This guy is a real piece of work. I was in the hospital for 3 months because he gave a wrong diagnosis, and I almost died as a result, but that didn't stop him from congratulating himself on "saving my life". Followup "care" was a joke. I called at least half a dozen times in an attempt to make an appointment, only to either be sent straight to voicemail or deal with incompetent and rude staff at the call center who magically seemed to be able to swing a two-hour lunch, which may be cool except for the fact that this is California and not Spain - we don't get siestas here. If you have access to real medical specialists in San Francisco or any other larger metropolis, I urge you to go that route instead of resorting to this pompous, arrogant, condescending dickhead. And I don't say this lightly; I have since been to specialists in Portland Oregon who are all unanimously appalled at the way he mishandled my illness. read more

HORRIBLE AND INCOMPETENT office staff! We were sent for a routine colonoscopy. They called to reschedule the appointment, but because they called the wrong number, we didn't find out until the Friday before (thank GOD he didn't start drinking the laxative!). Now they've screwed up the insurance billing and it's potentially costing us $3,000 for a procedure that should be covered 100% by our insurance. Not sure if we'll need to get a lawyer or what because they refuse to correct the billing, claiming it's a "very hard and complicated" thing to do. We will be looking into filing formal complaints through St. Joseph or any agency that will listen. And like others have said, good luck trying to talk to anyone on the phone. We literally had to call and leave messages every day for almost a week before someone finally called back. Go ANYWHERE ELSE. Our family dealt with cancer last year, saw a million doctors and hospitals and had no problems at all with any of them. This guy's office is the absolute WORST!! read more

I have tried to work with this Dr for a few weeks now and find they are impossible to communicate with. They scheduled an mri for me and when I showed up for the appt I was told that my doc (Steady) neglected to ask my insurance for approval for the test so it wasn't done. After a week and a half I have not only been unable to get them on the iPhone but would not even return any of my calls. I got one call from an unknown number so it was ignored as a telemarketer. Steady's nurse asst is a real BS artist. Don't believe what she says. read more

Horrible office staff, unfriendly and impossible to get a hold of anyone. Hours are M-F 9am-12pm and 2-4pm. Even if you call during those hours, they never answer the phone and when they call you back they are rude, tasteless, uncaring, unfriendly. Also the Doctor refused to see you until you have undergone an Upper Endoscopy under general anesthesia, pretty invasive procedure if you ask me. I will pass. read more

I was referred to Dr.Steady by my regular doctor, because I was having unusual gastrointestinal symptoms. My doctor is part of the St.Joseph's Healthcare group and Dr.Steady was the name that came up for gastroenterology. My doctor informed me that, once the referral was sent, someone from Dr.Steady's office would be calling me within 3-5 days, to make an appointment. After waiting to hear from Dr.Steady's office for over a month, I finally called his office, only to find out that someone had partially input my information into their system, but did not complete the process of calling me to make an appointment. Therefore, no one called me in 3-5 days, as I was originally told. I was told that Dr.Steady did not make initial appointments with patients, but that automatically the first step was his office would set up a date for a colonoscopy. I found that to be very strange! Who orders a colonoscopy without ever seeing the patient first?! I scheduled the colonoscopy for a Tuesday. I was instructed through an email, to fast on Monday in preparation for the procedure. On Wednesday of the prior week, I received a voice message that the original location of the colonoscopy was changed due to some short staffing issue. The next day, Thursday, I called Dr.Steady's office, because I had questions about the preparation procedures. My call went straight to the answering service. I left a detailed message with the answering service. No one returned my call. On Friday, I called again, only to get the answering service again! Once again, I left a detailed message that I had questions regarding the prep procedures. Once again, Friday came and went, and no one returned my call! First thing on Monday morning (the day when I was supposed to be fasting), I called Dr.Steady's office again, because I needed important questions answered about the preparation. Once again, my phone call went to the answering service! I complained that I had been leaving messages with the answering service since Thursday morning of the previous week, and that no one has returned my call! I told the service, that I would only wait until noon to hear back. Otherwise, I would not sit around hungry, waiting for instructions! No one called me back!! On Tuesday, the day of the scheduled procedure, I still never received a call!! What kind of operation is Dr.Steady running here?! If I had gone through the gruesome prep and showed up, would anyone even have me on their schedule?! Then I read the horrible Yelp reviews on Dr.Steady and thanked God for His intervention! What kind of assembly line colonoscopy, with non working staff, is this doctor running?!?! read more

Great doctor but trying to get a hold of the office is nearly impossible. I called twice last in one weel and every time I call no matter what day or time it goes straight to an off site answering service. I leave a message with the answering service and I then wait for the office to call back never getting a call back. This issue needs to be fixed. I never had this issue with any other doctors offices. read more

