Cleveland Clinic

To whom it may concern:

I would like to share my recent experience that I have had with the Cleveland Clinic. In November I was diagnosed by Dr. Haji-Ali with Sjogren's Syndrome. Once I was diagnosed, I received a prescription for Palquiln and started taking it as prescribed. Since I have been dealing many of the symptoms of this disease I had applied for FMLA and needed to receive a doctor's signature and this is where my issues begin. When I sent in paperwork for Dr. Haji-Ali to sign I was told that I needed my General Practitioner to sign off even though Dr. Haji-Ali was the one that diagnosed me. Dr. Haji Ali refused to sign my FMLA paper work because she said did not know me. I would have had my GP sign off but that doctor left the Clinic in February and I have been trying to get in to see new one. In the meantime I set an appointment with Dr. Haji-Ali to see about getting the paperwork signed.

Yesterday, May 2nd, I went in for my appointment and met with a Nurse Practitioner Jillian Charles. After a brief discussion she tells me that I probably do not have Sjogren's Syndrome. She told me there were two other tests that needed to be done in addition to the one that I had in November to have definitive diagnosis. When I questioned why I did not have the other two tests completed in November, the only response I received from Ms. Charles was "I'm not sure". At this point I realized I may have been taking a medication that was really not needed. When I researched this medicine on-line I come to find out this medicine can cause serious vision problems.

Over the years I have had intestinal issues and I have been to the gastroenterologist last year who told me nothing wrong with my stomach and that it everything looked okay. As I did some research on-line about Sjogren's (which I had never heard of until I was diagnosed by Dr. Haji-Ali) I learned that this is a symptom of the disease along with many other issues that I deal with. This has caused me to miss several days of work and the reason why I was applying for FMLA. When I asked about the paper work yesterday and explained my issues to Ms. Charles, she told me again they would not sign the paper work because they did not know me and that my problems were not a symptom of the disease. Having intestinal issues is one of the main symptoms! Apparently she does not read up on her diseases.

The other issues that I had with my visit were that the staff was unfriendly and the exam room was filthy. Overall my experience was poor at best. The Clinic has caused me undue stress and had prescribed me medicine that maybe not needed. Not to mention the time I had to take off work to go to go to the Clinic to find out that Dr. Haji- Ali did not do her due diligence.

In summary, I have been getting the run around by the Clinic, been misdiagnosed, been prescribed medicine that I don't need (and is potentially dangerous to me), dealt with your unfriendly and unhelpful staff, and sat in a filthy exam room. Your slogan; Every Life Deserves World Class Care is not even close to reality. I am completely disappointed in my experience and will be sure to share with others. I would expect a response but honestly based on this experience and my other experiences with the Cleveland Clinic will not be surprised if I don't receive one.

I have tried to communicate with your hospital staff at all levels about my mother Martha Gordon. I have an advance directive in place and have asked to be notified of any change in her condition and when she is moved or any procedures that are going to be scheduled. I am her POA and also have a health care power of attorney as well and a State of Ohio living will declaration. The last two of the above are copied in the advance directive. There seems to be a problem with communication as I have requested. My mother calls me and tells me at 4 am that she has been moved to ICU G-51 bed 9 at midnight 4 hours later. I called the nurses station to ask what's going on and she apologized because I was not notified. I have been told that many times (I Apologizes) but don't understand why what I asked can not be followed through. I need to know for many reasons the most important to set up DNR protocol with the attending physician. My mother is ok one day and the next is very confused at times these are the days that concern me on her making decisions. I am asking you to help with this matter as I have nobody else to ask within your Cleveland Clinic hospital system. Thank You, Jack Brazzon (Son and POA) of Martha Gordon. Any suggestions be feel free to call me at [protected].

