City of Hope Helford Hospital — Local services in Duarte

My child tragically lost her life last year at City of Hope hospital, Duarte, CA. She was admitted to the hospital with an unresolved urinary tract infection. There were numerous mistakes made prior to the actions which ended her life but what I am about to tell you was no mistake.

On the night before we hoped to be discharged, she was given an enema. Her bowel perforated. I begged and pleaded for over 9 hours for a surgeon, but the total lack of care and disregard put my daughter in a horrific medical situation which was ignored and dismissed to a point which was not survivable.

Finally, at my wit's end, I dialed 911. They would not come because she was already in a hospital and it was not their policy.

Only after I had called 911 did they make any effort and called the emergency response team. But to my devastation this team abandoned my child, as well. The call went out overhead and a whole team arrived including an emergency response physician and the hospital administrator. They acknowledged she was in critical condition and left the room. The doctor and hospital administrator went and sat at the nurse's station. A surgeon was not called for an additional 2 hours. This is abandonment!

It was 9+ hrs after the enema before they finally called a surgeon. When the surgeon arrived she had to intubate my daughter in her hospital bed, as she was barely alive. My daughter was in respiratory failure, septic, and hemorrhagic shock as she entered surgery. Over those 9 hours all of her bowels died while they let her suffer in pain as I screamed for help. This was not just one bad apple, this was the entire staff The treating nurse, charge nurse, doctor on call, emergency response doctor and hospital administrator, etc.

It was like drowning in slow motion while the lifeguard is swimming just out of reach, with no intention of rescue! I am telling her story because if this sadistic hospital staff will do this to a 26 year old young woman they will do it to you, me or anyone else for that matter.

As a time perspective, my daughter had finished a full semester of school just 3 weeks earlier. And exactly one month later she would NOT be fighting cancer that night, but fighting to keep the hospital staff from killing her.

I still feel the debilitating emotional pain of a mother who couldn't hold and comfort her dying child because I was fighting with everything I had to get her help. It should be simple, right? But Why? Why didn't they help her? I am asked this question every day. It's so hard to believe because it's their job, it's a hospital, and that is something hard to comprehend.

We as patients, parents, family and friends enter a hospital in good faith that the staff is indeed in the business of saving lives. But as I can so horrifically attest, I watched my child die slowly and painfully by the intentional refusal of care. You are at their mercy and if they do not act, you will die and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

I will say this clearly, I tried for over 9 hours to get this hospital staff to call someone to save my child. I can still feel the coldness, the disdain and lack of caring, it was palpable. I still become nauseated as the flashes of my child's face, her fading voice, and her legs, mottled, purple and cold from the lack of circulation because the extreme abdominal pressure from her exploded intestines. My child was intentionally neglected by this hospital staff in the most torturous way possible. This hospital proclaims to be the City of Hope. Then why did they put my child in a "Hopeless" situation which was not survivable?

I will never understand the cruel intentions of this staff, but I will say the neglect and inhumane torture of my child was the greatest failure of the Hippocratic Oath I have ever seen.

I owe it to my beautiful, kind and caring child to tell her story. No mother should have to beg for the life of her child while sitting...

Sadly city of hope is the exact opposite of what they claim to be. My experience was that this institution only cares about research and will treat a patient like a lab rat. My father came here for treatment and at first I thought to myself “great my father is going to a specialized hospital that solely focuses on cancer and the well being of their patients. This was not the case. My father was just coming off chemo and they stated they would have to wait till his body was stronger as chemo does a number on a persons body. Well unfortunately my dad got cancer again and they blasted him with chemo again. However, this time they didn’t wait for him to recover. They immediately started another treatment that caused severe side affects. My father was not acting like my father. His mind was not right. The Dr ignored our concerns and said everything was normal. Everything was not Normal. My dad ended up having mental issues with an immune system that was non existent. The Dr still cleared him and sent him home. Less than 24 hours later my dad complained about headaches and quickly got terribly ill. We rushed him back to hospital. His mental state was gone. He was like a new born that couldn’t sleep. He had gotten meningitis. And it took them over a week to discover that. Once they realized what it was they gave up. They told me basically to give up on my father. Like any son would I knew what my father wanted so I demanded they explore all options. They ended up developing a plan that would eliminate the infection and clear the swelling from his brain. I thought this to be good news but it wasn’t. Immediately in the ICU the Dr was already saying how I should be planning for the worst. Like how is that the first thing you say to me when it was a four week plan and it was day 1. After weeks my dad showed improvement however he had a stroke. Again they call me in to discuss options. However , what it actually was, was an ambush. They led me to believe I’d be talking to neurological surgeon solely but no, it was 15 individuals in the room with the Dr who I believed caused this whole mess telling me to give up on my father and when I showed emotion and pain I was threatened with security. The Dr was trying to bully me and when I didn’t back down he thought he could threaten me. The issues didn’t stop their. I always had the feeling that they knew it was their fault. They did everything possible for me to either let my father go or to kick him out to another hospital. One Dr even said we aren’t even as good as a community hospital to take care of your father. Having my father leave that place was in fact the best thing that could have happen. He’s slowly been showing mental and physical progress in his new location. I’m glad I didn’t listen to those Dr who pushed to let my father go. I would like to thank all the ICU nurses and respiratory therapist for showing my father compassion, respect and dignity. I would also like to thank two Dr that I knew truly tried to do everything for my father and advocate for him as best they can but unfortunately a hospital is still a business and their hand were tied. No matter if they are a “non profit” your still a company that charges patients for...

I live in Georgia and was unlucky enough to be diagnosed with a very rare undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma in my left thigh. I was misdiagnosed several times, wasting months of valuable time. Eventually I had radical resection surgery followed by radiation, but I suffered serious post-surgical issues and severe radiation burns. Worst of all, through all of this, no one ever really sat me down and explained what my cancer was, what was happening inside my body and what I could expect going forward. I was left to do online research which can be pretty frightening. However, during that research I found City of Hope in California, and there I found Dr. William Tseng. To my delight I also discovered that my volunteer mentor was also from City of Hope and Dr. Tseng was her oncologist. From the moment I called to seek an appointment I knew I was in the right hands. Short after I had flown to California and met with Dr. Tseng. During that consultation Dr. Tseng patiently listened to me and addressed all my deep concerns, and my questions were answered. It was as though a huge weight had been lifted from me. He had taken the time to review my entire history, scans, my surgery and treatment and put me completely at ease. I was desperate for answers, so high were my hopes for this consultation with Dr. Tseng that I was in tears before the meeting because I was so afraid that like other doctors say some words and push me out. This doctor is one to the leaders in this very specialized area of oncology, yet he took over an hour with me to explain everything to me. He is a real asset to City of Hope, and I couldn't be happier that he is now managing my condition. If any further intervention is required, I am comforted to know that Dr. Tseng will be there for me. Cancer is terrifying, not knowing what's really happening is worse! Thank...