Hillcrest Medical Center at UC San Diego Health — Attraction in San Diego

This is by far the worst ER I have ever been to. I have terminal cancer in my lungs, diaphragm, and lymph nodes & vomited blood tonight. I have been having a lot of pain for the past month in my chest & ribs (I think the cancer has spread into the bones), so my Oncologist insisted I get checked out.

From the moment I arrived, the grumpy man at the check-in counter was terribly rude & short with me. There was an overflow of patients in the waiting room, and not enough chairs for the sick patients to sit in. People were standing everywhere & throwing up in plastic bags because they have the flu. I was told it would take 1.5-2 hours to get a room. After waiting for nearly 2 hours and telling then I was going to leave, they suddenly had a room for me.

The first thing the Nurse, Vivian, said to me was: “I will be your Nurse tonight until 8pm. I have been here since 8am this morning (she let out an exhausting sigh). My name is Vivian”. Poor Vivian had been working at that point for 10 hours. Does she want to trade places with me? I would love to give up my terminal cancer & be cleared to work again...I tried connecting with her anyway & asked her about her work schedule & she told me she works 12-Hour shifts, 3 days per week. That sounds like a pretty sweet schedule to me! She seemed like a very disgruntled employee & a very unhappy person. Her second remark was “What is Sarcoma cancer?” Shouldn’t she know this? Don’t they teach you about different cancer types in Nursing school? And why is she asking the patient? Google is always available, and would make her look less incompetent.

Dr. Boylston (Resident) came in right away and listened to my symptoms and said I would be getting bloodwork done, Chest x-ray, Urine test, and given pain meds. I was there for 4 hours and NEVER received my pain meds. In fact, I never saw Dr. Boylston again for the rest of my time there.

Dr. Galuma came in and seemed to have taken over by asking me a bunch of questions, and said he had gone over my chart & medical records. I asked him if I was going to be receiving my pain meds soon and he said yes, but never put in the order. The pain meds I had taken 2 hours before I had left for the hospital (in an Uber) were wearing off and I was going to fall behind the pain & that was going to be a huge issue for me. Vivian was nowhere to be found. I buzzed the nurses at the front desk & they said they would find Dr. Boylston. Never happened. I finally found Vivian & asked for my meds and she said the order was still not in from Dr. B or Dr. G for the meds, but the ‘Doc Box’ (office of doctors/computers) was down the hall & I could go find them myself because she was busy. What?! I went down there in my robe, and this blonde obnoxious nurse came out & told me that people were dying and she was soooooo sorry that I was having pain, in a very sarcastic & condescending tone and told me to go back to my room. I explained how I had been there for hours with no meds and my pain level was escalating and I wasn’t staying ahead of it, and it would only get worse the longer we waited. She continued to patronize me & said she’d let Dr. B know. When I looked up, there were about 8-9 nurses at the nurse station all chatting with one another, and doing nothing!! Another 20 mins go by & no meds, no doctors, no Vivian. I was so frustrated & in tears that I left. Vivian took my iv out and I told them at the front desk I was frustrated & leaving, and that’s when Dr. G came out wanting to talk to me & asked if I would go back to the room & they would give me meds, but I refused and said it was too late for that. He was full of excuses. My pain level was at an 8 and approaching a 9, and I told him I could take better care of myself at home than in this place. Awful experience!! Everyone that works there seems to hate their jobs & their lives. They walk around with terrible attitudes. I don’t understand why these people are in healthcare, since they don’t seem to give a damn about patients. Avoid this place at all costs. It’s a...

I stayed at this hospital two years ago and I still have mixed feelings about it.

First of all, the doctors are great. They recognized that I had depression and PTSD and really pushed for me to get help, even when I resisted for an entire week. Because of them, I was sent to a crisis house, which led to me getting into treatment and out of homelessness. So I am forever in their debt. Thank you for seeing me and helping me. Thank you a thousand times!!!

A lot of the nurses are really nice, too. All that being said, however, there were some people who made my stay there miserable, namely Kelly, the group coordinator, and Melissa, one of the nurses.

Apparently, I did something to piss Kelly off, because she kept throwing really passive aggressive, deeply hurtful insults at me, to the point that I almost cried (she regularly mocked my appearance and put down everything I did, even if I was just drawing with chalk). She really hurt my feelings over something I don't even know what because she wasn't brave enough or mature enough to approach me like an adult and tell me what I did wrong to hurt her feelings so.