I. am. amazed at the. number of 1 stars for Dr. Steady as well. He did an amazing job with me with detailed follow up appointments. I just got off of the phone with his office....or his appointed office. Dr. Steady was restricted in his ability to perform procedures by Covid 19 and the insurance company apparently deciding the procedures as elective. Since he could no longer provide the level of care needed for his patients he decided to retire rather than continue with a practice that wasn't allowed to operate. The office was closed in May of 2020 and an xlnt physician has now been lost to all of his patients. I wish him well..... read more

Just called to have an appointment and I was denied because I didn't have a primary care doctor. They told me in order to get an appointment I have to build a network first. What kind of jokester is this????? Not to mention just reading his reviews I probably just saved my life. read more

I am surprised to see a bad review for Dr. Steady. For me he has been an absolute god send. I really wish he was my primary care doctor. He is thorough, caring and really takes the time to make sure you understand what is going on. He discusses treatment and test options and explains why he is recommending the procedures he recommends. He has even sent me home with articles about my condition so I can intelligently share the info with my family with out forgetting stuff. The other Dr. He has had to refer me to was also an A+. Dr. Steady is a total class act and an all around fantastic GI. I wish all my experiences with doctors were this positive. read more

I received a colonoscopy from Dr. Steady three years ago. Now I have stage 4 colon cancer. I had 4 different doctors including UCSF tell me he missed the cancer. Even when I was sick and didn't know what was wrong and told him my symptoms he thought I had ulcers. ( and now i know they were clearly colon cancer symptoms) After the endoscopy in the hospital and it was negative he was no where to be found. I called his office in the afternoon to let him know I was still in incredible pain. He was on the golf course. He was suppose to return my call he never did. You might say he is responsible for me fighting for my life right now. Be sure to do the research on the doctor for your colonoscopy. read more

This review is not for the physician but for the office. For 4 days I tried to call to make an appointment and no one ever answered the phone. Eventually a recorded messages comes on but hard to tell if a message can be left. I worried about seeing someone and then not being able to contact them if something important arose. I decided to look elsewhere. read more

Contrary to most reviews here, I found the staff to be great. But Dr. Steady? This man is actually insane. After being hospitalized multiple times for colon ulcers while at college in TN, I needed a GI here in Petaluma after I returned who could continue my care and search for a diagnosis. His approach to "care" was to have me sit down at his desk in his office while he sat opposite me in a leather jacket - his personal office mind you, not an exam room. He then proceeded to not read any of the charts I had gone through the trouble of getting transferred to his office. Instead, he just verbally asked me what my "deal" was and then proceeded to tell me I had ulcerative colitis and sent me home with stacks and stacks of trial sizes of multiple heavy medications, telling me to "try a few and see what happens." Also important to note that I was 19 at the time. This man should be barred from practicing medicine - I hope he stays retired. read more

My 88-year-old mother was referred to Dr. Steady by her primary care physician because she was having gastrointestinal issues. I first called for an appointment on a Friday and discovered they were closed. I tried calling the next week a number of times (during office hours) and kept getting the office answering service, not the actual office. I guess they were not able to answer their phones. I finally got through to the office and was told that the appointment scheduler was busy and was transferred to his voice mail. His outgoing message stated that it could take up to 24 hours for a return call. I left a message explaining the situation with my name and number. One MONTH later, I still have yet to receive a return call. Needless to say, after a day or two of waiting for a return call I went back to my mother's doctor and asked for a different referral. We ended up taking her to a great GI office in Santa Rosa. She went in for an appointment and had an endoscopy last week. I don't know whether the terrible performance by his office is any indication of how good a doctor he is, but I'm not inclined to try to find out. read more

I have been attempting to establish my husband as a patient. They requested medical history. We had those faxed and have not heard back from doctor's office. When trying to call the office, all I get is answering service who takes message and then, you just wait. Well, this seems to be a very poorly run medical facility! read more

Horrible!!! My mom has been trying to get test results back for over 2 weeks now!!! They are NEVER in the office and NEVER call back!!!