Today my father was sitting in the chair and required help to get back to bed . I called the nurse station over 5 times and the nurse came in probably an hr later stating she was waiting for the lift team . Meanwhile me and sister have pulled him up in the chair several times, exhausting ourselves . Dad is in pain from bedsores and a back injury plus he has a tube in his rectum . We watched him struggle for 2 hrs until the resp therapist came in for his breathing treatment, she called the nurse herself twice and no one came . So she saw people walking by and asked for help. The people that helped stated that i should have came out to the nurses desk to get help . Im disgusted at this point . I told her more than once that we had called 5 or so times and so had the therapist . This is on the 8 th floor J building . This should not be happening.

On 2/12/2018 my son was admitted through the emergency room of Cleveland Clinic at Southpointe for acute appendicitis. My son is a college student in the Cleveland area and I live in Pittsburgh. I drove to Southpointe in the early morning hours. Upon arriving at the hospital there was no clear designation of the ER and I had to be escorted to the ER by security. Once arriving the nurse could not find my son in the system and I had to wait for her to get assistance. After that fiasco I then waiting another 10- 15 minutes for an escort by a security guard to my sons room. Which is not an issue the issue is that there were 3 other guards standing in the front talking and an very empty waiting room. But they needed to call someone to escort me. Then once going up to the room I found the facility to be outdated, and extremely unclean. Dust in the patient rooms, no soap in the visitor bathroom, garbage overflowing in the visitor bathroom. The whole environment seemed very unsanitary and outdated. Not to mention my son was in a room with another patient. That does not happen in Pittsburgh at UPMC.

But to be more specific about level of care. After determining with the surgeon on call that my son was not in imminent danger and his appendix was not perforated I decided to take him home to a UPMC facility. First let me say the surgeon seemed extremely tired blood shot eyes, and very short demeanor. When I explained I was not happy with the facilities and I am taking my son home he had a few side comments. Then he brought the discharge paperwork in pre signed and initially was not going to explain the paperwork he was asking my son to sign simply handing him the paperwork and saying you can read that, I explained see that's why I'm taking my child out of this hospital. He then back that up and said he was coming to explain. After I looked through the paperwork there was a whole page that was not filled out about my sons metal status in leaving AMA. When I pointed that out again he seemed flustered and reluctantly filled out the form.
Upon leaving I attempted to tell the nurse it was nothing she did wrong per se and pointed out that the room needed cleaning she then became confrontational.
My whole experience with Cleveland clinic and its staff was one of the worst hospital experiences of my life. I would not refer anyone to this facility.

brought my father to Cleveland Clinic in September of 2017 to see Dr Kaouk and discuss laparoscopic surgery to remove his kidney cancer. He was very optimistic when we first met with him and said he could do the procedure and my father would be up and walking the day after surgery. He explained a team approach, and that my father would have to meet with an oncologist and cardiologist at Cleveland Clinic. The Cardiologist approved my father for surgery and a biopsy. And the Oncologist ordered additional tests. After 2 months and 4 visits to Cleveland Clinic from Atlanta, we were told that Dr Kaouk, who we were scheduled to see on November 28th, 2017, would be unavailable and in surgery. A doctor in residency would meet with us instead. Dr Kaouk refused to even talk to us on the phone and had the resident tell us he would not do the surgery because of my father's age. I'm not sure why we weren't told that in the beginning, before all of the time and expense of the trips to Cleveland from Atlanta, Ga. Dr Kaouk's assistant, Traci, is one of the rudest people I have ever talked to. When I tried to schedule follow up appointments by phone, I was told she was too busy and she would hang up on me or put me on a never ending hold. I am extremely disappointed that Dr Kaouk did not have the common courtesy to return our calls or meet with us in person to give us his decision about surgery. My father is devastated, as he had canceled the planned surgery scheduled for September in Dayton with his Urologist, so that Dr Kaouk could do the procedure. He is now left with very few options.

