Hunter Guo

Review of Santa Clara Valley Medical Cen...

Pros: Very nice ward staffs and doctors. Respectfu...

Pros: Very nice ward staffs and doctors. Respectful and caring. Helped us saving money on expensive medicines.

Cons: Small ER waiting area and long waiting time. Long waiting time for discharge.

I should give 4.5 considering the cons. But they helped us save hundreds of dollars. We really appreciate it.

My mom got big knee pain last Thursday. PCP sent her to this hospital to do ultrasound.
Then she was diagnosed with blood clots and was rushes to ER.
ER waiting area is a little too small. My mom had to sit in a wheelchair. The wheelchair almost blocked half of passway. We waited for about 3hours before we saw a doctor.

Around 1am, my mom was moved to 3Surgical (floor 3). In the next 3 days, we saw different shifts of doctors, nurses and nurse assistants. They are all nice and respectful. My mom could not goto restroom by herself and they helped her with pee and bowel movement in professional way. Every new shift of people greeted my mom when they started to be on duty.

We waited a day for discharge notice because of physical therapist who will evaluate whether my mom is ready to go home. It's a little long but at the same time my moms pain has reduced a lot. I guess without this waiting time, her situation might not be good enough to be discharged.

The attending doctor carefully gave us options of treatment. The cheaper one requires my mom to come back twice a week to get blood drawn to monitor the progress.
Also my mom has to give herself a shot for almost a week.

The more expensive one has no such requirement. My mom only needs to take some tablets. But the insurance does not cover since the drug is brand name.

My mom does not drive. It means I have to take her to lab multiple times a week. Also the injection shot may cause infections.

We decided to take the more expensive option which will cost us more than $1800.

But before we left, the doctor told us we can pick up part of prescription at the pharmacy. After a few weeks we can pick up the leftover ones. I asked the doctor whether the insurance has approved it. She said not yet.Even it's not approved we can still keep the ones we picked up. It saved us 1/3 of the cost. What can I say about such a caring doctor?!

Overall this is a very pleasant experience to my mom. If I am allowed to give 4.5, it will be more appropriate.