California Pacific Medical Center

My grand uncle passed away here. He was a great spiritual healer and I am a healer as well. The energy in this hospital is so overwhelmingly negative that I felt like a demon was trapped inside of me after 5 hours of spending time here. I strongly suggest a spiritual cleansing throughout this whole hospital and offering spiritual care services. The results could be day and night. I give three stars because the nurses were wonderful. Minus two stars for giving me my first demonic possession.

Wow, did she tank. A doc who makes someone already ill much, much sicker … due to her refusal to renew my Prednisone Rx unless i was brought to her office when i couldn’t even leave my house. Then i learned you simply do not stop Prednisone cold – common medical knowledge. No response, no help, no renewal to tide me over — nothing. Shocked — was I being blackmailed into seeing her? What the hell is *wrong* with this woman?

I left the office crying because I was so dissatisfied with my experience.
Dr. Morehead was completely cold and unfriendly. She walked into the exam room and didn’t even have a clipboard in her hand, she didn’t even know what I was there for.
I am 21 and I have carpal tunnel in my wrist and hand and I felt like she was not taking the appointment very seriously at all, considering my age. She asked me maybe a handful of questions about my lifestyle, watched me move my wrist once, and then decided that I have tendinitis, even though I have every symptom under the sun for carpal tunnel. (She wouldn’t know that though because she didn’t ask me any questions about the pain or symptoms).
She wrote me a prescription for an anti-​inflammatory, and spelled my name wrong on the piece of paper.
Completely unhelpful and such a waste of time and money.
As soon as I left the office I got on the phone with my general practitioner to make an appointment with another doctor.

Had to be seen in the ER. found the Drs. Lisa Chug, Jack Rose and DrHu. to be top notch, but once I was admitted the floor care left much to be desired. Had to ask repeatedly for water! I was being evaluated for a stroke so I assumed someone would occasionally pop in. Even when I used the call button I had to call three times to get an assistant to come and find out what I needed. Food is beyond description. If you need to lose weight… this is the place for you. Drs great. Staff, not so much…

Update! I had my transplant and this group of surgeons were fantastic.
With that said, there is advice that I would give to future patients that have their own live donor. There’s a lot of hand tying that goes on when they screen your live donor, when it comes to giving you updates and communicating status. It is good to contact your live donor rather than the coordinator for information but at the same time, it is good to check in with your coordinator to make sure that the process is moving along. It made sense after everything was over and done with but it was kind of stressful while I was in the middle of it because I felt like I was trying to navigate a process in the dark.
I can’t say enough good things about the surgeons that I met. They were exactly who I wanted working on me. Their knowledge was so advanced that they were on the bleeding edge (no pun intended) of medical technology. They personalized my care, they wanted to collaborate with other facilities for things like donating my diseased kidneys to research, clinical trials, updating my other doctors that were not a part of their organization, etc. They are really in it for the patient and increasing quality of life. Even making the world a better place to live in. If I didn’t have a big incision in the way, I would have wanted to hug each and every one of them. I’m really happy with my outcome.
So the one thing I learned along the way… Each transplant center in the bay area specializes in specific things and are conducting research in specific and very different areas when it comes to organ transplants. When shopping for one, figure out the details of your case and find the center that best matches your specific needs. Cal Pacific was my perfect match but places that I didn’t match, made me feel like I was out of place by asking for what I needed. So if you experience this, don’t give up. Keep looking until you find your fit. Again, I liked that CPMC made me feel like I fit, even if I was an unusual case. They put the word care back into health care. :)
Update: I moved my post transplant care, out of frustration, after the post transplant nephrologists demonstrated a lack of knowledge, compassion or appropriate action to help with my post surgical recovery. It was as good as it gets until I got to this point in the process.

I’ve been seen in several departments at this hospital and everyone I’ve seen has been very professional, knowledgeable, competent, on time and helpful. I have four specialists and I’ve been to emergency once. I had a billing issue (who doesn’t) but that got worked out. I don’t think it’s fair to rate the entire hospital based on one doctor like a lot of other people on Unilocal have.

Avoid Dr. Moorehead.
Rude, terrible bedside manner. Out of touch with patients needs (ie, medicine is the ONLY therapy). Office staff are friendly but never seem to call back in a timely manner.
If you have Lupus – avoid.

Wow — I don’t know where to start. Besides EPIC FAIL.
Dr. Choi used to be my primary care physician. She was nice and all, if I ever got to see her (once). Getting appointments were a nightmare and I always ended up seeing the office nurse. I once had a full check-​up. I called three times in a course of two months to get the test results. NO ONE ever called me back. I ended up hearing some of it from the nurse when I randomly came in because I was sick. Didn’t happen to mention that I was Hypothyroid. Glad I figured it out elsewhere… Not cool you guys, not cool.

Saw Dr. Morehead. I felt like I cared more about her as a person than she cared about me. I had a neck/​back issue as well as other issues, and she didn’t do range of motion reviews, ask any questions, she just wrote a script and sent me on my way. I’ll be looking for another place in 2010, I don’t even know why I went back… it reminds me of the joke, «you know what the call the person who finishes last in medical school? Doctor.»

I’m glad I’m not the only who feels this office needs improvement. This rating is for the staff who works at Dr. Kerstin Morehead’s office. They are incompetent and rude. They filed my insurance claim with an incorrect name even though I clearly printed my name on the forms. I think it speaks clearly of management and doctors to allow these people to continue as they do. A competent office staff is just as important as a good doctor. This group is frightening. I will not be returning.

