Kaiser Permanente Medical Center

I have had a great surgeries that helped save my life. I feel that Santa Clara Medical Center My Team: Dr. Ferguson, Dr. Eleanor Levin, and Dr. Kaskowitz, and Dr. Lee are the best team ever. Especially Dr. Levin and Dr. Lee my Cardiac team. I love them to pieces. I trust them with my life! I trust Dr. Ferguson, My PCP with my life too. I get the best kind of care at Kaiser Permanente under Medicare/​Medi-​Cal Special Needs Plan.

I am a new Kaiser Member and am leaving because of my poor experiences. The 9 months I’ve been with them has been the worst service from any medical facility. They are disorganized, they lack personalized attention, and no one is accountable for your experience so you are left with a great deal of uncertainty in your treatment.
It began when I became injured at the Kaiser Redwood City during child birth, was not initially diagnosed, and went over 24 hours without assistance while admitted, unable to even walk to the restroom independently. I had staff coming in after a shift change instructing me to do activities that I was not able to and they would ask if it was the epidural. I never met the attending doctor and each nurse I met would ask the same questions and not assist me as someone unable to walk would need (assistance to the bathroom, in and out of bed, picking up my newborn, restocking diapers, etc.). I did discover that your nurse call button can go to voicemail and did that once for over 45 minutes. This behavior continued until I insisted I would be checking myself and my newborn out of the hospital because our care would be better at home. Since I had not been diagnosed for treatment of my injury there was no official reason for them to keep me. Thats when a case was opened to review my treatment and within 6 hours I received medication, assistance, a referral to a physical therapist, and a walker. Member services did call at one point telling me a walker was not covered and to go to Walgreens and buy one myself, which caused a staff member to go correct the situation.
My current situation 7 weeks later continues to be poor as my disability and disabled parking placard have lapsed because the referral to the physical therapist was not followed up on, the women’s clinic and physical therapy departments go back and forth pointing fingers to the other concerning the next step in care, and Medical Records is also involved but cannot take action and only instruct on what I need to do to move Kaiser’s own process along. I started the process two weeks before the lapse to give them time to address the issues, and while they continued to point fingers between departments without resolution i would have been required to returned to work while I still couldn’t walk. My messages to the Director of Physical Therapy were unanswered concerning it taking 7 weeks to get the required evaluation (referral sent from Redwood City September 5^th).
Compared to other medical providers they leave the status and action in the hands of the patient rather than providing you a clear concise diagnosis and treatment. They seem to have acceptable care when it’s standard preventative medicine or a dire, life threatening emergency. If you aren’t bleeding to death then good luck. I’ll go back to Palo Alto Medical Foundation using Anthem Blue Cross. In 9 years they never failed to treat me well.

My friend came with abdominal pain. They gave her morphine and sent her to ultrasound. 12 hrs later we got the results– don’t know what is wrong, but we’ll give you more drugs. Thanks doc!

I’ve heard a lot of complaints about Kaiser, but I’ve only had good experiences at this location. Both the ER and doctor’s offices seem clean and efficient.
The Pharmacies are usually crowded, but move quickly. I try to avoid them when I can, by using the mail order pharmacy for refill my medications.
I also use the Kaiser app to have easy email access to my doctors. I can also use the app to order my medications and keep track of my records.
I’ve had to take my daughter to the ER many times here, and it’s always been a good experience compared to other ER’s I’ve gone to in the past. A few nurses and doctors are kind of rude, but the majority are friendly and helpful.

I went to Kaiser ER at about midnight. There were no patients in the waiting room, so they took me pretty quickly. Everyone was so nice and had so much patience. The guy that admitted me was nice. I don’t remember his name. I was pretty drugged on morphine. I was there during a nurse change. So the first nurse I had I don’t remember her name, but she was so nice. My second nurse was Stephanie (I remember her name because that’s my sisters name). She was very nice. She explained everything she was doing to be before doing it. She explained everything she was giving me in my IV. The doctor was nice. The pharmacy was quick at preparing my discharge medication. If I ever have a emergency, I will go there.

The Kmart of Hospitals. A family member was in ICU and his heart had stopped and a family member had to run and call for help to revive him which they finally did. 2 weeks later they removed his heart monitor and said he did not need it. That week he was having heart erythmia and we were terrified he would have a heart attack. There staff is rude, verbally abusive with NO bedside manner. If you dont care about your health then Kaiser is the place for you. Of course if you visit Kaiser for basic needs you will probably do ok but if you have more critical medical issues then run as far as you can from this place. The doctor attending to my family member diagnosed and recommended treatment but was overruled by the administration their at Kaiser Santa Clara Hospital. This place is pathetic… if you dont think so and still they this is a good medical facilities read the blogs which are filled with so many people reporting very similar issues… note the pattern.
I have been at other kaiser facilities which are not this bad but santa clara has to be the worst.

