Stanford Medicine — Local services in Palo Alto

Dr. Amanatula (orthopedics) gave me injections without consulting with or allowing me to participate in my care, did not know for 4 months He appears to have a God complex and does not believe non-doctors can understand. However, I attended the University of Michigan, and can understand everything coming out of his mouth with the caveat that for some medical terms or medications with Latin names I might need a short definition. Also, Dr. Amanatula would make some snide remarks & make false interpretations of the documentation in my medical file by the Veterans Administration; some of which are false and fraudulent statements for the attribution of responsibility for the use of pain medication. 22 years ago there was widespread use of high levels of narcotics in the VA, it still exists, but to a lesser extent today. The VA did not and does not want to spend adequate resources for service connected injuries, so they silence and in some cases, murder veterans through the use of opioids. To avoid criminal prosecution and expensive civil litigation and settlements, VA doctors use false and fraudulent documentation of official medical records to justify their use of opioids to silence veterans. Dr. Amanatula has bought into a variation of this sick and pathetic practice. Amanatula, several times suggested that instead of surgery he could inject me with steroids so that I would not need surgery; that I did not need to worry because I would not harm my leg bones (I do not have any cartilage in either knee for almost 8 years). He said he'd just give me an injection every few months. A large piece of bone broke off the side of my knee, causing tremendous pain, sensitive to touch, resulting in a height differential between legs and the loss of an inch-and-a-half off my overall height. Additionally, I drag that leg behind me to go up and down steps and now walk bowlegged. I now have been developing grooves in the bones of my legs, causing the bones to get stuck and lock in place when I stand for more than a minute. I have to physically manipulate my leg bones to move them out of these grooves. It is extremely painful to do this. I don't want to lose any more height, I do not want any more bones breaking off. I want to walk normal. AMANATULA lied to me or he does not understand basic anatomy and bone density. Amanatula intentionally sent my appointment authorizations to the wrong address to prevent payment authorization by Tri-Care West. When I arrived I had to wait several hours before he would see me due to "no authorization", hoping to prevent me from being seen. The 3d time Amanatula had 3 months to send and process the correct forms for my surgery and pre-op clearances, but when it came time for pre-op appointments Dr. Amanatula claimed to have sent them to the wrong address, again. I guess God does not have the intelligence to learn from his mistakes. My appointments had to be cancelled, as did the surgery, because I could not trust a doctor who lies and tries to harm me. Amanatula made snide remarks about my service dog, claimed not to know that an orthopedic surgeon had documented my need for reconstructive surgery (both shoulders), or that my cervical spine needed to be restructured by a neurosurgeon. He also was unaware of osteoporosis in the hips or lumbar spine or a curvature of the spine that I believe was caused by my knees needing surgery for 8 years. His remarks suggested that a 3 month injection of steroids in the knees completely obviated my need for service dog or surgery. Amanatula gave me a placebo injection in my knees to test my pain level and further delayed my surgery another 4 months. It took a year for Amanatula to get me to surgery, other surgeons reached that conclusion within 3 months. He wasted my time, caused harm and further injury to me. He furthered the VA fraud & false documentation. I was scheduled for surgery on June 26, 2017, surgery I had been waiting more than 8 years to receive. I do not trust Stanford. More - no...

So... the nursing staff, ancillary staff, written communications, contacts with my significant other, food, comfort, transport, etc. are all GREAT! Kudos to Kasey, Kenny, Mary, Diana, Rebecca and so many others And, special kudos to Dr. Steven Chang for his skill.

BUT-- absolutely no kudos to the algorithmic medical care, pain control (could be more flexible), absolute inability to get orders changed when needed, and failure of Dr. Chang and his massive Resident staff to perform any exams or other physical evaluations prior to my discharge.

More info: I am a working surgeon. I know hospitals and medical systems, including Sutter, Kaiser, Dignity and UC-Davis. Stanford is not worse than the others, but I was surprised at the algorithmic medical care that did not work to prevent a problem, but let things slide until they had to TREAT a (not major) problem.

