Matthew 25:40, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
By David J. Stewart (originally article written in January 2010 after my surgery)
I Was Woefully Abused At CEDARS-SINAI Hospital in Los Angeles
I traveled from Guam to California in June of 2009 for Anterior Cervical Discectomy And Fusion (ACDF) neck surgery. I was repeatedly abused and mistreated at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles in 2009. I underwent Cervical Discectomy And Fusion surgery at C5-C6-C7. The hospital abandoned me after surgery. They stuck me in a taxi-cab, after the Guam liaison nurse (Donna Bias) informed me that doing so was against hospital policy. She picked me up and drove me to the hospital to get my surgery, but then cruelly abandoned me after surgery, which resulted in me ending up back in the hospital (because the cab driver gunned the gas pedal to zoom into traffic and my head lunged back). Because of Miss Bias I suffered horribly that night, crying in pain at the hotel in West Hollywood. I couldn't get a hold of anybody at the hospital, except answering machines. Finally reached Donna Bias and she told me to go to the Emergency Room (ER), which I did. I needed treatment for unbearable neck pain.
The horrible staff and doctors at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California, are ungodly people, who have no fear of God. I was abused, mistreated, abandoned and throw out on the street in 2009 while still bleeding, with stabbing pain in my chest, and in no condition to leave. I hadn't even been out of surgery for 48 hours! No one at Cedars-Sinai cared. I was mistreated like I was garbage. Donna Bias didn't care! Dr. Rebecca Rosemann didn't care! Dr. Mark Davidson didn't care! Dr. Neel Anand didn't care! Shannon in the Emergency Room didn't care, and she was abusive! They were ungodly heathens! I have prayed often for God to punish them and hold them fully accountable for their evil wickedness (Matthew 12:36; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans 14:10-12), in that they horribly mistreated me and didn't care, abandoning me after neck surgery, causing great pain, grief and suffering for me bodily, mentally and spiritually in June of 2009. What a bunch of incompetent cowards and horrible jerks! DON'T GET SURGERY AT CEDARS-SINAI!!!
It was just after sunset. When I arrived by taxi-cab at the Cedars-Sinai ER, they wouldn't treat my pain unless I signed financial forms, obligating me to pay them. If you've ever dealt with hospitals, you know how they can be thugs when it comes to billing and collection. Donna Bias had told me 30 minutes earlier to let them know at the ER to CALL HER right away (because worker's compensation was entirely responsible for the bills). The ER refused to call her. They were thugs! The medical staff were a group of Caucasian yuppie brats, behaving shamefully and without respect for others. Some punk male nurse stuck his chest in my face, contending that you wouldn't mail a letter without a stamp on it. About 5-6 medical staff were present, sitting on the butts behind the ER counter. Shannon was the head nurse in charge. It hadn't even been 48 hours since my neck surgery. I still had my IV tape on my wrist from surgery. I was still wearing my hospital identification band. I was wearing my neck brace (surgical collar). While the male punk nurse was arguing at me, his co-workers joined in, berating me and telling me why they wouldn't treat my pain unless I signed the financial forms. They kept calling it a “consent” form, but I read it, and it was also a financial form. Monsters!
I called my pre-operation doctor, Dr. Davidson, and he said the ER staff were breaking the law by not treating me. I handed the phone to nurse Shannon, but she became visibly angry and refused to talk to Dr. Mark Davidson. Then in anger she yelled at me, agitated and emotionally worked up. I finally just walked out the door. This ordeal had lasted for about 20 minutes. Cedar-Sinai's punk staff abused me verbally and refused to treat my pain after surgery (at their hospital). One of the voluntary workers (who are the ONLY people at Cedars-Sinai who actually cared) came up while I was leaving, looking like she was ready to cry, asking what was wrong, and I told her how I had been abused and denied medical treatment. The volunteers aren't medical staff and have no authority to correct any problems. Cedars-Sinai has 10,000 people on staff. Unfortunately, I met many of the negligent ones!
After my surgery, I was still bleeding (where they removed the catheter from my private area). I told doctor Davidson that I wasn't ready to leave, but he didn't care. The nurses didn't care. I still had a stabbing pain in my chest, in the sternum area. They gave me some medication for that, but I again told them I wasn't ready to be discharged. It has only been 24 hours since my discectomy an fusion surgery, but they couldn't have cared less about my request to remain in the hospital for another day or two until the chest pain, bleeding and dizziness went away. I told one of my male nurses that I felt dizzy. He asked me twice if I could walk, dismissing my complaint that I was dizzy. He couldn't have cared less.