Yesterday I went in for my Colonoscopy after 5 years, and when I got there, they said I wasn't scheduled, and that they had called me on June 12 to cancel it. If you are at least 50 years old, you know what the day before a colonoscopy is like. All day fasting, and then starting at 5 pm, one drinks the vilest liquid that makes you have explosive bowl movements. Then again at 9 pm, another dose of the horrible stuff, and 32 more ounces of water. This keeps you up until 2 pm running to the bathroom. It is a horrible experience that I will now have to repeat because they "DID NOT CALL, ME To CANCEL". I am absolutely sure because they did the same thing to my wife two weeks ago. I checked my messages at home and on my phone religiously, and COMCAST has a log of all calls for the month as does the cell phone. The office staff is heartless to do that to a patient. I have nothing against Dr. Steady, but his staff is completely incompetent. If they schedule you for this procedure, DO NOT take a sip of the prep if you haven't talked to their office the day before to confirm your appt. read more

I'm surprised at any positive review of Dr. Steady. He recommended a very expensive medicine for me simply by listening to my symptoms, but without any examination. When I complained that the med was worthless for me, I never received a response from the good doctor. After several calls. I finally went to another Dr. who ordered a colonoscopy. Now, I have colon cancer. Stay away from this guy! read more

Dr. Steady is an excellent doctor. I've been going yearly for an EGD for gastrointestinal bleeding. Before I was vomiting blood often due to my liver condition now I haven't since this procedure. Dr. Steady is very thorough, proficient, and concerned! read more

I am prompted to write this by seeing the negative review forwarded to me by someone I had referred to Dr. Steady. Anyone of reasonable intelligence can figure out the scenarios conveyed in the post do not happen in the real world of medical practice and I will stop at that in favor of relating my personal experiences with Dr. Steady. I am a relatively recent liver transplant patient and truly owe my life to the superb and thoughtful care received from Dr. Steady in the 18 months leading up to it. I was scoped from the top down and bottom up at his practice, and was under his care throughout end stage liver disease. He saw me numerous times both at his office and at PVH and remained forever diligent and accessible throughout my entire ordeal of fighting for my life, both during and outside business hours. I also spent many weeks hospitalized at CPMC in San Francisco, where he previously practiced in their Hepatology Department. Everyone on staff there had nothing but the highest of praise and respect for his manner and ability without exception. CPMC is known to be one of the major liver centers in the country, if not the world, and their respect must be earned. I consider myself honored, thankful, and alive because of the wonderful, professional and thoughtful care received by Dr. Steady and you will do no better in Sonoma county. I am fortunate to remain a post transplant patient of his. Ken W read more

I called the Dr.s office to schedule an appointment for my husband. I was on hold for 13 minutes! In my opinion that is a horrible wait time, but I can look past that. I was surprised that when I did get someone on the line she proceeded to tell me that that was a good wait time! THAT IS NOT A GOOD WAIT TIME!!! Then when I continued with why I was calling, the person said that only Nancy can schedule procedures, that I could either be put on hold AGAIN or I could leave my name and number and she would get back to me. I have been attempting to call for 2 weeks and I didn't want to continue to play phone tag, I just wanted to get scheduled. I asked to hold but also asked that she pass Nancy a note letting her know I didn't want to wait long. I don't understand why the other staff is not trained to schedule procedures, for an office that has a normal wait time of over 10 minutes, I would think they would want to get people scheduled and free up the phone line. I was transferred to Nancy and I explained to her that I felt that the office is unprofessional, apparently I hurt her feelings because she then said she was going to put me on hold again because I made her angry and she didn't want to work with me until she had calmed down. Now I have worked in customer service AND in healthcare, I understand how frustrating the job is but that is no excuse. This is your job, people can be frustrating, but if your the ONLY person who can schedule appointments then suck it up and get me scheduled. You can go take a potty break after and talk about how much of an asshole I am later! To do this and create more of a hold time and frustrating experience for your patients/customers, your not doing anyone any favors, what your doing is putting the office, that already seems behind in everything, more behind because you can't push those feelings down and do your damn job! I was speaking the truth to you and you didn't like it, too bad! If its this frustrating for your patients and staff then you need to change the way things are done to be more productive. Maybe keep your phone lines open more! Maybe hire another person! All I know is that I have asked my primary to refer us to another doctor because I cant believe that the doctor is proficient if his staff aren't. Last thing, if you cant handle your job, find a new one! read more

Dr. Steady saved me. Without him, I wouldn't be alive. To me, he's one of THOSE doctors (the god kind) who is brilliant but who is also authentic, caring and has a wonderful bedside manner (unlike most surgeons). He helped me get my cruel Ulcerative Colitis to go into complete remission. He's been my doctor ever since (25 years). That's 25 years of colonoscopies (fun!) where he's helped me get through it all. To prove my confidence in him, he also treats my college aged child who suffers from another condition. I did have a problem getting through to his office once. I told Dr. Steady. He immediately gave me his personal cell phone number and email address. I never used them, but once, I felt his receptionist wasn't giving him my messages (which was true) so I emailed him. He wrote back in minutes and solved the problem instantly. I do hope the communication issue is fixed, but if you feel uncomfortable about something, tell him. I always feel he cares very much about me and is extremely smart and kind. It's not easy for a woman to deal with this disease. He has helped in every way possible. read more