I had an appointment with Dr. Wilson for today 11/10/2017 at 10:00. While flying to Ohio at approximately 3:30 pm less than 19 hours before my appointment I receive a phone call stating you thought you had an appointment with Dr Wilson but it has been changed with Marie I believe his RN. I did not pay over $1000 in air fare, hotels and hard earned leave to see the RN. I called back and the woman I spoke to was rude and stated this his new way of conducting practice. No apology. I told her I did come all this way and spend all this money and time to see the RN
And she said in a very rude to"So you wish to cancel your appointment" I responded yes. She then ended the conversation giving no alternative. Please call me at6144194882 to discuss further.
Thanks,
Cynthia Whetstone

My Uncle was taken to the emergency room in Weston Florida for increase heart rate on September 26, 2017. After treatment at the emergency room, he was discovered lifeless and was resuscitated. He is now on life support. Request for information on how events occurred that led to his current condition has been withheld. Attempts has been futile to obtain his medical records and or clarity has to what happen.

Unacceptable and total lack of respect for patients.

My Mother is close to 90. She only will go to Willoughby Hills Clinic for a doctor because she is still driving which she should not be. She has trouble hearing but never has been asked to go for a hearing test which should be part of Geriatric Care and her Doctor's profile says she specializes in that.
She has has elevated Blood Sugar through her regular yearly blood work, but has never been asked to take a Glucose Tolerance test which could make her numbers higher. Her once yearly visit to the Doctor has been cancelled twice and she had to wait another 6 months to see her doctor. She won't speak up when she sees her doctor and is very stubborn and won't let any of her family be a advocate for her. She has so many other problems but her Doctor just shrugs them off, always saying she is in better shape than the Doctor's mother.
I don't think this type of care could ever be considered Geriatric care!

I think the others are the same at Willoughby Hills Clinic and don't even have Geriatric Care as a specialty.
I myself went to that facility for awhile, which made return to my own doctor after one year, I tried a couple of doctors but they just don't care, only about how many patients they see in one day. My Doctor is not with Cleveland Clinic and is so wonderful and caring! I want Mom to go there but she insists on driving which she should not be doing and she can't drive as far as my Doctor is at. Hearing tests are necessary to keep 80 yrs olds safe and the other drivers on the road too!

Worst experience I ever had with any doctor. I was scheduled to see Dr. Vanessa Dimoulas. Her assistant seemed like she had a bad day, wasn't listening to my complaint, cutting me off while
I speak, rolling her eyes when I spoke, sucking her teeth and still didn't listen to anything else I had to say what I had to say. The doctor was equally as or more rude. During my visit she was very condescending and brushed off my concerns as if I shouldn't have even come to the clinic. NEVER SEEING THIS DOCTOR AGAIN AND WOULD NEVER RECCOMEND HER CARE TO ANYONE. I have seen Dr. Peskins at this clinic for maybe 2 years seeing that I'm coming from the Bahamas I rated her service from what I experienced from my visits with him. Highly disappointed.

This goes out to 3 different departments,
Orthopedic Therapy, ER, and In hospital blood draw.

First off, I went to an appointment at the Avon, OH Cleveland Clinic on 7/5/17 at 10:30 to see an Orthopedic Therapist. Myself and another person were brought back to the same room, for a consult on symptoms, and or possible treatment at that time. 2 different therapists. The desks they sat at are only about 4 feet apart. There is absolutely no privacy when discussing our issues. Name and birthdate were discussed. All of our health concerns with another person in the room! This is an HIPPA violation!

Second, when giving personal information and symptoms in the ER (same CC) on 7/16/17 it is out in the open and there is such an echo with all of the glass and metal in the place. The whole room heard me! HIPPA violation!

Third, In the hospital (same CC) a Phlebotomist came in to draw blood on 7/17/17 and told me I am being tested for a certain disease, when in fact was not true. What he said made me very nervous that I might have what he mentioned. They should not be giving out that kind of information to patients! They are not the Doctors!

Dear Sir/Madame: Dear Sir/Madame: My wife, Nancy Roberts, had open heart surgery here at Cleveland Clinic on Thursday, June 29, 2017. Our experience has been a good one with one major exception. Our surgeon, Dr. Stephanie Mick was outstanding. The support staff in ICU was wonderful and very attentive. We also feel that the employees in the Step Down unit where Nancy is presently located, J63-14, have provided Nancy with very good care. The one exception is the treatment she received from an employee in the "Transportation Department." Let me describe what Nancy explained to me.

