Jiahui Lin, M.D. — Local services in Castro Valley

Unfortunately there isn’t an option for ‘O’ stars. Aside from being very late to my appointment, Dr. Lin was not familiar with my chart or ear history prior to my appointment. I’ve had 10 surgeries including a tympanoplasty and I currently have an 7yr old T-tube. I am unable to use ear drops with my tube yet she prescribed me ear drops anyways and said I can take her recommendation or leave it. She also wouldn’t review my medication list to see if the drops she prescribed were ones I’ve had reactions to in the past. She told me I could look it up when I got home because she didn’t know where to look in my chart- it was “too hard to find”. I went in because I had a jaw injury that (I think) broke a bone or 2 around my (middle) ear and another provider gave me suspension antibiotic drops that gave me a bigger hearing impairment. Her main response was “you have a complicated ear, maybe you should just see a doctor who only does ears”…and not her (an ENT). When I told her the ear drops impaired my hearing and were very painful she said she ‘doubts the ear drops did that.’ Very condescending and disrespectful.

When I asked her to tell me about the 2 drops she wanted to prescribe me she said one is an antibiotic and one is a steroid. I asked her why I would need an antibiotic if I don’t have an ear infection and she shrugged and said that’s just what we do. I then asked about how the steroid works and she looked at me like I had asked her a rude question. I repeated myself and her response was another shrug with ‘it’s an anti inflammatory’. IF she knows how antibiotic and steroids work, she definitely doesn’t know how to educate others on it. She said they’d help loosen wax around my tube which she says is causing my hearing loss (when it’s actually fluid behind my ear drum from the last drops I was given). This isn’t my first rodeo with my ear and I’m very educated with procedures (I’ve had most of them done by a well known Kaiser doc).

It was a waste of a 2 hour drive to get there, a waste of my co-pay and I still have zero help for my ear. Terrible experience and I will NOT recommend...

Never in my life have I had a doctor be so disrespectful.

Facts:

1. I took my son to Dr Lin twice. Both times I was unimpressed with her professionalism and medical advice. She was over 30 min late on both occasions and dismissed my sons condition/symptoms as "colds" or "viruses" only for us to return a few days later to urgent care because of a double ear infection! Simply put - misdiagnosed twice!

2. She talks down to her patients. Not that education should matter at all, but my husband and I both have two masters degrees. We speak to people for a living in a professional capacity and to put it NICELY, she is incredibly condescending when speaking to patients. That's putting it nicely...

Example: she puts her finger up and says "we'll talk about that later" when we were both just describing to her our son's medical history. Most doctors can listen and scribe. Not her. Instead, you get a finger telling you to basically shut up. Meanwhile, she says the word "like" as if she's a high schooler spilling gossip. It's incredibly annoying and childlike. It screams insecurity to me.

3. She laughs at her patients concerns. We, as parents, are advocates for our child. We aren't medical professionals hence why we seek advice from doctors to help with our son's condition. When describing our son's symptoms to her, Dr Lin laughed at us on multiple occasions. I finally had to kindly state "please don't laugh, my son is sick this isn't funny". Again, screams insecurity and lack of respect.

4. the final nail in the coffin: Dr Lin left the room to "go get something" during OUR appt time. 35 min later, we come to find out she went and saw other patients because she was so far behind in her schedule, thus making us wait with our two year old for over an hour and 15min between the waiting room and in the room.

I will NEVER seek Dr Lins medical advice again. And anyone who considers themselves an advocate for their child (aka every parent) should heed my warning to seek...

Dr. Lin is very personable, professional, and thorough. I am so glad she is my ENT! I was a new patient (after switching insurances) and my previous ENT recommended the surgery. From my 1st appointment with her she listened intently to my challenges and issues with constant rhinitis and all other proactive measures I was doing. After listening, she also recommended a septoplasty and turbinate reduction and thoroughly explained what it was, how it could improve my breathing, and also the risks. She also heard out every question and concern I brought up and provided thoughtful, informative, and clear answers. Her thoroughness from our first appointment immediately told me I was under great care!

The procedure itself went very smooth and the rest of her care team was professional, humorous, personable, and amazing! I truly felt cared for as a patient (more so than I've ever felt in any other health care setting) than I have at Sutter and with the doctors I've been grateful to work with thus far.

It is apparent in Dr.Lin's interactions with patients that she loves her job and is intrigued and "nerds out" over the work she does. When she explained to me what she did in my surgery, I could genuinely tell that the work she does is exciting and genuinely important to her. As someone myself who is fascinated by the human body and how it works and how it heals itself, I thoroughly appreciated being under her care and learning the cool stuff she was able to educate me on. I highly recommend...