sleep despite the pain *and* they were incredibly organized about minimizing disturbances through the night. (In stark contrast to the few other times Ive had to overnight at the hospital). While I hope I dont get sick in Portland again, if I do, I know exactly where Ill come. These people were amazing.

---

TA

Tashara Nelson

Well my experience has been ok except when I first came here which was my first morning at Portland Providence and not being in the emergency room but being on the second floor I had an issue with two nurses who felt like they didnt want me to go outside until the end up calling security on me yes call security on me cuz I wanted to go outside and smoke a cigarette but they said I wasnt allowed to go outside cuz I had a heart monitor on me so I decide to leave the heart monitor in the room until I got back and they hunted me down and tell me to sign the paper and leave and dont come back but they said it was routine for them to call security which was a lie but then they still made me feel like I did something wrong which I did not do they were discriminating against me because after that I see everybody walking around here with a heart monitor that coming from this floor to the the it downstairs, smoking a cigarette and have the same thing I had but theyre not being told they cant go outside and of course Im black you know their Caucasian so we all know what that was. Straight up racism! They did not care that I was a patient in the hospital just the fact that I was black and I have a history and they just wanted to give me a hard time but not bothering anybody else but you didnt write this with it so I dont blame the whole hospital I just blame it on the 2 nurses & I feel they should get rid of them both you know & learn how to treat people regardless of their color. Thanks for listening!

---

IL

Ilya B

Never end up in their emergency room in worn out clothes. You will be treated like dirt. Never end up there after midnight on a weekend. My mom got sick with bad virus with high blood pressure and excruciating of abdominal pain. I did not have time to put my good clothes on, so my questions and my opinions only made them angry. There was a couple of times when I had to straighten out facts that were also known by other staff, but not them. I did this as politely as can be. But they did not like that at all. They gave her countless injections of narcotic pain killer. They were ready to release her within couple of hours. They insisted on her dismissal even though her pain level was at about 8 and she felt like throwing up. She looked terrible. They finally got her on wheelchair and wheeled her out. At this point my sister showed up and saw mom vomiting in the hallway. She chewed them out. Mom ended up hospitalized and the rest of the story was very good. To this day I remember the evil looks of the nurse in the ER. Also when they were wheeling my mom back from some exray procedure. The doctor was sitting in his area with his foot on the table - very professional !!! When he saw us he immediately sat down correctly and pretended he was busy. This was probably around the beginning of 2014. This is not the complete story, but is enough to see the picture.

---

---