Early Sunday morning, July 2, Nancy was taken by the "Transportation Department" to get an x-ray. The employee assigned to transport Nancy arrived at the room, stood near the entrance and announced that she was there, stating "Transport is here."

That's very good, however, Nancy at that point had never stood up out of her bed to go anywhere since she had her operation. In addition, she was still attached to a Foley catheter. They managed to do the x-ray, however, Nancy received the same treatment when she returned to her room following the x-ray. Nancy was left in the middle of her room with the expectation that she would have to navigate her way back to her bed.

Nancy complained to her nurse, Kim, about her treatment with Kim apologizing for the rough treatment she received. The experience has made Nancy extremely anxious and afraid of the next x-ray she may be required to take. The experience made me, her advocate, very upset, to put it mildly. How could someone be so indifferent to the patients they are assisting? Nancy had open heart surgery three days earlier.
Is there any consideration that perhaps the patient cannot get up on their own?

I do not know if this is an individual or wider problem, however, please do not have this employee transport my wife again.

Sincerely yours,
Larry Roberts
[protected]@comcast.net
[protected]

I am currently at my appointment. The appointment that I had to wait more than a month for. The appointment I drove an hour to get to. And now I have been waiting more than 2 hours in the office. This is ridiculous. I was on time. If someone shows up late they get cancelled. You don't inconvenience the rest of society to placate one idiot who can't seem to follow the rules.

After waiting 2 hours I left the room to go to the bathroom (3-5 minutes). When I returned Doctor Mehta and a nurse were waiting outside the room. They informed me that I nearly lost my place in line and would have needed to reschedule... Now I like to think I'm a pretty reasonable person. But when you keep me waiting, waste my time, and then have the nerve to, even in jest, imply that... Let's just say it's a good thing they already took my blood pressure.

My appointment was at 2:05. It is now 4:21.

Hi I'm Whitney Phillips and I been a long time patient at the Cleveland clinic, my mother has worked for this company for over 15 year, I always have an enjoyable or helpful experience when visiting. Today I visited Ronald Albert Adams at the Beachwood office in Ohio. First thing is when he opened the door he asked for my name didn't greet me. I was there for fmla for depression and instead of Ronald helping me understand the fmla process and the proper steps to take he smirked and shook his head and asked what did I want him to do?! I never felt so disrespected and embrassed. I deserve an apology for his action!

Ccf is a hard place to work. The administration is very negative and accusatory. The turnover in the West Palm beach office is ridiculous, New faces all the time. It takes 6 months to get an appointment with a physician. The physicians are always stressed. I have had at least 3 different primary care physicians in less than 5 years because they keep leaving. The doctors there are generally excellent, but don't stay for some reason. The scheduling process is a nightmare, so many mistakes, and then when rescheduled it is months later. That is not acceptable. It is a shame that people don't go there because of the inefficiency, but really want to see the doctors. Makes me wonder what the administration does to create such a negative environment?

I have called to make an appointment numerous times. I was unable to make the appointment mostly because the doctors are not taking new patients. Finally, found a Doctor who would take a new patient, then was told I can not make the appointment until I change my primary care. If I change my primary care every time I called the Cleveland Clinic I would be receiving a new card every week. Also, not sure when this rule came about because I was able to make an appointment for myself and did not change my primary care until after the appointment was made.

I am so frustrated, I will try and find someone else who is not associated with the Cleveland Clinic.

Terrible Rheumatology - staff and Doctors. Called for routine refill and claimed they just received the request when it had been faxed a week earlier. Then the excuse was I needed to schedule an appointment for blood work. I offered to do it from the area I live in. They said that wasn't possible and it had to be done there. I related I was in the middle of a gout attack. Didn't matter, Dr. Elzawazy would not exercise his discretion even though I had an appointment in less than two months. He had no problem with my taking blood locally when he encouraged me to take an experimental transfusion at 50k a pop but not now. Makes no sense. Dr.'s really don't care. Pain means nothing to him and his staff. Too bad. Dr.s need to understand what pain is. The nurse told me it was all about liability. Sounds like someone has seen the inside of a courtroom before.