But, more. Dr. Chang did not in any way meet me the day of surgery (I did have generous access to him during my pre-op eval in his offoce 3 days prior to surgery), either in the pre-op area or the OR (my anesthesiologist definitely did, and took his time and was explanatory). Dr. Chang never saw me after surgery, or prior to my discharge the next afternoon. A 4-person cadre of Neurosurgery Residents whisked in & out at ~ 7 am day after surgery, not examining me. One of the Residents was called to change a pain med order so that I would not need to take a narcotic. After 2 1/2 hours no contact was made, and my pain increased so that I did need a narcotic, which by then did not help much, as it is much easier to PREVENT pain than get it under control once it attacks... I did not report the increased pain, a I knew that they would keep me there who knows how much longer, and I wanted to get out of there ASAP so that I would be able to personally tend to my medications, getting what needed and when.

Re: Discharge: I was told that I could not see an MD neurosurgeon prior to discharge. OK, a good experienced Nurse Practitioner could discuarge me. After 2 hours past my proposed discharge time, no one came. Finally, it was my ward NURSE (Diana- intelligent & kind) that discharged me, but with no meaningful exam and only a (very clear and specific) hard copy summary, which she fully explained to me. ?Above her "pay grade?" While Diana is a Certified Neurosurgical RN, I do not feel she is prepped to be the sole dischargeing source. This was the responsibility of the phantom NP "Sara," who never materialized. Unfortunately, there was confusion about my corticosteroid dosing; the printout said one thing but she handwrote different doses. There also was confusion re: whether and when could wash mt sticky nad somewhat bloodied hair after I returned home. My occupational therapy consultant, Rebecca, was beyong amazing being quite very clear re: what I should & should not do, & how to do it. The Best! But no contact at all from the surgical team. Yes, Dr. Chang was fantastic with a 45 second notivication call to my significant other after surgery. But..what about me..? IIn my opinion as a 50-year experienced medical professional, for a surgon to have absolutely no contact with his/her patient just before or after surgery, and to OK his discharge without any evaluation by medical staff does not meet the "sniff test" for both careful and appropriate care. Well.. l'm an old-fasined surgeon. I communicate with my patients. But I guess "new medicine" is alive & well at Stanford, Dignity, Sutter, etc. The surgeon operates, and never sees the patient again until the post-op visit, when it is usually his NP or PA that dos the visit. In my opinion, NOT THE BEST MEDICINE. But apparantly, it's what we're...

Due to the building distress, I had to leave the ER while my vital organs are failing. My life and gealth was less important than the breed and other irrelevant personal info abt my service dog!! The staff and medical professionals are unproffesional and unaware of the important role real service dogs!!! They don't care about my ADA rights and basically address my service dog before me. Every single visit to this darn hospital. They insist on personal info abt my service dog, just for their own personal interest. Several Drs have refused to continue my care until I satisfied their ongoing inappropriate breach of my privacy pertaining my service dog's info (always unrelated to my disabilities or the service animal's trained tasks). The arrogance and retaliation of the staff and Drs when, i decline to answer their personal questions, that incriminate me and put my service dog in a harder position of making it harder to work. Its disgusting and this harassment has denied me access to much needed adequate care. They clearly aren't used to accept/respect my boundary or just no. Several nurses, Valet parking staff, abd Drs have used co-workers and other patients to create a public spectacle abt my invisible disabilities and to reinforce answers that are irrelevant to my physical health issues. Listen, there are a lot if fake service dogs at your premises due to the patient's privileged backgrounds. but there are real service dog handlers like myself whom really need you to set an example to the public and co-workers of how to respect the handlers and ignore their Service Dog. Any distraction and invasive personal questions are a breach of privacy and its an abuse of power. In my last ER visit, my service dog insisted on me leaving after the 4th professional focused on the dog as if its a pet, and it didn't want to put me in a situation that could give that staff a reason to deny me access to the entire hospital, as staff truly are rather using the ongoing questions abt the dog as a way to escalate me. The public spectacle and humiliation is harmful and you should be held accountable! To the patient's with fake service dogs, it impacts real service dog owners far beyond this hospital. Your personal opinion isn't overriding Disabled ppl's ADA rights!!

"Some disabled Service Dog handlers don’t like to chat about their Service Dogs. Most like to go about their day, just like you! Also, never ask personal questions about the handler’s disability or intrude on their privacy. Keep these simple Service Dog etiquette tips in mind, and you’ll have a far smoother experience when you see a Service Dog in public.

Smile and be polite to the Service Dog’s handler, but most of all:

Do not pet the Service Dog

Do not distract the Service Dog in any way

Please ignore the Service Dog entirely. You’re not being rude if you don’t acknowledge the Service Dog’s presence." From...