I would have to say that most of these ratings are a little inaccurate.
Doctor Morehead probably deserves about 3 stars. It’s the staff that should be rated with no stars at all. The staff at the reception desk really was unpleasant and rude. I was pretty surprised. What’s amazing is that the group management has not done anything about it. It says something about the partners there. The fact that they allow their staff to treat patients as they do is really too bad. It’s even more unfortunate that these ratings will probably make no difference as they have as many patients as they can handle.
On the other hand Dr Morehead was not too bad. I made a request for a simple perscription. I was told I needed to come in for an appt. b/​c rules required the Dr. to see me in person since I hadn’t been in for a while. Fair enough. They had me wait in the lobby for 20 min and in the office for about 45 min. When Dr. Morehead entered, she actually had no idea I was waiting and apologized. More points for the staff. She quickly gave me the perscription and rushed me out of the office with no interest in my general health when I asked. GPs are probably underpaid compared to most MD counterparts and probably need to get as many office visits in as possible, but at least she should have shown some interest. Perhaps more of a reflection on our health system than the Dr herself.

Whoa! Generally, I love doctors… they want to save the world… or at least try to. But GEESH, we went in, this rude lil stubby lady said they lost our appointment… how does that happen? we have our appointment slip! so they put us at the end of the line. 2 hours later in the waiting room, they finally called us in. half an hour waiting for dr #1, he didn’t know what he was looking at so called in dr #2. Dr #2 moved us to another room because they have bad equipment. We waited again. I look in the new room’s equipment and the stickers for a recalibration of the equipment date was expired. Dr #2 wanted another opinion, so he called in Dr#3 &4. 3 students later, the real doctor comes in. One of the dr’s talked to us like we were retarded. We speak another language, asshole, we’re not challenged. They have no bedside manners, whatsoever. When we checked out 4 hours later, the new receptionist bitched at us because they had no more room and was overbooked. Is that our fault? NO rude lady #2!

I have had one appointment here, and that was with Dr. Kerstin Morehead. My appointment with Dr. Morehead was completely satisfactory as far as our interaction went. She was professional and helpful and I would go back to her again.
What I did not like was having a male doctor come into the exam room to look for supplies while I was undressed. He did knock on the door and I said to come in, as I assumed it was my doctor coming into the room. It was not. He left, and then came back while I was talking to Dr. Morehead, and stayed in the room looking for whatever he needed while she talked about my diagnosis.
You would think there would be a way to mark the doors to say «there’s a patient in here» so whoever needs supplies could arrange their visits accordingly. I’m sure doctor to doctor this was no big deal, but as a patient, it made me uncomfortable.

One Star for this place is the best compliment I’ve ever given.
The staff is incompetent, rude and down right AWFUL. After not getting a call-​back from my doctor who I left a message for 6 hrs earlier (because of a severe and painful reaction to my medication), I called back, simply to see if I should make another appointment as I was in so much pain and the prescription wasn’t working. I was told by the receptionist that I need to learn «a thing or two about patience,» and that my doctor «has other patients who are important too, and she doesn’t have time to be on the phone all day.» Unreal. I again, calmly and politely explained that I am looking for guidance on what to do about my prescription mix-​up, and asked if I should expect to hear back from the doc the same day — her response was if I don’t hear back, I have to «do what everyone else does «and call again the next day and leave another message.
Additionally, I’ve been kept waiting in the exam room for 45 minutes TWICE due to the staff losing my chart (at least that was their excuse).

STAY AWAY!!!
I highly recommend that anyone considering Califonia Pacific Medical Center as a new patient think twice. I have been a patient since 2002. My doctor was recommended by my doctor in Minnesota. I have been through three primary care doctors during the six years that I have been a patient, and over the last year (in spite of no change in my billing information or address), they have sent every one of my bills to a collections agent. Their excuse… we outsource billing. Luckily I quickly responded to every notice I received, but for those who don’t want to have to deal with collection agents after going to the doctor… stay away from CPMC. I’ve not only moved on, my legal counsel is recommending a lawsuit.

this is a false rating as i haven’t gone to my appointment yet. i called this morning as a new patient to book a rather urgent same-​day appointment. i was on hold for about 30 minutes (thank gaw for speakerphone) with several interruptions of «have you been helped yet?» «no» «ok, please hold» «*#)@#*(!@)»
in the end, i was not able to book time today with the 2 docs at the facility currently accepting new patients (dr. choi and dr. diamond) but was able to schedule an appointment with debra sohr, a nurse practitioner. my previous experiences with nurse practitioners have been TERRIBLE… but i’m hoping she turns out to be different. i pray and hope. i hope hope.
will edit after my appointment today. *CROSSING MY FINGERS*
EDIT: hm… i am not sure. my earlobe is incredibly puffy and infected and down to the 3^rd layer of skin due to my unableness to hold back the picking and scratching… and the nurse’s diagnosis?
to simply leave it alone.
what? no strong creams? nothing? nada that will help alleviate the pain and throbbing? you can’t offer anything that will speed up the healing process? sorry… don’t believe you.
so i had to drop my rating to a 2. hopefully my ear DOES heal up on its own and doesn’t get worse. in which case, i’ll up my rating to a 2.5.
can’t praise a person who i’m not confident knows what she’s doing.