I chose the City off Hope because I was looking for a facility -- not a single doctor -- who…read moreoffered a comprehensive, collaborative care environment to treat my breast cancer. Their website touts "treatment plans in 5 days" and "personalized care." I'm now 7 weeks post surgery and never received a treatment plan. Please save yourself the emotional turmoil and don't go here. I connected with City of Hope in late February and should have run at my first sense that something wasn't right. My doctor, Dr. Sharma, seemed to always be waiting on the results of a lab test, so never even made my full diagnosis clear to me. I went along because I was scared, but she was dismissive to questions like, how serious is my cancer and what can I expect. There is no 'patient care coordinator' to help you navigate your treatment. You basically called scheduling for everything. They won't communicate with you through their portal, and you don't know who to call if you have a question or problem. When I asked to see Dr. Sharma when she finally did get labs back in, I was told not to and that they'd see me after surgery. But where it really fell apart was when she came back with clearly inaccurate results of the specimen they removed during surgery. When I asked nicely to have it re-tested, she scoffed at me. When I made a formal request via the portal, her team came back and basically said it was a typo from the lab. I eventually had to demand they re-test it. To that same end, they never ordered the oncotyping post surgery, so I had to wait more than 5 weeks before I could start treatment (whatever that would be). After Dr. Sharma fully eroded my confidence in her, I asked for a new female oncologist on May 9th using COH's formal complaint process -- I honestly didn't know what else to do. And almost exactly 30 days later, I was told they can no longer treat me because they don't have anyone else. I'm attaching the letter. So now I'm approaching 8 weeks post surgery, having had no treatment since April 23rd, and I have to go through the process of finding a doctor who can treat me who is also covered by insurance. I forget - can cancer spread if it's left untreated?

If I could zero starts I would. Dr. Henry Krebs is a name that I will never forget. This man's…read morebedside manner is horrendous. He comes into the room to perform an ultrasound guided biopsy on me as if he worked in the damn drive thru at McDonald's. Before he even touched me I specifically informed him and the ultrasound tech that during my first biopsy I had to be given more lidocaine than usual because not only did I feel pressure which is understandable, I still felt pain. This idiot ( as I'm already nervous and scared because of my first biopsy) proceeds to numb me with the lidocaine, turn around and grab the fu#*!ng scalpel, made the incision in my my skin, grabbed the biopsy needle, squirt some lidocaine in the incision, then proceeds to dig in my damn breast like the idiot that he is. I'm screaming like damn can you at least give the lidocaine time to work and he proceeds to tell me it works instantly as if I'm stupid. He literally injects a tiny bit more lidocaine then again, proceeds like I'm not a damn human being on the table. I'm squirming, screaming and was about to squeeze the techs hand off and you would not believe what this idiot says... he states " I'm going to stop if you can't be still" as he throws his hands in the air. I then told him " your bedside manner f' ing sucks and all you have to f'ing do is let the lidocaine sit for a minute". He then takes his gloves off walking away like the unprofessional a**hole that he is (knowing that my treatment has already been prolonged and that this will further delay my treatment) until my husband stood up and face to face with him and told him " you don't have to be an a**hole to my wife. She's telling your stupid a** that she still feels everything you're doing". I then proceed to tell him that what he was gonna do was finish my biopsy and that he was going to stand there and wait until the lidocaine had time to kick in. After my husband had a few choice words with him and he as well to my husband, the idiot got some act right. I told him that he was not going to delay my treatment any further. He stood there and waited, put his gloves back on and finished the job. I forgot to mention that the first piece of tissue that he pulled off with the biopsy needle felt like someone put their fingers through my breast and ripped off a piece of tissue . By this time the lidocaine had time to settle therefore the lymph node that had to be removed, I didn't feel pain just pressure like it was supposed to be. So not let this inconsiderate jerk near you or anyone you care about. Come to find out he was mad because he had been in meetings all morning and got behind. Idgaf what he had going on. I'm the one laying on the f'ing table with a life changing diagnosis. By the way I used to work at CTCA when it was CTCA. Once it changed to COH it was not the same and not in a good way. You walk in and it's nowhere as warm as it should be. I can't remember the name of the idiot at the front desk but she has a short hair cut but I do remember she was instantly rude when I walked in. I matched her same energy because I refuse to let anyone talk to me in a condescending way. I'm really considering going back to Wellstar where I was treated the way a cancer pt should be treated. I could type many other disappointing encounters with idiots here but it will take forever. Just make sure you research who your doctors are and if something doesn't feel right...... RUN. This ain't the only treatment center in America