Community Memorial Hospital: Emergency Room - Ventura Katie Adams: Gave an extra star for getting me in fairly quickly. Another terrible experience here. Made me question where these doctors get their medical licenses from. I went in after midnight two nights ago with a double ear infection. I was in excruciating pain. Tylenol and Advil weren’t helping at all. I hate prescription pain meds but this level of pain was unbearable. Those who know me know that if I’m wanting help with pain, it must be really bad because I am normally very anti prescription meds… the doctor didn’t even check my ears. He held the thing up to my ears but didn’t even really look. Said I have a double ear infection and just need some drops and mild pain relief shot (this shot didn’t do anything for my pain). Sent me home and I was up all night literally screaming in pain. They didn’t even give me anything for the pain aside from the shot so I was on my own. My entire face was swollen and they didn’t even give me something to help the inflammation. Just the antibiotic ear drops. My dad had to drive me to the ER again in the morning. Finally I got a doctor who actually checked my ears and saw how severe the infection was AND that my ears were swollen shut so the drops wouldn’t be able to reach the infection anyway so he put wicks in both ears to wedge them open so the antibiotic drops could get in. He gave me two prescriptions, one was for THREE Tylenol with codeine. Something I hate taking but was so relieved to have because I needed some relief. They should have given me two days worth because I woke
Up this morning in pain still but slightly less so it would have been nice to have some relief today too. Two days worth would have been enough to get me through this until the drops kick in. The other prescription is for Naproxen. He then told me when I’m out of the Tylenol with codeine to just take regular Advil. Unbelievable, I started taking Advil when my mom discovered that you aren’t supposed to take Advil while on naproxen, that it’s actually highly dangerous to do so. So why did the doctor tell me to take Advil?! UNBELIEVABLE. Where do these doctors go to med school?! I’ve heard bad things about cmh ER but it’s what my insurance is linked to so it’s where I needed to go. This is why I’m afraid to go to the doctor. Shitty doctors giving shitty advice, incorrectly diagnosing, not doing a thorough job, and leaving someone in excruciating pain because they suddenly decided that they’re too lazy to monitor pain pill usage so they’d rather not prescribe them at all. Nobody gets addicted to pain meds after taking them for two days, especially someone who has verbalized multiple times that they don’t like taking prescription pain meds because they upset my stomach and make me feel weird. That should tell you how desperate I was for relief. I’ve never experienced this much pain in my life and to be treated like an addict was beyond insulting. These new doctors need to do better by their patients, start exhibiting compassion and empathy, and put in a little effort to find a treatment plan that works for their patient so that patients leave feeling heard and respected and cared for instead of like an inconvenience.
Dr. Jacob West - Ventura Mark Fowler: I had a follow-up appointment with Dr West after establishing primary care a few months back. I was impressed how well Dr West remembered me from my prior visit. He was very personable and took time to review my medical chart and listen to my questions and concerns. He was thoughtful and considerate in his medical analysis and recommendations demonstrating a wide working knowledge of medicine and patient care.
Note: I appreciate that during my initial appointment to establish care Dr West put the time in to perform a meaningful and appropriately directed physical examination. From my experience too many providers haze over this meaningful practice. Im no expert but Im pretty sure you cant appropriately assess for heart arrhythmias, heart valve pathologies, or an enlarged heart from a 10-second exam.