This Kaiser has a nice large campus, big car park but you have to circle to find a spot. It even has a roundabout on LeHigh side to exit which reminded me of england. People on your left have right of way, so you must stop and let them pass before entering.
I went in today for a manometry procedure which was on the second floor, took the stairs up. Each department is nicely labelled so you can find it quickly. Staff is friendly, don’t forget to bring some photo ID.
The medical assistant took my vital signs and the RN conducted the procedure, I was roomed in about 20mins past my appointment time even though I was 7mins early. Ding! took one star off.
The whole procedure was about 40mins of which really 6 mins is the real sipping part every 30 seconds. The RN handled all my questions and concerns nicely and was friendly.
Staff is knowledgeable and the campus is new, well designed and thoughtout. I had a good time considering it was a voluntary procedure.
4 stars.

It’s definitely easy to get lost here! We walked for a while, after getting directions twice, and still couldn’t find the hospital room we were looking for!
I do love that the parking is easy to find and that they have a ‘members only’ area!
That’s the only experience I have had with this location since it isn’t my local Kaiser!

I came here to visit my mother in law when she was admitted for a few days.
First let me say its a pretty new facility but I wouldve ended up super lost, wandering the halls aimlessly had not for my sister in law accompanying us (she did get lost the first time she visited). Luckly for us, she now knew where to go.
Its a odd setup. You enter the lobby and there is no reception desk/​front desk/​receptionist. Umm ok so hopefully you know what floor you need to be at because if you don’t, you’re kinda stuck. We navigate to the third floor and there is a nurses/​reception station BUT no one is there. So strange.
Anyways, I think my mother in law received pretty decent care. There were plenty of nurses walking the halls asking If we needed assistance. Just not at the nurses station haha. I was more concerned with the lack of any security whatsoever. Anyone can come and go as they please. My sis in law said that when she called, they informed her that visiting her hours are ²⁴⁄₇.
Other then the weird open door policy. Seems like a clean efficient hospital.
3 stars

This is for the newly launched pain management program, (PMP) a combination of EST, NA, and group therapy.
I was gently nudged into this when I complained about pain which they couldn’t control. I’m not an addict, but I soon found myself in a room with people who had major opioid addiction problems.
There was a family night, during which my SO was told that people with pain are similar to people who are addicted to drugs (so that’s why we were all in this together).
Anyway, after three weeks in the program, I quit. I had an injury unrelated to my main complaint and they intervened with the ER doc to make sure I wouldn’t get pain pills. I was in so much pain, it was almost as bad as childbirth. And I have no record of drug addiction or abuse. Luckily, my SO and I prevailed over the telephonic PMP doctor whom I had never met. But the ER would only give me a shot of morphine, which did help.
The meditation, chi gong, and Feldenkrais methods are all useful, but suspect this is another way for Kaiser to sidestep real medical care. The program is «one size fits all,» so personal health differences have to be addressed elsewhere. Generic physical therapy includes rubber ball exercises, fun and healthy, but cookie-​cutter. They have you locked in a «team» approach, so your medical, physical therapy, nutritional and psych needs are rubber stamped as if you were in a state hospital (my dad used to direct one). It’s hard to break out of the team and get some real medical attention.
Patients are chosen according to their ability to perform these exercises, which seems discriminatory. There was even a guy in there who worked as a medical assistant in another Kaiser who was in no pain, but they said to take the program because he could use these tools if his disc problem came back. HUH? I guess it’s like Animal Farm, some of us are more equal than others? Because there was a waiting list, I think, of people in pain…
While the tools provided are useful, if there’s an organic cause for your pain, you’re not going to eliminate it completely by going to this program.
Also, there’s a cult-​like aura to the group. You are censored in what you can say and think, and you are encouraged to deny, or not talk about, the pain you do feel.
Watch out for the immature group leader who can be just downright nasty with her mean girl comments, like playing favorites with the brown nosers and cutting off the speech of others, etc.
That said, many people who come in are isolated and this is a good way for them to meet and greet others, learn about nutrition, relax, and stop downward spirals. That’s why I gave it two stars instead of one.

NO STARS AT ALL — ZERO MINUS 100
I wish I had read Buddy R.‘s review before my husband died here in 2008, due to pure incompetence. He went in with severe pain and the resident we had just screwed up from the time we got there until they released us. We were so tired we didn’t fight them. Had to return next day, where instead of being given top priority, waited for another 2 plus hours and then my husband died when an aorta aneurysm ruptured. DON’T GO TO THIS ER AND PLEASE GET ANOTHER PROVIDER. My husband had symptoms that were classic for a heart patient and instead of quickly doing a scan to diagnose him so he could get surgery, he died. Most people don’t get 24 hours of symptoms before they die from this, so my husband’s luck ran out because he was a member of Kaiser. These two doctors should have been kept from practicing but all this hospital received was a small arbitration settlement against them – because California passed a limit 30 years ago that protects them. Their process and their docs are INCOMPETENT.

nurses hardly speak english. surgery staff is great… facilities are amazing and updated. ancillary staff leaves me wanting to go somewhere else.