Here's The Ugly Truth About Cedars-Sinai
Before my surgery, nurse Donna Bias had boasted of the hospital's lowest hospital stay after surgery. What that unfortunately means is that they have every incentive to throw you out of their hospital after surgery, whether you are ready to be discharged or not. I am fully convinced that if I had been a Hollywood actor (like George Clooney) or a wealthy Jewish person, they never would have put me out in the street (literally putting me into a taxicab the day after major neck surgery). Monsters! God will avenge me of their evil on Judgment Day (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:39; Romans 14:10-12; James 4:12). God will make them care! I filed a big complaint with the California Medical Board against Cedars-Sinai in 2010, against several of their incompetent doctors and staff, but after three months of sitting on their asses they did absolutely nothing! The Medical Board of the state of California literally sent me a letter after 90-days asking me if I still really wanted to file a complaint. I was frustrated and felt helpless. I've been violated by Cedars Sinai Medical Center and there is nothing that I can do! CALIFORNIA IS VERY CORRUPT!!! If you don't believe me, search online about police abuse in California, and state corruption, and financial scams. Cedar-Sinai is no better in my opinion!
If there's one area of your business where you ought to have a friendly, understanding, and cool temperament person, it's in your Customer Service or Quality Improvement Department. I flew 6,000 miles from Guam to Cedars-Sinai, just to be mistreated. As mentioned, I underwent neck surgery in 2009 at CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER in Los Angeles, California. They abandoned, abused and mistreated me as a patient while I was there. I wrote a 14-page complaint letter to both their administrative department and Quality Improvement Office. They couldn't have cared less. Their complaint department attempted to send me a form apology letter. I told them that I can buy them too, by the box full. Form apology letters don't mean crap! I kindly requested a personal apology from an actual person, particularly the ER night manager, but Cedars-Sinai refused. No one cared! No one was in charge that gave a damn! The woman on the phone was mean in Customer Service was uncaring, defensive and belligerent.
I specifically requested to speak with a manager because of the severity of the issues involved—like mistakenly switching my surgical paperwork with another patient before surgery, and their security guard rifling through my personal wallet like it was his own without my permission (I felt like I was being raped), and abandoning me after surgery. After the cab driver gunned the gas pedal, I was in horrible pain. As I mentioned, I went to the ER that night on Thursday, but they refused to help me over a financial form. They didn't give a damn who Donna Bias was, even though she worked for the hospital as one of their nurses, (she convinced me to trust them by coming from Guam to Cedars in the first place to get my neck surgery). She totally abandoned me after surgery! I certainly would never recommended that anyone on Guam get surgery done at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.
On Friday, the next day, the hospital (Cedars-Sinai) had to x-ray my neck to see if my head lunging backward in the taxicab loosened any of the surgical hardware (I have a titanium plate and 6 surgical screws in my neck). I was readmitted into Cedars-Sinai on Friday. On Saturday my neck pain was excruciating and unbearable. I pleaded for more pain medication, but the doctor was GONE FOR THE WEEKEND. They refused to treat my pain. They couldn't reach the doctor. No one cared! No one gave a damn! I told the volunteer workers (all they do is sing to patients to make them feel better), but the two female singers said they had no power to do anything. What irony, the hospital provides singers while abandoning you to suffer in unbearable pain. I wouldn't send my dog to Cedars-Sinai!!! I got up to leave the hospital, but the nurse threatened me that she would call security, and I would have to sign a disclaimer that protected the hospital from any liability. Monsters! I suffered in pain for 2-days in the hospital after my surgery with no doctor to treat my pain. It was horribly unbelievable! Cedars-Sinai Hospital dropped the ball repeatedly. What a crappy hospital! Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Again, I had requested a verbal, person-to-person, apology from one of their administrators, and not just some generic template letter that said, “too bad, so sad, blah, blah, blah.” Dr. Neel Anand did my surgery, and Dr. Mark Davidson did my pre-op, and Dr. Rebecca Rosemann did my post-op. None of them cared enough to look into any of these issues. They didn't care at all!
When I hadn't heard from any manager from Cedars-Sinai for a month, I called and spoke with Julie in their Quality Improvement Department (what a waste of time). She didn't listen to what I had to say, cutting the conversation short, because she said she needed to get information from the employees. She never called me back. Monsters!
It's just no way to treat a patient. I flew 6,000 miles to get surgery and they treated me badly. As a concerned consumer, I strongly believe in word-of-mouth. Nothing frustrates me more than big businesses today who treat the little guy like garbage. That's what's wrong with America today. My experience is that if a business will mistreat one person, they'll mistreat others. I want to warn people about what I went through. They tried to send me some generic template apology letter, which I refused. I told them not to send me such a letter, because it was an insult. The issues involved were too serious and they had never given me an adequate say. From day one I requested to talk with a human being, a manager, about the issues that happened; but they didn't care.
