Kaiser Permanente Dublin Medical Offices and Cancer Center — Attraction in Dublin

Child's Fracture Experience At Kaiser

Yesterday, my 7 year old fell from her bike and fractured her arm. While unfortunate, these incidents happen to kids her age, but the least we can expect as parents is to provide adequate care when our child is going through the pain of a broken bone.

However, the ordeal of navigating Kaiser Permanente’s system in the 36 hours, their apathy and recklessness towards the patient's wellbeing - especially towards kids - was appalling! To add insult to injury, many of their nurses (one in Dublin particularly) was extremely rude and insensitive to the kid’s pain.

I want to recount the experience through this post because I know this experience is extremely common, and we shouldn't allow Kaiser Permanentes of the world commoditize people’s health and especially our kids' well-being.

Please read and share to bring Kaiser Permanente to take ownership of such experiences.

No Kaiser Urgent Care in the area (we tried 4-5 different locations) was willing to take her in on the day of the injury, even for an X-ray. They asked us to go to PCP when we get the earliest appointment.

The next day, the primary care physician at Livermore wanted to help, but did not have the facility to put splint or cast on the fracture. They simply took an X-ray and confirmed the fracture which we already suspected. They referred us to Orthopedic dept in Kaiser Dublin for putting the cast.

Orthopedic Dublin nurses were EXTREMELY rude and said they will not get us in to put splints or cast even though the fracture was confirmed until the next available appointment on May 30th (11 days after the fracture).

Infuriated, I asked, do they really expect a 7 year old child to remain without any support with a fractured arm for 11 days? A nerve can be permanently damaged or the bone can simply heal out of its place and cause permanent deformity. They kept repeating that this was their ‘process’ and “they don’t care about it”. And then they hung up the phone on me.

This is where I broke down - As a father, can I not expect to provide my child with adequate care and basic human dignity even after paying so much in health insurance? How miserably I have failed.

I somehow was able to contact the Fremont Orthopedic dept, where thankfully the experience was MUCH better. Nurse Sia (grateful for her) empathized with us and confirmed that it's not at all advisable to keep a fractured arm for even a couple of days without support. She booked us an appointment to come in to get a splint the SAME DAY with a cast technician.

We made at least 20 calls to different Kaiser Departments, each time waiting for anywhere between 5 and 30 mins to be heard.

I know there are many such experiences out there. But how long can we allow the likes of Kaiser to treat patients this way. Social media is a powerful tool to empower individuals and community to against this kind of experience.

So please read, and share!

I want folks at Kaiser to remember that the patients are suffering people and they’re the reason they have their jobs. Please treat them as humans, and not a peg of their process. Nurse Sia in Kaiser Fremont seemed to get it.

Thank you if you read...

We’ve been deeply disappointed with the quality of care provided by Kaiser. My sister first sustained tears in her legs back in November. Initially, she was prescribed walking boots for support. Unfortunately, the boots began irritating her nerves, and within just a week.

She reached out to her podiatrist immediately after noticing the discomfort, but it took a while before she received a response. By the time the podiatrist finally advised her to stop wearing the boots, the damage had already been done. She's been living in pain ever since. We suspect this led to CRPS.

What’s even more frustrating is the ongoing lack of responsiveness. After undergoing an MRI, all the podiatrist said was, “things look stable.” Any follow-up questions were met with silence. It’s been incredibly disheartening trying to advocate for care when providers won’t even communicate.

The only bright spot in this ordeal has been the pain specialist in Martinez, who has been attentive and supportive. But accessing physical therapy, something critical for her recovery, has been a nightmare. She’s supposed to have frequent sessions, yet the earliest appointments are consistently 3 to 4 weeks out. That kind of delay is unacceptable for someone in urgent need of rehabilitation.

In general, there is not clarity on plan of action. The appointments are inconsistent, and it looks like they just take it by appointment. Now her bone has started showing stress in the MRI, but she has not heard back from any doctors yet or has direction on how to deal with this added injury.

After months of inadequate care, my sister made the decision to switch insurance providers. But even that has come with obstacles. When she requested her MRI records on May 23rd so her new doctor at a care provider could review them, Kaiser said they wouldn’t mail the CD until June 13th due to a backlog—and they don’t even allow for in-person pickup. Her condition is urgent, yet she’s stuck waiting for basic documentation.

This experience has been frustrating, heartbreaking, and frankly, unacceptable. I urge others to think twice before choosing Kaiser. You pay for coverage, but what you actually receive in return, when you truly need care, can fall...

My ASD son had an appointment in the Ambulatory Surgery Dept. and the pre-op team RNurse D and Dr. G, Anesthesiologist (member services has their names) gave me the worst experience. RNurse D made a false statement to the anesthesiologist Dr. G stating that I said my son “will punch her” if she tried to put an IV. I said that I never told her that, mind you my son never gave that impression while there or ever been like that towards anyone. As my son was calm listening to his headphone and watching his phone. I ask the NP to be removed but Dr. G did not make the situation any better. He was also rude and made it worse. I was crying about the statement the nurse made, he kept asking if my son is aggressive, never once my son showed to be aggressive (or in his medical chart). But kept insisting he might be throughout our 5 minutes conversation. During the conversation he asked me if there is something else that might be bothering me. He also said it’s like I’m getting upset when “transgender comes in and he uses the wrong pronouns”. There was no bedside manners, no empathy at all. It wasn’t until way later the new nurse came in who gave me tissue because I was still crying. It’s was horrible! By the end of the appointment I was disappointed and emotionally exhausted, I don’t think we will be going back again or at least anytime soon. I would have given 1 star but because the OR team and the recovery...