This is a for-​profit facility. I went through ER, and a boatload of «clinicians» advised that I needed a $ 50K surgery. Kaiser ran the wrong tests, misinterpreted the tests they did run, gave me medicine in a dose that was 100 times too weak to be effective, they wrote down symptoms I didn’t have on the report to justify the need for surgery. I insisted on an out-​of-​provider second opinion and received $ 5 of prescription drugs that resolved the problem. Terrifying experience. If you have to use Kaiser, go to Mountain View or Redwood City if you have a choice, I’ll give both of them a lot more stars than this place.

Run for your life. I send a relative to the emergency room for a stroke. They sent us home saying that it was just a TIA and take an aspirin and go to bed.
That relative is now paralyzed on the right side.
Otherwise, they’re great if you have a cold.

Going to this hospital is like playing a slot machine. You sit down while they are taking your money. Yup. Unfortunately, that is true at this location. I made an appointment with Sports Medicine (Building D) to have them take a look at my elbow. First and foremost, the wait times are horrible. I made a 4:30 pm appointment, arrived at 4:15 pm, like they said, but stayed in the registration line for a good 30 minutes. I wasn’t called in until 5:00 pm, but my doctor wasn’t helpful at all. He works from 9 to 5, so I’m thinking he was rushing me to get out of there. I wanted to ask questions, but he responded with one word answers. All he did was look at my elbow and provided me with a couple elbow exercises. My appointment seriously took 1 minute and 47 seconds… no joke.
I don’t know about this place. Maybe they sent all the good doctors to the new location on Homestead because the quality of care has definitely declined. Since my benefits only cover Kaiser, I have to resort to them. Oh well…

²⁄₀₈ Update
The Hospital is closed, moved to Lawrence Expressway, Santa Clara.
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⁴⁄₀₇ Update Friday
Went to their allergy department, Building B, across the street from the hospital. Always easier and closer parking but the lobby and patient waiting rooms get cramped. Also, watch for the allergens in the air from the parking lot, you can see it floating inside the waiting room.
Have had hit or misses with reception, made a call for an appt and it wasn’t in the system when I arrived but they accommodated me. Dr. Ngyugen was my physician and at first seemed brusk but after my initial visit and skin tests, was very friendly and informative.
The skin patch test is two fold, one that does the surface scratches on your inner arms, around 20 on each arm then the heavier dosage shots in the outer arms of what you weren’t allergic to the first time with the lighter dosage to make sure it isn’t a negative. I did both in one day and 1.5 hours later and arms so inflamed I needed ice packs and liquid benadryl and hydrocortisone cream. Ugh, no fun, took the whole weekend for the welts or what they cal wheles, to go down and stop itching… I am allergic to practically everything. So I am a prime candidate for allergy shots but when I heard the régime of coming in twice a week for 3 month for allergy shots, 4 of them, then once a week for 3 months and once a month for maintenance and I will react like I did with the scratch tests, I decided to stick with heavier duty meds. I have all season allergies. Hate the Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer! At least now I know what I am exactly allergic to around me.
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Went to the Nucleur Medicine Dept. for the last three months, about 5 – 6 visits for an early diagnosis of Hyper Thyroid. Dr. Keeling and her assistants were very informative and helpful with explaining the disease and options of procedures, 4 star. Dr. K administered oral radioactive Iodine to kill my thyroid, the radiation room is kinduv scary with all the radioactive signs posted, the radioative items behind a wall of iron bricks, freezing cold and the doctor wearing a iron smock. Had to be away from people for 4 days, I was literally, RADIOACTIVE. This is both an art and science and she did it, killed the right amount of thyroid but will be monitoring it over the next 3 months to make sure. The success rate is less then 50% of not going hypo, so I was impressed.
The front desk seems to be a miss, not friendly or communicative. Farthest office from the entrance of the hospital. Usually have to wait 10 – 20 minutes to get in the office. Parking is tough since the dept. is attached to the hospital and other offices. Hospital is old, they are building a new campus on Lawrence Expry to move the hospital and offices.

If I could use skulls instead of stars I would. I almost died here, I was misdiagnosed by several doctors here. Go anywhere else but here ok. SERIOUSLY! You will die here. GO TO ANOTHER HOSTPITAL