Two-months latter Julie calls me to ask if I got the letter. I told her that I had asked to speak with a manager. She became belligerent and said that she was going to close my complaint case. I said, "and you're not going to apologize?" She said, "Why should I, you refused the letter." I explained that I had repeatedly requested to discuss the issues with a manager (which she is not). She refused to apologize. After all the grief they caused me, she wouldn't even apologize (and she works in their Quality Improvement Department). That's pretty bad. They are so arrogant at Cedars-Sinai Hospital that not one person had the decency, nor maturity, to call me and apologize like an adult. They acted like a bunch of brats. They'd rather send some generic template letter, than deal with the patient directly. That's not good business.
And moreover, they refused to allow me to speak with a manager about all the issues. I laid there in their hospital suffering in agonizing pain for 2-days without proper pain medication, because their doctor vanished for the weekend. That's patient abandonment. Is it too much to ask to speak with the manager over that department, or the hospital manager, and to expect a personal apology? I guess so.
If Julie had just been an adult, and apologized, and took some time to hear my side of the story further, I would have been satisfied. But instead, she chose to antagonize me, refusing to apologize over the phone, saying she'd closed the case, even though I was not satisfied with the hospital's inadequate response to my complaints. She couldn't have cared less.
You know, one person can really hurt your business, let along several bad employees!
I WAS HORRIBLY ABUSED BY HOSPITAL SECURITY AT CEDARS-SINAI
I was being prepped for surgery. I had called Dr. Rebecca Rosemann and asked if what to do with my wallet, whether I needed an ID, et cetera. She said to bring my wallet and ID and that the hospital would put it securely in a safe during my surgery. What she didn't tell me is that some thug security guard would violate my person and privacy, emptying my wallet piece-by-piece, writing every item of content down. I felt like I was being raped. The operating room technicians had already put about 40 wires on my body, preparing the monitoring equipment for surgery. When I was married, my wife wouldn't even go into my wallet, because she felt awkward going into my personal stuff. That is how she felt. She respected my person. That is the way we ought to treat each other.
The ungodly Caucasian security guard at Cedars-Sinai didn't ask for my permission. He just opened my wallet and started removing items, one by one. What a selfish person! As he would remove and look at the dozens of cards and items, he would sometimes look at me, like he was analyzing each item and forming an opinion. I was being prepped for surgery, so my brain wasn't as aware as I normally would have been. I had never been in a situation like that before. I am still hurt and upset about what happened. I love God's promise in Matthew 7:1-2 and verse 12, to judge men according to how they treat others. I pray for God to avenge me of that wicked insensitive security guard. No doubt he would say he was just “doing his job,” like Herod's henchman who murdered thousands of innocent little children (they were just doing their job too!).
At a minimum, the guard should have asked for my permission, and explained to me what he was required to do, not just rape me! I was sitting right there, fully conscious, and he could have shown me a little respect. Instead, in typical thug guard fashion, he just did whatever he wanted with zero respect for me as a human being. That man brought shame upon his mother and father, evidencing that they raised a careless, brute, inconsiderate, brat for a boy. Some of the worse evils in this world are done by irresponsible people who claim to just be “doing their job.” Just because something is your job doesn't make it right to abuse others, humiliate them, nor does it give you the right to be a heartless thug! People have feelings. Monsters are real! I have nothing good to say about Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Please don't get surgery there people of Guam! Cedars-Sinai Hospital is so popular with Hollywood celebrities that the hospital owners couldn't care less about the little guy, the common man, the average Joe, nobodies like me!
Matthew 25:40, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
That ungodly security guard emotionally raped me in the hospital that day. I was very distressed. My heart was crushed. While in surgery, the emotional trauma from what the guard did affected me. After the surgery, the operating room nurse said that my heart was racing at top speed, and they had to slow it down. I am fully convinced to this day that it was the emotional trauma inflicted by that insensitive, thug, bastard security guard at Cedars-Sinai Hospital that caused my heart to race 100 miles an hour during surgery. I HAD BEEN RAPED! That is exactly how I felt. I pray for God to avenge me, and I want to see that guard held accountable before God on Judgment Day. I pray dear Lord Jesus Christ, please, that it would be so! I am a forgiving person, but this is not about forgiveness, it is about that wicked man being held accountable for his cruel insensitivity toward another human being. I need that guard to know what he did that day, because he probable is a cold-hearted person who doesn't understand the pain that he caused. 2nd Thessalonians 3:2, “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”
LOSING TOUCH WITH PATIENTS
I underwent neck surgery, double discectomy and spinal fusion, at CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER in 2009. I was nothing less than a complete gentleman while in their care. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for several employees at their hospital, who were abusive, arrogant, rude and insulting. They refused to help me medically when I went to their emergency room. They refused to help me medically while in the hospital, because the pain specialist assigned to me disappeared for the weekend. They treated me like garbage.