That said, I'm pretty sure I did nothing wrong. I am a kind person and I do not go around insulting people or deliberately hurting their feelings. For those people mature enough to confront me, I apologize if I have hurt them and try to do better. Kelly couldn't even open a dialogue with me because she is a coward.

As for Melissa, she is a diehard Christian, and like most Christians, is ignorant and judgmental. I was wearing pentacle earrings when she was my nurse, which she assumed to be Satanic symbols (lol they aren't. Pentacles are peaceful symbols of protection) and as a result, she assumed I was a danger to the other patients and ignored me instead of doing her job.

When Melissa was my nurse, it was her job to make sure I ate and to take care of me, but she didn't. She never even spoke to me, and instead of helping me eat, she let me starve in my bed (I had severe PTSD and believed I was in danger, so I would not leave my room, which meant I would not eat unless meals were brought to me. Melissa let me starve).

The funny thing is, I was only wearing black because another (kinder) nurse gave me a black shirt after my own clothes were thrown in the ocean during the attack that led to my PTSD. I basically had no clothes, and the nurse clothed me. I am embarrassed to say that I can't remember her name, but by clothing me and caring for me, she was more of a Christian than Melissa ever was.

Didn't Christ say to love your enemy? If Melissa thought I was a Satanist, then that meant I was in more need of love than anyone. Instead of showing me love, however, she showed me hatred.

It took a long time for Melissa to realize I wasn't a threat to the other patients, nor was I a Satanist. I forgive her because I am a CHRISTIAN but I will not forget how I was treated by her. And if I have to stay at this hospital again, I will check her and Kelly's behavior to their faces. Because unlike them, I am not a passive aggressive coward.

Aside from these two incidents, however, the rest of the staff was kind and professional. The food is also great there. UCSD is one of the best behavioral health facilities I have ever been in (and I've been in a...

I broke my wrist in January and went to the ER at a Hospital by my home. After sitting in the ER in pain for over 4 hrs, finally given a pain pill, then having to wait to get a X-ray and the having to wait in the lobby for another 4 hrs to be told they did not have a Orthopedic Doctor on Duty and that they sent the Xrays to him at home and he wanted them to splint me and have me see him in his office the next day. That in itself was a bad experience but did not get better.

I went to my appointment was early and still waited over 2 hours to be seen. To have the Doctor walk in say "Your too swollen, come back next week and we will set it, and discuss surgery that from the Xrays, you need or you will never has full use of your hand". Then left the room. I went the following week to be told "We are going to go ahead and cast you". I asked if he was going to set it and he said "No, it's too late now". So I told him what he said the week prior, he said "so your going to do the surgery?" I then said I guess I do not have a choice since I am right handed.

The communication never got better, the fracture nor surgery was ever explained to me. I just knew I broke my arm.

I finally got mad since he was not listening to me after the surgery when I tried to complain about pain, and told him I quit and walked out.

I then started seeing a hand specialist who on my first appointment took the time to explain the fracture I had. (found out it was my wrist not arm) and the surgery I had. He explained that in his opinion that I would have needed to have the surgery. I have been seeing him and he has listened to my all along the way. I have continued to complain about the pain, and he sent me for a MRI and found that the Xrays along the way did not show, but I have a nonunion fracture.

He got me started on a bone stimulator and my last appointment said that on next appointment if still having pain he would send me for another MRI. If that comes back that I still have a nonunion then we would have to discuss a bone graft from my hip. I told him that I wanted to get a opinion from another hand specialist not affiliated with the group that him and the original Doctor have affiliation. He said that was fine and "had no problem with me doing so".

Saw a hand specialist at UCSD and he said he felt the best chance I have to get the bone to heal is to have a bone graft from my hip. So I have 2 hand specialist saying the same thing. I just did not want to feel like I did after the first Doctor that I was forced into having surgery. The UCSD Doctor was very good, answered my questions and listened.

While I liked him as well, I will stick with the Hand Specialist that I have be seeing. Since we already have a good communication and I know he has 24 years experience as a hand specialist.

But I have nothing bad to say about UCSD. I have seen other physicians (Burn Unit, High Risk OBGYN and Pediatrics for my children) While there have been some I liked better than others, I think all have shown a high...