San Gabriel Valley Medical Center — Local services in San Gabriel

I don't give the 1 star lightly. I feel forever grateful to the healthcare workers who have helped us and cannot begin to express my gratitude towards them. With that said, SGVMC was the absolute worst. When I drive by and see "Heroes Work Here" I cringe and think "do they? do they really?"

It's normal to worry about a loved one whose been hospitalized, but to have to worry about the quality of health care is, in my opinion, absurd.

The amount of angst and horror this Hospital has caused my family is simply put, the worst. It was so bad that my entire family (including extended family) have switched insurances to ensure they can go to NOT this hospital. (Medicare + supplemental will ensure you can go to another facility).

Spoke to a lawyer about legal action and it looks like the best option for accountability is reporting them (vs legal action) so that's what we've done.

Nurses (They don't care) My loved one needed help sitting up to eat and asked the nurse to raise the side bar so she could utilize them as leverage to get up. The nurse said "this is not my job" and left. When my loved one complained the nurse yelled at her. I was one the phone and heard it all, I was mortified. We escalated and got an apology but only AFTER I spoke to the nurse in charge.

Surgeons (They fall short). Dr. Schlaerth operated on my loved one but shouldn't have.

Background: Our case is complicated and is by no means textbook, which was obvious based on initial images. Meaning, any doctor/surgeon should have put in extra care into decision making.

Straight Up Negligence Dr. Schlaerth operated on my loved one with the intention of doing a full hysterectomy. Once inside he saw that there was no need and closed her up without performing a hysterotomy - we were inaccurately diagnosed. They were transferred to another hospital where the misdiagnoses was confirmed and surgery was delayed since they had JUST had major surgery with Dr. Schlaerth. When I asked the new surgeon if they would have operated given the images they received from Dr. Schlaerth they said "no, because it doesn't look like it's the uterus."

Lack of Kindness I could not visit my loved one due to Covid restrictions and was told by the nurse Dr. Schlaerth would call before surgery to provide an update -no call. I was then told Dr. Schlaerth was busy and would call post surgery to provide an update - no call. I googled his office and called his office but was not able to reach him. It wasn't until I utilized my network to find a mutual connection before I got a call/update, and this was 3 business days after the surgery.

General Thoughts I don't doubt Dr. Schlaerth is able to do hysterectomies successfully and without a glitch. But his negligence in actually diagnosing, in critical thinking, in gathering the right people to the table to identify the issue, or even identifying when he can't help, and when he has to send the patient to a bigger teaching hospital -- he falls short. When it really matters, he falls short.

Stealing (They Steal) I bought cookies to be delivered to my loved one's room so they could hand it out to nurses/staff who have been kind/helpful. To be honest, there was a fear that my loved on wasn't being properly taken care of so we were hoping the cookies would be somewhat of a bribery so nurses would come in to check in on our loved one. I put the cookies in a bag, with a gigantic note over the cookies (covering the entire opening of the bag) indicating this bag should be delivered directly to room xx. ( I had to drop off in the lobby due to covid). In the 5 mins from drop off to room delivery 3 boxes went missing. This means someone had to read the note that was taped over the boxes, ignore the note, and steal them. This happened multiple times since I did multiple drop offs during our...

I am writing this complaint to alert the public to the unethical medical practices of Dr. Tarek Nassif.

My father was admitted into the San Gabriel Valley Medical Center on Tuesday, July 18, 2023 after being lost for four days. In admitting him to the hospital, we wanted to make sure he was in good physical health and to be given a psychological evaluation by a trained medical professional. To an untrained person, it is obvious that my dad has mental health issues. Our family has pursued diagnosis through a primary care doctor but given the rules of insurance it will be months until we are able to get him evaluated. We were hoping for the hospital to provide a preliminary diagnosis or provide us with resources that will help us give my father the medical care he needs. When my father was transferred to the care of Dr. Nassif, he immediately denied my father having any mental issues and attributed this to his infection which can cause confusion to the patient. Although a valid point to some, Dr. Nassif did this without even having spoken to my father at all. How can you deny any mental and behavioral issues without speaking to the patient or even doing a physical exam? We disclosed our concerns with both the attending nurse and the social worker we assigned. We also raised our concerns with other staff at the hospital. We quickly learned that this doctor is known for being stubborn. Stubborn? I would say he is unethical and incompetent in providing adequate care to his patients. Everyone in his staff is afraid of speaking up because they need to continue working with this unethical doctor. We pursued the route of changing my dad’s doctor. We formally requested a doctor change. We waited over 24 hours to hear back from Dr. Nassif. The process in the hospital requires that the doctor and the patient/ patient’s family sit down to discuss the issue. For logistical reasons, only one of my family members was able to be present. Dr. Nassif did tell him that my father did in fact receive a psychological evaluation. He also said that in the discharge papers he would make note that my father was suffering from dementia. Since my family member was assured by Dr. Nassif, he did not see the reason to pursue a doctor change. At discharge, we soon found out that Dr. Nassif in fact LIED to my family about my doctor receiving a psychological evaluation. There was a consultant that came into the room and spoke to my sister and I. The consult never even spoke to my father. Dr. Nassif then used this fact to twist the truth and LIE to my family. Upon discharge, no mention was ever made about my dad’s mental condition. The only diagnosis received were rhabdomyolysis, and hypertension. No mention whatsoever about the dementia. Even though the doctor assured that this would be written on his report. Dr. Nassif is a liar and an unethical doctor and I am feel very sorry for the future patients in his care. This is such a heartbreaking experience, but we will get my father the help he needs. Unfortunately, it will take months to do this. We could have received help from the hospital to keep my father safe and unharmed. However, all that Dr. Nassif did was create an unnecessary roadblock to my providing my father with adequate medical...

My bf went in feeling faint which is very unusual for him. He end up having a seizure in the lobby and complained of chest pain. Said it felt as if his heart was hurting, as well as his temple. They never referred to him having a seizure only as him fainting. They didn't give him an ekg or an eeg and said they didn't want to give him a cat scan and expose him to unnecessary radiation, as they thought he was too young to be having a stroke. I even asked later on if they'd run a test on brain activity and they said no. In the lobby it's just the security with you and everyone else is behind closed doors.

After the security knocked on the door and told them he had a seizure, when we went in the back the nurses were joking about "no more security diagnoses". Which at first I paid no attention to and didn't realize was said towards our situation. My bf with his eyes open was spasming with his whole body his left arm curled up to his chest and kind of snapped out of it when I ran to lean him back off of my son, yet they never asked exactly what happened or how he was twitching or to describe his movements.

They released him for dehydration but upon coming home we realized he had a huge red spot on his back, which was never checked. ( Now he did complained of his side hurting but didn't specify it was the back). We don't know if it's a bruise, rash or what. Granted we were in there for only about 4 hrs, which I thought we'd be there for days at least. Its been a total of 24 hrs and my bf does feel way better than before but his dizziness is coming back, and his heart is still hurting. It never went away. We are definitely going to see his Dr today if not go to another hospital for care if he gets worse.

Now the Dr and nurses did seem nice. They werent rude. They did have him go to the back and immediately hook him up to check his vitals but i think they could have ran more test on him. Maybe perhaps physically escort him to the back and not have him walk alone in case he fainted or had another seizure. I thought anytime you have a seizure or complain of heart/chest pain certain test are just automatic. I think if we ever have another emergency we will try our efforts to go to a different hospital no matter the extra mileage.

Just think it's kind of rude to joke about "no more security diagnoses" when the security and the other patients were the only witnesses of what actually happened. Not to mention since it's an emergency room maybe you should atleast have your blinds open to see what emergencies your patients...