You'd think that out of all the doctors and employees involved that even one of them might be adult enough to contact me and express their sincerest apologies. Nope!
Instead they send some generic letter, which is toilet paper. I told them to keep it. I'm sure it's not just Cedars-Sinai Hospital that lacks in quality of care, but they've lost touch with their patients in my opinion. For heaven's sake, is it so difficult to pick up a phone? You'd think one of the doctors would have called me, to see how I was doing. Nope! No one ever called to see how I was doing, and the belligerent woman in their Quality Improvement Department didn't bother to ask either. That's sad.
One nurse assured me that I'd hear from the manager of the emergency room, concerning the abuse I suffered in their emergency room; but the manager never did call, and didn't care. No one ever followed up. I sat one day waiting for 8-hours for the evening manager of the emergency room to call. They just wasted my time. Of course I would be upset.
It just perplexes me why a hospital, after I sent them 14-pages of complaints, would choose to brush me off with a lousy letter, instead of calling me as I requested to discuss the issues at length. All I wanted was to have a person-to-person, adult-to-adult, talk with someone in charge at the hospital who had the power to make a difference. Instead, I got this childish woman in their Quality Improvement Department who wouldn't even apologize over the phone, and said she was going to close out my complaint, when no one had ever talked with me about the issues.
What if you took your car into a repair shop for work, and their mechanic went home for the weekend while you were sitting in the waiting room? Sound ridiculous? Well, I was laying in a hospital bed and the doctor assigned to me disappeared for the weekend. I laid there suffering in the hospital for 2-days with inadequate pain medication, because the nurse couldn't reach my doctor for the weekend. That's how they treated me. It's called patient abandonment. Of course a lousy letter is not enough. All I requested was to speak with a manager, but they refused.
They just don't care, likely because they're a big hospital and are in the ritzy Beverly Hills area. In my opinion they are arrogant. I feel that they have lost touch with their patients.
ALWAYS CHECK YOUR PAPERWORK!
In 2009, I underwent surgery at CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER in Los Angeles, California. On the morning of the surgery, they handed me my surgical paperwork, which contained detailed personal information.
As I sat in the waiting room reading the information they gave me, I was confused at first, because all of the information was incorrect. My first thought was that someone had entered the wrong information about me into the system. As I continued to read, the information was so wrong that I started looking for a name, which I found to be for another patient. They had given me another patient's paperwork, and my paperwork to another patient.
I unknowingly read quite a few personal things about the other patient, before I realized that it wasn't my paperwork. I was suffering in a lot of pain, and was weary from having difficulty sleeping due to the pain, and am fortunate to have noticed the switched paperwork at all. The other patient didn't even look at his paperwork.
I am so glad that I noticed the mistake the hospital made, because God only knows what might have happened.
Please, always check your paperwork and everything else, because you'll end up getting your kidney taken out when you went in for foot surgery. It happens every day all across America. Switching a patient's paperwork is a very serious mistake.
The sad thing is that the hospital refused to discuss the matter with me and Julie in their Quality Improvement Department refused to even apologize when I spoke with her. They couldn't have cared less. They allegedly tried to send me some generic apology letter, which I told them I didn't want, because the issues were serious and I wanted to speak with a manager. They refused and no one ever called me. No matter how much they screw up, they just send you a template letter saying too bad, so sad, blah, blah, blah. All I wanted was to speak with someone in management, but they refused. You couldn't pay me to go back there.
FORMS, FORMS AND MORE FORMS!
My doctor had recommended me to a pain specialist. I was suffering in horrible pain (which is why I was there in the first place). The receptionist handed me 10-forms to fill out. After spending about 30-minutes filling out paperwork, one of the questions on the form asked, "What makes your pain worse?" I wrote down, "spending 45-minutes filling out endless paperwork."
Every time you go to a doctor and all the related medical institutions, you have to fill out a bunch of paperwork—whether it be for a blood test, an x-ray, an MRI, a pain specialist, the pre-operation doctor, the surgeon, the post-operation doctor, hospital admission, et cetera. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. Commonsense is out the window nowadays.
You'd think that someone would have simplified the process a long, long, time ago.
INSINCERE GENERIC TEMPLATE APOLOGY LETTERS
Nothing shows the insincerity of a business more, than when they use generic template apology letters.
Even worse is when a patient is abused, neglected and mistreated by a hospital, and the hospital administration doesn't have enough decency to apologize personally. It is an insult, and shows the organization's insincerity, when they mail you a "too bad, so sad, blah, blah, blah" apology letter.
They buy these generic template letters by the box-full at local stationary stores. That's not the way to do business. If you care about truly improving the quality of your business, then you won't send someone an insincere template apology letter, especially if they tell you they don't want one.
