Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center

Worst medical experience of my life! Where do I start?

(#1) I'll start with their dismissive and insulting attitude towards people on the state welfare health insurance as well as those with no insurance. (This must be explained to give context to that which follows.) This was my first experience with any welfare; ANTHEM/BLUE CROSS ILLEGALLY canceled me after 25 yrs of paying up to $1600/month for an individual policy! So, of course, this was the first time I had become hospitalization sick! My 'crime' was moving to Oregon and turning 60 (they tried to drop me when I turned 50 but I was able to fight them). Both reasons violate codicils in the ACA. (Corporations ARE more powerful than the laws of the US.) I tried for months to be reinstated! The state of Oregon should sue Anthem to recoup Oregon's money! In Jan. 2018, welfare insurance started, and I am grateful for it.

(#2) Next, the ER & the Acute Care Unit: they refused to give pain medication to someone in unbearable pain (as many others have complained of in this thread). My entire criminal record is three parking tickets! Did they really think that a 60 yr old woman who appears in the ER as weeks away from death (as THEY kept noting) is feigning pain? I will NEVER forgive "Good Samaritan" for allowing me to be in such pain for MONTHS! The female doctor in the ER was very kind, but they had a young 'Nazi' nurse walking around with a clipboard labeling us as to who was there for pain medication! (I don't know how she labeled me.) And she was certainly intoxicated with her power- how silly, as she knew nothing about our individual circumstances! The preposterous thing about her role is that EVERYONE comes to the ER for pain relief AND HELP with what is causing it; in my history, a broken bone and this mysteriously unbearable pain (this illness was like 'falling off a cliff', as it manifested so rapidly) has​ been what's taken me to the ER. They released me with zero pain relief and no further plans to treat me! (Yet, I had, as determined by the doctor who finally saw me weeks later, about 4 wks to live!) The day after the ER, I went to Urgent Care and they did nothing, charged a lot of money and released me, once again with no suggested follow-up. The Medical Assistant there was inept ... I've been an MA (and an EMT, CNA and a Hospice Volunteer for 5 years). I learned more about treating patients with respect, dignity, and kindness than anyone, other than a few, who treated me in this hospital system. I'd like to note that every member of the clerical staff was very kind.

(#3) The fulfillment of every negative stereotype of the 'old school' male doctors, with regard to sexist treatment: I had never before experienced this, although I had read about it. (However, the older female nurses were cruel, too!) The horrible sexism from several doctors, from stating on a CT result that "there is no pain" (doctors really do dismiss the pain that women experience) to horrible abuse from the person whom one is supposed to trust: the Primary Care Physician​. The PCP who was assigned to me (as I became ill immediately after moving to Portland from a place I had lived almost 20 yrs) was so cruel that I left every appt. in tears. He was unduly obsessed with my very personal history, not just my medical history. Any detail that would have pertained to my current medical care had already be detailed, yet he made constant reference to my personal life with a surly, disapproving tone and manner. (My entire criminal history is three parking tickets.) He said, and I quote, "I am hesitant to give you pain pills because you don't have a husband living on the premises to ensure that you take them correctly!" I think he should​ lose his license just for that comment alone, but there is more (see #4). Upon meeting him, I had sincerely thanked him several times for taking me on as a patient during the holidays, so why the hostility?

(#4) The incompetence of the hospital, in general, and certain primary care doctors, in particular! Because of the incompetence of the PCP, I lost two teeth! I do believe that doctors and nurses are grossly underpaid, but that is NOT MY fault! The night nurse in the hospital​ was amazingly cruel, then she singled me out to the day shift nurses as a 'worthless welfare patient with no family'!

(#6) With a few weeks to live, I had to go to a palliative care group staffed by aging, bitter nurses who were cruel both to each other and to me. I was having trouble walking, but did the hospital send in a physical therapist? No! They sent a preacher! I had to learn to walk again on my own! Thankfully, I had been in shape my entire life, so I had the tools and muscle memory to guide me.

(#7) I tried to remain upbeat through​ this ordeal (after all, everyone dies at some point) and they used my light-hearted attitude against me- just horrible of them.

It's dangerous to make assumptions.

Thank you.