I have been a patient of Cleveland Clinic since 2010 ... I had been lead to believe that this was a world class organization with the hightest of medical standards. However, this has proven to be the worst of medical treatment and patient care I have ever experienced.
First: I was pleased with my Primary Care Dr (Dr. Breman) until he decided that He would leave. I don't blame him for the patient neglect, but I selected Dr. Page Morris to take his place. Dr. Morris does not posess the skills necessary to maintain a positive response from her patients. She has neglected to view my charts with frequency and close monitoring. She has failed to maintain close supervision on Med's, both controled, and routine drugs. When seeking a renewal for a drug, she, with no requard for the patients being short of the drug, required the patient to go without the needed drug until she could see the patient. It would be impossible to see her in one day and the first appointment would be one week later. AFTER FOUR YEARS of being her patient she would not even return a call nor seek to work with the patient to supply the needed meds in a proper manner.
I have sought a compromise by asking for enough meds to allow an appointment to be kept. SHE REFUSED and thus has left the patient with the idea that she doesn't care enough to assist the patient in being a well treated patient.

Her personal patient relationship seems that she was never trained in the basic interpersonal relationship skills needed to be a physican.
The patient has the same levels of Education as does Dr. Morris so the idea that Dr. Morris is more educated than her patient is a non-issiue. My complint is simple Dr/Patient relationship.

I would NOT recommend Dr. Morris to any patient seeking a good bond between Dr. and patient.

This place is so mismanaged it shouldn't even be allowed in a medical setting like the Cleveland Clinic. I went in to purchase a bottle of water, it was late, I had just had a procedure done at the hospital. There was a line and when I got to the front, I was trying to pull my parking ticket out of my purse while I had my wallet out. I set my water and a $20 dollar bill on the counter as I zipped up my purse.
The clerk said, "Hand that to me" in an EXTREMELY RUDE, condescending and disrespectful tone. She proceeded to stare me down as I took a second to process what the heck she was talking about since I had placed my water and cash right next to her at the register while I continued to dig through my purse for my parking ticket and she continued to take her damn time checking people out slower than grass grows. I finally realized she was talking about the money.
So I picked up and handed her the $20 bill (we are talking the two inches between the counter and her hand, initially thinking perhaps there was a security reason.
It became clear that she just wanted to be a pain in the ### and/or racist which I was in no mood for having been fasting for my procedure and feeling like complete c*** after being at the hospital all day. (As in I'm leaning on the counter to keep myself from falling over).
I politely asked, "Was there a reason for that?"
She proceeded to lecture me that "she felt it was respectful."
I responded that I was simply trying to pay for my water and certainly intended no disrespect. I asked her name, which she paused, said "My name?" and then fake laughed at, finally answering "Jordan."
I said, "Well Jordan, I hope you have a fabulous evening."
I'd like to emphasize that this is a hospital location. People are going through all sorts of horrible, horrible very personal things themselves, or with loved ones.
I had gone through 10 hours of grueling doctor's appointments and procedures that day, in addition to several medical tests where everything from cancer to other chronic conditions were brought up as possibilities for what I was about to face (I've already survived that on three separate occasions). The day culminated with visiting a friend with a similar medical condition who had been in the hospital for 17 months straight. 17 months.
I don't need lectured by an Au Bon Pain employee on her entitlement for me to hand her money to pay for a bottle of water instead of placing it on the counter at any time but especially when I'm barely able to stand up, let alone in a location/time like that. I was completely appalled, as was my friend and the woman behind me in line.
In a time like this, she should be happy to have a job (and her health) and I hope someone will let her know it.
I contacted Au Bon Pain's customer service several times and never received a response. Obviously they don't give a crap about the people who keep them in business and they won't ever have mine again.