I underwent neck surgery (double discectomy and spinal fusion) in 2009 at CEDARS-SINAI HOSPITAL in the Beverly Hills area of West Los Angeles, California. It was one mistake after another by hospital staff. The primary nurse helping me must have been an air-head, because she kept giving me wrong information. I say that kindly. The emergency room staff were rude, belligerent and abusive. It wasn't even 48-hours after surgery, and I came to the emergency room due to severe pain at the advice of my doctor. Yet, they couldn't have cared less. It was a mess.
I was readmitted the next day into the hospital for pain treatment, but the pain specialist assigned to me vanished for the weekend. I was back in the hospital, laying there in horrible pain, and the nurse told me I would have to suffer because she couldn't reach a doctor because it was the weekend.
I sent a 14-page complaint letter to the hospital's Quality Improvement Department and to the hospital's Administration. I specifically requested a conversation with someone in hospital management, to discuss the many important issues involved.
After weeks of being ignored, I called Julie in their Quality Improvement Department, but she stopped the conversation, saying she needed to talk to the hospital employees to get more information. No one ever called back.
After kindly requesting to talk with a manager, they sent me a letter instead 2-months later. They don't care. All I wanted was to discuss the issues with a person, and to receive a personal apology, from a person; but they decided to send a generic template apology instead, without getting all my information, without hearing everything I had to say, without caring to give me a say. It's just rotten and no way to do business. The just didn't want to hear what I had to say. They refused to listen.
If you send people insincere "too bad, so sad, blah, blah, blah" type apology letters, while refusing to hear what they have to say, don't be surprised when they send it back and suggest that you wipe your butt with it. The fact of that matter is that NO ONE from Cedars-Sinai has apologized to me, and NO ONE has been held accountable for anything!!! The hospital has my blood on their hands, which crieth out unto God for justice!
CEDARS-SINAI NOT THE PLACE TO GO
If you live on Guam or in the Micronesian territories, and need surgery, please consider St. Lukes Hospital in the Philippines or Queen's Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii; rather than Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, if you want the best care. I was sold on the notion that Cedars was the best place to go. Well, I couldn't disagree more after going there.
It's burdensome to spend 14-hours on a plane traveling after surgery, and lengthy layovers at the airport, even after an initial healing period. St. Lukes in only 3-hours away.
My only intent in these posts is to express my opinion, which is my Bill of Rights as a U.S. Citizen. Cedars-Sinai Hospital is a horrible place to get surgery in my opinion. I should know, because I underwent surgery there in 2009, and I'm still suffering horribly. I regret ever going there.
They really dropped the ball, and I didn't get the proper medical attention that I desperately needed from them. The pain specialist assigned to me vanished for the weekend after my surgery, and I suffered for 2-days with inadequate pain medications. I was treated like garbage by their emergency room staff. The attending nurse in the Emergency Room was so arrogant that she wouldn't even speak with my doctor on the phone. That's messed up!
They discharged me from the hospital while still bleeding, dizzy, had stabbing pain in my chest, and was in need of stronger pain medication than the pills they handed me. The nurse came into my hospital room and said, "You're still here, I thought the other patient was already here." The doctor who performed my surgery didn't visit me the day I was discharged.
After all the needless grief, unnecessary suffering and undue stress their employees caused, the hospital administration refused to even offer a verbal apology, and moreover the opportunity to discuss the issues with management. They just blew me off and didn't care. I don't think I could have been more reasonable to request speaking with a manager, instead of them sending some generic template letter (too bad, so sad, blah, blah, blah). That's not the way to do business if you care. They don't care, which is why they wouldn't call me and refused to discuss the issues.
CEDARS-SINAI IS ONE OF THE WORST HOSPITALS
It is sad, but true, many U.S. hospitals are below acceptable standards. Even worse, if you are mistreated, there is little recourse of action available. Thankfully, freedom of speech allows us at least to share our bad experiences with others, so hopefully they won't undergo the same abuse. This particular blog is about CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER in Los Angeles, California. I strongly recommend that you consider getting surgery somewhere else.
I underwent neck surgery there in 2009, i.e., double discectomy and spinal fusion. Two weeks after the surgery, I wrote a multi-page complaint letter to CEDAR-SINAI'S Quality Improvement Department. I specified that I didn't want a generic apology letter. I requested to speak with a human being, a person, and to receive an apology from a person. They refused.
Here are my numerous complaints I made to the hospital:
- They mixed up my surgical paperwork with another patient's. Fortunately I caught the error.
- Prior to my surgery, while I had wires all sticking out of me, a hospital security guard went through my wallet, without even telling me what he was doing. He took everything out of my wallet, item by item, and then wrote it all down. He should have at least introduced himself and asked me if it was okay for him to look in my wallet. He violated my right to privacy and disrespected me as a person. Nurse Laura Raya told me they'd simply put my wallet into the hospital safe. She didn't say they would rifle through my wallet like it was their own. That's really low-class on their part.
