Complaint Review: Kaiser Permanente California - Fontana California

As I limp around my house, tears often running down my face, I stop.... slowly turn to look at the television, and point with my cane, and cuss at the television's screen.... Why?  Oh, it's another Kaiser Permanente commercial claiming how they put patient's well-being as a top priority.  Oh, Join Kaiser and THRIVE.. THRIVE?? OMG, I am almost enraged, enraged, I tell you, at the lies!!!! The hipocracy!!!  I started feeling sciatica pain in late July, of 2017.  It has been four months of sobbing myself to sleep due to excruciating pain.  I take gobs of medication to stop the pain.  The meds start to take effect and I'm finally able to fall asleep.  Sometime in the middle of the night, I awaken from the pain and start to cry, again. 

I use the restroom, then gobble another group of meds. Morphine, Hydrocodone, muscle relaxers, prednisone, meloxicam, ibuprofen, you name it.  Once that takes effect, I'm able to drift off, again.  Next time I awaken, start to cry again, the alarm goes off.  I get up, hunched over, stumbling around my room, my house, to get ready for work.  I've donned a walking cane.  I'm 55, almost 56, and I've always been a robust, active, tiger.  I ride dirt bikes, scuba, work on cars-- anything a good tomboy does.  I've been reduced to a pathetic, needy, week, mess.  This pain has adversely affected my entire life.  "Quality of life"??? Yeah, ok.  What's that...

I've called Member Services, who did little to move my, "cortisone shot" closer.  I'm sitting here, right now, about to burst into tears just thinking of how incredibly miserable I've been, how my housekeeping has been taken care of by a paid housekeeper.  I'm more than miserable.  While I would never hurt myself, I do feel that, if I don't wake up tomorrow, I'd be good with that.  I don't care.  It'll just mean the pain will stop. I won't suffer any more. I've made several complaints to Member Services, calling them, bawling my eyes out, barely able to speak because I'm so torn up inside and out.

I asked the woman in Member Services to, "JUSTIFY WHY GETTING THIS TAKEN CARE OF IS TAKING SO LONG.  WHY PATIENTS HAVE TO SUFFER SO MUCH, FOR SO LONG."  She said, "I can't justify that."  I got a, "class" moved up a week, but I still have almost a month to wait, until I get this darn shot in my lower back that is supposed to take the pain away and make me al better.  I won't hold my breath.  So, this, "epidural cortisone shot" is, from my understanding, something like a band-aid, and not a cure of the problem.  Oh, there are several cures available, but they start with the easiest.  I need bone scraped away, so the nerve CAN'T  pinch my nerve, again.

I'm sure I'll have to wait another 4-5 months to have that done.  I'm so sick and tired of their negligence, that the next time open enrollment comes up, I'm changing health care.  I'm telling you folk, that their medical care is, in my opinion, medical negligence.  I believe it is CRIMINAL.  To know that so many people are suffering this excruciating pain, and Kaiser puts us off so long, is disgusting! I almost spit when I hear commercials how important we patients are to them.  Oh, yes, I thrive, alright.  If I thrive, then I thrive on pain, pain that is negated by my medical insurance company. 

Oh, I did ask if they would outsource my procedure to someone who could do the work sooner, much sooner.  I got an uneqivocal, "Oh, no!  We don't do that!" They talk about their , "cutting edge medical procedures, etc".  B.S. !  They don't even allow stem cell procedures. I have known three people who suffered at Kaiser's negligence, and, ultimately, died.  Yes, they died. One was my mother. Another, like a mom to me, Josie.  The last thing I said to Josie, sitting there in a Kaiser hospital room, was, "I love you, Josie."  She said, "I love you, too...''  Then, a week later, she died.  A beautiful vivacious teacher, dead. Isn't that special.

Kaiser has done so many things to me and my family, I could write a small novel.  Kaiser stifles doctors' treatment recommendations.  A friend of mine had fallen and was experiencing some internal bleeding, but Kaiser couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  A fairly new doctor was recommending all kinds of treatments for my friend.  Then, an oldtimer doctor took him aside and told him how he couldn't order such tests, etc., because it was more than what they offer patients.  The new doctor was shocked, because my friend needed a lot of medical care.

From doctors who have asked a patient, "So, what do you want me to do about this?...", to letting a splinter fester under my relative's skin, until it started to disipate, and could no longer be removed.  In my circle, we say, "Kaiser kills."  That is OUR OPINION.  Oh, sure, Kaiser is good for throwing pills at patients, to cover up problems and, in turn, end up destroying livers and kidneys. I sometimes feel embarrassed to tell people I have Kaiser.  I always get an earful of complaints, experiences, that they have suffered under Kaiser's care. 

I could go on and on, but I have to take a handful of pain meds, and go cry myself to sleep.  I have to get up early. I am actually going to opt out of Kaiser at the next open enrollment and get someone who cares, really cares, and gets on the ball, and heals what  ails me.  Folks, I would think long and hard before signing up with Kaiser.  I'm surprised they are still in business.  If you sign up with Kaiser, they'll have you sign a disclaimer not to sue them, in the event they make a mistake.  Hm.  We'll see about that.  Good luck, all.  J.B., southern CA.