Never in my life have I received such a substandard care. Bay area surgical group at Lafayette St is much closer to a tire shop then a place of medical care. If you cherish your life or the life of your family members do not undergo any procedures there.
Let's start from the beginning. Check-in/waiting area is so small that its smaller than any living room I've ever seen. When the gentleman in the wheelchair arrived people had to move about to make way for him to get to the counter. While I was waiting to be admitted, a doctor came out to speak to the wife of one of his patients... talking about HIPPA violation... Can they not have a separate room for patient confidentiality purposes to discuss the procedure not in front of everybody who's waiting?
My instructions stated for me to arrive at 10 o'clock in the morning, one hour before my procedure. I did not get admitted to pre-op area till 11am. They asked me to get on the gurney but I couldn't because the linens were absolutely filthy with shoe prints that were never washed off . I asked to change the linens but the following was not that much better . I guess in the cost cutting measures the surgical group is using least expensive linen services .
Since they were behind schedule, the entire process and questionnaire was rushed through along with IV insertion. I could have filled it out within that hour of waiting to be admitted . They asked what my current weight was. I said "aren't you going to weigh me?" they said," it's okay it will take it off your drivers license" . That's great, except my drivers license is 10 years old and I had three children since then and I'm .... ohhh about 35 pounds heavier. I clearly told them that my body does not take narcotics, anesthesia or sedation very well, and I take much longer then any person to wake up. They said, " don't worry, it's okay" . They called my husband five minutes after the procedure was done to come and get me. Luckily he was 20 minutes away giving me another 20 more minutes to recover. They sat me up in a gurney and made me take two deep breaths. That allowed my O2 sat reading to go to "normal", so they removed the sensor immediately after the good reading. Good enough, according to their standards ready for discharge. My best guess is that my discharge time was based on the procedure scheduled time not the actual admission and procedure time. So, I should have been out of there on time despite the fact that I wasn't admitted on time. It's lucky that my husband is married to a nurse. Because essentially he became my recovery nurse. She stayed with me for three more hours as I was in a deep deep sleep. He woke me up every time I stopped breathing at home. If he had to go to work I'm scared to think that my kids could found me unconscious or dead after their arrival from school. My husband made sure that I recovered and breathed after the procedure, not the skilled or rather unskilled workers at the surgical center. I know that my IV was inserted by sedation RN, I don't think I was ever recovered by qualified personnel nor admitted by registered nurse. I will never use this facility even if they offer their services for free. Stay away from here, your life is more important!
One last bit of info. They made a follow up call to ask if I was ok but left a message and did not leave a phone number to call back. So that was another formality, for them to put a check mark in the chart that it was done, but how I am doing they really do not care... read more