- They put me out of the hospital too soon—while I was still dizzy, bleeding from where the catheter was removed, suffering in agonizing pain, felt stabbing pain in my chest, et cetera. They didn't care. It hadn't even been 48-hours since I woke out of surgery. They cut my neck from the front to do the surgery.
- I told the male nurse that I felt dizzy. He asked, "But you can walk right?" I again told him that I was dizzy, and he again asked, "But you can walk right?"
- The surgeon, Dr. Neel Anand, who performed my surgery assured me BEFORE the surgery that he would give me stronger pain medication AFTER the surgery, because my body was used to the meds I had been taking for a long time. Well, he didn't and I suffered horribly.
- After being told that it was against hospital policy to put me in a taxi after my surgery, they put me in a taxi anyway. The driver gunned the gas pedal and my head lunged back. I thought the hardware had come loose in my neck.
- I was alone when I received surgery, with no family present, nor waiting at the hotel. I told this to the staff, pre-op doctor (Dr. Mark Davidson) and surgeon, but they didn't care. Workman's Comp wanted me to stay in the hospital for a longer duration, but the surgeon said no.
- After the taxi incident, I ended up back in CEDARS-SINAI's emergency room just 3-hours after I was discharged from the hospital.
- The pre-op doctor told me to go to the emergency room for pain relief and have them call him. I did that and they refused to treat me for 30-minutes because I refused to sign a financial obligation form. I told them that I had just undergone surgery at THEIR hospital, by THEIR doctors, and was now in THEIR emergency room. And moreover, I had been instructed by one of THEIR doctors to have THEM call him, but they could not be reasoned with. They refused to help me, even raising their voices at me and telling me to leave. I tell the truth.
- One nurse became belligerent and said, "Would you mail a letter without a stamp?" Another nurse stuck his chest in my face and ordered me into a side room. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. They ganged up on me. I was wearing my neck brace, had on my original IV bandages from surgery, and wore another bandage where blood had been removed. I was barely able to stand up I was so tired and weary. The employees in their emergency room were rude, abusive, insulting and extremely unprofessional.
- I went into the side room to use the phone, to call the pre-op doctor who had told me to go to the emergency room. While the phone was ringing, a female staff member walked in with a witness and said, "Sign this form or else you have to use the phone in the lobby." I told her that I went into the side room to avoid conflict with them, because they were being abusive, and now she was wanting to pick a fight with me. I told her that I was in pain from surgery and needed their help, and didn't need their harassment.
- The pre-op doctor answered his phone. I told him that I was being abused by the emergency room staff. He said they were breaking the law by not helping me. A senior nurse came in and I could see that she was angry. My doctor asked to speak to her, but she said, word for word, "I'm not talking to your doctor or any doctor." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She wouldn't even talk with my doctor, who was waiting on the phone. She had a needle in her hand and said, "Do you want help or not?" After waiting 30-minutes, and seeing that she was visibly angry and emotional, I decided to suffer in pain rather than let them abuse me any further. I went back to the hotel and tripled my pain pills in desperation for relief. I was grief stricken and overwhelmed. It was hell on earth at CEDARS-SINAI HOSPITAL that night.
- The next day I went back to CEDARS-SINAI and requested an x-ray from the taxi incident to see if my hardware had come loose, because my pain was excruciating. They handed me 15-pages of paperwork to fill out.
- I was in so much pain that I requested to be readmitted back into the hospital the next day. My surgeon readmitted me into the hospital. This was a Friday afternoon. I was assigned to a pain specialist who disappeared for the weekend. I was suffering in pain bad on Saturday, but the nurse said she couldn't give me any more pain medication without the doctor's permission, and she couldn't reach the doctor for the weekend. I was stunned. The whole reason I was readmitted into the hospital was for them to treat my pain. I said, then I'll just go home. The nurse became snotty and said, "Then you'll have to sign a statement that you're going directly against your doctor's orders." I was trapped in their hospital. The doctor was unavailable for the weekend and I just suffered in agonizing pain. No one cared at all at CEDARS-SINAI. I even called their Volunteer Department, but they said they couldn't do anything.
- On Sunday, after suffering all night in unnecessary pain, I finally got the approval of a different doctor to go home. They never did treat my pain as they advertise.
- The nurse (Donna Bias) handling my Workman's Comp paperwork messed up and I received a bunch of bills that I shouldn't have received.
- The surgeon prescribed a Bone Stimulator device for my neck, to help it fuse, and they gave me enough electrode pads for 6-weeks. I ran out. They had assured me they would send more if I needed them. I contacted them and was told they'd send the pads. I never did receive any more pads and I couldn't find the pads to buy anywhere online. I was supposed to wear the device for 9-months according to Dr. Rebecca Rosemann. I wore it for 6-weeks because they didn't send me the pads they had promised.
