MarinHealth Medical Center — Attraction in Larkspur

Understaffed, but lovely new rooms. Would definitely prefer more staff. The nurses were generally very good and caring, but short staffed and i rarely had same one twice...odd. Took 3 HOURS to get a CT SCAN (that they did after i came in an ambulance with extreme pain from cancer) read (guy who did CT SCAN was nice but was also only one there and he did the readings as well.) There was only one doctor on duty on A FRIDAY NIGHT!! THAT IS INSANE! When the doc finally got back to me, she rushed in, saying she had a doctor on the phone, told me the results in a way I didn't understand and rushed out again. I was scared, in pain still, and now confused. It was another 30 min or more before she came back in and gave me my options and answered my questions. It would have been better for her to wait to tell me anything until she DID have adequate time to talk with me. Also, dont expect much if you need help in the room. First, they put the help button above my head and didn't tell me so i had to wave at passing staff till someone saw me waving and came in. When i did press the help button there was rarely even a verbal response to ask what i needed. When the first dose of iv pain meds started to wear off it took over 15 min to even get someone to tell...so the pain got quite intense again. I seriously considered getting up and walking (would have been painful but i wasn't getting help via the help button!)to the nurses station i saw outside my door. My pain was quickly returning and i knew it would be back even worse if they didnt administer it quickly. They took too long and i was back in severe crying pain again by time someone answered my button call, checked with doc to authorize meds, and got it into me. That's exactly why I tried to get their attention with the help button...it took TWELVE buzzes before any response! No answer on speaker in room, no nurse or anyone. If you have to go there TAKE SOMEONE WITH YOU TO HELP YOU. Luckily, I don't live in Marin anymore, was visiting, and my local hospital is well staffed, particularly on weekend nights when there is the most need. I guess that's why it's no longer called MARIN GENERAL HOSPITAL, but a medical center. If there was another decent option in Marin County (Kaiser is much better in my experience with both my parents treated there) for non Kaiser patients then i would go...

We're on vacation in Marin & my husband experienced a lot of pain in his chest for about 12 hours before we decided we had to go to the ER. The Marin Health ER waiting room was great and took him in quickly and everyone was very friendly & professional. After 2 hours there, I took my 8 year old daughters back to our hotel and while family stayed with them, returned to the ER with some of my husband's things as we'd learned he had to spend the night. My husband was in severe pain when I arrived, and by that time another nurse was assigned to him. At my husband's request I went outside the room to look for help. The attending nurse without looking at me said "I'm listening" so I couldn't really tell if he was talking to me. When I figured out he was, I let him know about my husband's pain and he came in to check on my husband and gave him a pain med. When it didn't help 15 minutes later, and my husband said he was in excruciating pain, I went back outside of the room to look for the nurse - who again said "I'm listening" while looking in a completely different direction" - so I again couldn't tell if he was talking to me. He then walked to me and toward the room hastily and said in a frustrated tone that I couldn't keep coming out into the hall, and continued to let me know the amazing he job he was doing in detail and that "you can't get better than that". I was furious because I was only trying to help my husband and stressed because we didn't know what was wrong with him yet - and there were also no signs stating I wasn't allowed to leave my husband's room and ask for help, never mind I haven't been in an ER in 20 years, so I didn't know. I lost my temper and the nurse and I raised our voices at each other and he threatened to have security come and escort me out of the hospital. A few minutes later, he angrily gave my husband the morphine he needed (shaking as he did this and also bumped into my husband - seemingly residual anger taken out on my husband). The morphine finally removed the hours of pain my husband had been in. When the doctor came in soon after that, I told him what happened with the nurse, and the doctor told me that wasn't standard at Marin Health, but I was in tears for an hour after. Really unbelievably low bar episode. Because the other nurses and doctors were spectacular, not sure how many...

My father, who is in his eighties, was admitted for a broken arm and other other injuries after a fall in November of 2020. Because of COVID, I was unable to visit him so I cannot comment on his care. However, when he was discharged a week later, it was ridiculous; a) the nurse had her cloth mask on under her nose and when I asked her to put it on over her nose because of COVID, she gave me attitude and b) when I asked her what his final diagnosis was and what should be done for his care following his discharge, she handed me a pile of papers and said I could look through them. As I flipped through close to 100 pages, I saw that there had been a cerebrovascular accident (or something like that) so I asked what it was and the nurse said a stroke. It was the first I had heard of it although I'd been trying to talk with the medical staff daily and had requested that they keep me apprised of his situation and progress.

Finally a med tech who had been hovering in the background kindly called the outside-contracted neurologist who had been treating my dad and put me on the phone with her and I was able to get all the information I needed.

We also experienced billing problems because of problems between the hospital and my dad's insurance company.

When the facility was still Marin General, I had a couple of great experiences at this hospital, a surgery and some MRIs, but the sad truth is that I haven't been impressed with anything that "Marin Health" has has had a hand since UCSF began "partnering" (i.e. taking over) all the medical offices and facilities in Marin a few years ago. In fact, in January of 2021, I left the primary care physician I'd been with for 19 years, who was great, because I got sick and tired of dealing with the administrative changes that happened when Marin Health took over their office (i.e. MAJOR billing issues and the most ridiculous problems just trying to book an appointment to see her...makes my blood boil just thinking about it.)

My dad and I switched to Kaiser in January, and wish we had done it 30 years ago. We can't believe how easy it is to a) communicate with our physicians b) get connected to specialists and c) book appointments. There've been a couple of glitches here and there but nothing compared with the problems we experienced with...