If you want to know what you're getting into with Dr. Gilbert Martinez, please read. And an FYI 99 percent of this was before Covid.
I have been going to Dr. Martinez for a few years now. I've been searching for someone decent but my insurance sucks and only covers the worst apparently. When I landed on Dr. M, the first visit I thought maybe I'd finally ended my search. I even told him of my bad experiences. By the second visit I realized I was wrong. By the second visit he would hardly look up, didn't seem interested and was terribly dismissive. He'd ask questions and then cut you off before you even finish talking to make strange diagnosis suggestions that seemed way off, but I'm not a doctor so I would consider what he said. Numerous times he prescribed me meds he never told me he was giving me or told me what for and the pharmacy would call and I'd be surprised. I'd go pick up the meds and ask what they were for and they'd be for weird things and symptoms I never even had. And I told the doc I don't do meds, pills, or anything unless I absolutely have to multiple times.
I have pre-existing health conditions that were solved with surgery when I had good insurance and I knew I was going to need to be referred back to my surgeon because symptoms started to return. For over a year Dr. M would dismiss my symptoms and he would always tell me to come back in two weeks or six weeks if the problems persisted and then we'd revisit the situation. I'd come back and he'd have all but forgotten everything I told him and tell me to come back again if the problems persisted. I'd visit many times for the same issue but he refused to just send me back to my surgeon. He did run a few tests in the end but it seemed frustrating to him it like he didn't want to deal with it. And there were findings.
Finally I paid out of pocket to seal real docs and have some tests at UC Davis. They referred me back to my surgeon and did tests and everyone decided I needed a new MRI, but I'd have to pay out of pocket.
I took all the findings and doc notes back to Dr. Martinez and asked him to please order them since, if he ordered them, I wouldn't have to pay so much out of pocket. He refused, even with all the stuff from the other docs. He said he was going to make some referrals, including back to my surgeon (but I already took care of that on my own. I had been asking him to do that for years!). So I called everyone couple of weeks about the referrals and they were never made. There was excuse after excuse and every time they'd say they'd make them this time and never ever ended up actually doing it. So I quit trying and got the last year I've been paying to stay with the UCDavis docs, but that's expensive and I can't do it anymore. I even paid out of pocket for the MRI which did reveal a lot.
Seperatelt, I had been telling Dr. M about some other severe symptoms for some time that he kept telling me things like I just have migraines or other brush off suggestions. He refused to care. I told the UCD docs these symptoms and they immediately realized it was something quite serious with very specific symptoms that Dr. M should have taken seriously and tested me for immediately. Problem is, the testing for a solid diagnostic test is several thousand dollars. I know if I take the paperwork to Dr. M he will still dismiss it and won't order the tests, and I can't afford them out of pocket so I'm in limbo. He doesn't care. All I can do is try and if he won't I'll try switching docs again.
His demeanor is like he really doesn't care. Like his patients are just cattle, numbers coming through, and the more times he can get us to come in before he has to really try to do something, the more money in his pocket. And even then he draws it out and is super vague and dismissive when he does get results. I went on to the insurance website for some of my results once and he hasn't even told me much at all. I had to ask the other doc who explained it to me and told me what I should do. Dr. M had left all of that out.
Dr. Martinez seems like he hates his job or he's just very unhappy doing it. Or maybe hates his patients. I don't know. But sadly, all the doctors my insurance covers are similar. It's kind of a joke. read more