- I was assured by the coordinator nurse that I would receive a phone call from the manager of the emergency room, 4-times, but no one ever called. She just ignored me. After all the abuse I endured in the emergency room, was it too much to expect a simple verbal apology.
- And so, I hope and pray that no one reading this post will ever have to go through what I suffered through. The surgery hasn't offered ANY relief, none whatsoever. My legs still kick way out when tested for reflexes. I had a recent MRI, which shows that I still have bone spurs in the same C5-C6 area where they did surgery. Why didn't they take care of the bone spurs while they were in there at C5-C6? I just don't get it. I need another surgery to fix what they left undone. Sure I'm upset. It was scary enough getting the first surgery, and now I have to get surgery all over again because they didn't do the job right the first time. I have severe pain and ripping tension in my neck, and pain extending down into my right arm and leg. Going to CEDARS-SINAI was a big mistake.
- They told me to wear the Bone Stimulator device they provided for 9-months. Despite my request for more pads, they never sent them. I reminded them, but they ignored me. Cedars-Sinai crapped on me! I tried to buy the pads on E-bay, but couldn't find them anywhere. And so, I only wore the unit for 6-weeks. What a sham by the hospital! Is that how you treat a patient after performing surgery on him? Of course I'm upset. My comforting thought is that the King James Bible (God's inspired Words) promises that God will avenge me as His child of Cedars-Sinai Hospital's abuse, mistreatment, incompetence, dishonesty and worst of all, apathy. They are indifferent. Donna Bias lied to me about hospital policy, and they should have provided safe transportation back to my residence after surgery. She lied to me! They stuck me in a taxicab. Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
- Donna Bias promised me that the night manager of the ER would contact me, so that we could discuss the incidents which happened when they refused to treat my neck pain after surgery. No one ever called, and when I called Cedars-Sinai, Julie was belligerent and deliberately cut the call short, promising that someone would get back to me. Julie also lied to me—no one ever called. It is dishonest that Cedars-Sinai brags about the lowest hospital stay after surgery. The truth is that to maintain their national record, you can expect to be discharged and thrown out of the hospital—whether you are ready to be discharged or not.
Worker's comp said they would have preferred that Cedars-Sinai keep me under observation after my surgery, but Cedars only cares about maintaining their shady impressive statistics. THAT IS NEFARIOUS AND EXTREMELY DISHONEST!!! I suffered needlessly so that Cedars-could maintain their bullcrap statistics. There's nothing impress about statistics attained at the expense of hurting others. Romans 12:19, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Please say a prayer for me, whoever you may be; and please DON'T go to CEDARS-SINAI for anything, unless you want to be abandoned, abused and neglected like I was. Don't get surgery at Cedars-Sinai, unless you want to be prematurely discharged after surgery to preserve their bullcrap statistics! I can only speak for myself. My experience was a nightmare. God will avenge me of the abuse, mistreatment, abandonment, arrogance, needless pain, dishonesty, thuggery, indifference, suffering and negligence incurred before, during and after my neck surgery in 2009 at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. I pray for God to avenge me against Cedars-Sinai for their wickedness, unkindness, incompetence and abuse! I have faith in God, that He will give me justice! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!!!
Judgment Day Is Coming In Eternity For Cedars-Sinai's Ungodly Staff
It is my sincere prayer for God almighty to avenge me of the gross medical incompetence of Cedar-Sinai's cold-hearted staff, thug unprofessional bedside manners of a punk security guard on duty (who illegally went through my wallet as if it were his own, violating my rights, violating my person and nearly causing me to die during surgery from the trauma he inflicted upon me. The nurse said my heart was racing during the surgery. Sure, because I was traumatized that I had just been emotionally raped by a piece of trash security guard (who works for the hospital at Cedars), whose mother didn't raise him better to respect other human beings.
If I had my way, I cut his legs off and let him see what pain feels like, and I mean that with all my heart! I'd make sure he paid for his crimes, and could not escape the flagrancy by which he committed them. I'd make sure that he could never forget what he had done, as it would permanently hurt and scar him as he did to me. That is justice! I do not have that power to punish him, but God does (Matthew 7:1-2; 1st Thessalonians 4:6). I have forgiven that guard, but only because God has promised to avenge me of that guard's crimes against me in June of 2009, and I want him to pay and suffer like I did for decades.
Matthew 25:40, “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
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Father of 2 sues Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai Hospital after wife dies during childbirth
February 18, 2020 at 2:13 AM CST - Updated February 18 at 9:57 AM
LOS ANGELES (CNN) - After his wife died giving birth to their baby boy, a father of two began research into the “maternal mortality crisis” in the United States, the only developed country with a rising death rate for pregnant or new mothers. He is now pushing for policy changes and awareness.
Kira Johnson’s husband, Charles Johnson, hasn’t stopped remembering the birth of his youngest son, 3-year-old Langston, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. It was also the night that led to his wife’s death.
Charles Johnson says doctors told them Langston’s birth would be a routine Caesarean section, but soon, he started noticing issues.
Charles Johnson, a father of two, is suing Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles over the death of his wife, Kira Johnson, during the birth of their second son, not pictured. (Source: Charles Johnson/CNN)
“I can see the Foley catheter coming from Kira’s bedside begin to turn pink with blood,” Charles Johnson said. “I just held her by her hands and said, ‘Please, look, my wife isn’t doing well.’ This woman looked me directly in my eyes and said, ‘Sir, your wife just isn’t a priority right now.’”
As critical minutes turned into hours, Charles Johnson says he was continually ignored by the staff, as his wife’s health continued to suffer.
“When they took Kira back to surgery and he opened her up, there were 3 and a half liters of blood in her abdomen from where she’d been allowed to bleed internally for almost 10 hours. Her heart stopped immediately,” Charles Johnson said.
Kira Johnson was a successful entrepreneur who spoke five languages. She could fly planes and skydive and seemed invincible to her family, but she died in childbirth. (Source: Charles Johnson/CNN)
Charles Johnson is now suing the hospital for his wife’s death. With the case pending, Cedars-Sinai said in a statement it could not respond directly because of privacy laws but that “any situation where there are concerns about a patient’s medical care” is thoroughly investigated.
Kira Johnson was a successful entrepreneur who spoke five languages. She could fly planes and skydive and seemed invincible to her family, which is why her death is so much harder to understand. In the wake of it, her husband began research into maternal mortality and says the U.S. is in the midst of a “crisis.”
Approximately 700 women in the U.S. die in childbirth every year. It is the only developed country with a rising death rate for pregnant or new mothers. For black women, like Kira Johnson, the risk of death is even higher.
Globally, more mothers die in childbirth in America than in Iran, Turkey or Kazakhstan.
“We are in the midst of a maternal mortality crisis that isn’t just shameful for American standards. It’s shameful on a global scale," Charles Johnson said.
While trying to combat the maternal mortality rate in the United States, Charles Johnson is also raising his two sons and teaching them about their mother. (Source: CNN)
The charity Every Mother Counts, which was founded by supermodel Christy Turlington, says many of the deaths in the U.S. are because of an unequal healthcare system and systemic racism.
Public health experts warn this crisis is not just affecting poor or sick mothers but also healthy, college-educated black women.
“A well-educated African American woman with more than a high school education has a five-fold risk of death compared to a white woman with less than a high school education,” said Wander Barfield, director of the Division of Reproductive Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Now part of an unnecessarily large number of Americans who have lost partners in childbirth, Charles Johnson is pushing for policy changes, raising awareness and trying to hold doctors and hospitals accountable.
“There is a failure and disconnect for the people who are responsible for the lives of these precious women and babies to see them and value them in the same way they would their daughters, their mothers, their sisters,” he said.
Charles Johnson is also raising his sons and teaching them about their mother.
“If I can simply do something to make sure I can send other mothers home with their precious babies, then, it’s all worth it,” he said. “What I try and do is wake up every day and make Mommy proud.”
Copyright 2020 CNN, Charles Johnson, Lynsey Addario, Every Mother Counts. All rights reserved
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Sadly, people in the medical profession nowadays just don't have a strong work ethic anymore. They can't get along with each other. They're arrogant if you try to correct them. Youth just want to play with their electronic gadgets, talk about boyfriends and girlfriends, and ignore the hospital patients. I was kept awake in a hospital during the night, by inconsiderate brat male and female nurses, who kept bursting out laughing and couldn't have cared less about their patients. I was getting ready for surgery the next day. I know firsthand of hundreds of hospital neglects and abuses. I am a repeat victim of their bad attitudes, arrogance and abuses. Youth in the medical profession look like freaks covered in tattoos and body piercings, and many are cross-dressing sodomites. Feminists, God-haters, divorcees who are angry at the world, cruel people! I have met too many of them!!!
Cedars-Sinai is one of the worst places I have ever been unfortunate to stay in. I regret getting surgery there. The hospital has never tried to make things right with me. They got their blood-money, and that's all they wanted. People don't matter at Cedars-Sinai, money does! It is my often prayer request for God to avenge me. The Bible says we as believers will one day judge the world. I would love to be their judge. Those wicked people will wish they had never been born, by the time I am done with them. I will make them suffer, as I have suffered, and others have suffered, because of their incompetence; so they can be humbled and learn to respect other people in their care. Even so come, Lord Jesus!!!
