Kaweah Health Mental Health Hospital - Visalia (CA)

1 /5 Debbie Goodman: The experience that I’ve had with this place is through a friend of mine, who has a son that is mentally ill. Her 40-something-year-old son destroyed the inside of their house, breaking everything, including pulling the washing machine and the dryer away from the wall and turning them on their side. He wrecked their television set. He tore their bedroom door off of the hinges, and threatened to kill my friend’s husband. He even killed their kitten by cutting its head off with a knife. My friend had to spend thousands of dollars on an attorney, getting her son evicted. The police finally came and took him away and he was placed in this mental hospital. After a month, the hospital told my friend if she didn’t take him back into her home, he would be released into the streets. I spoke with a friend of mine last night, who is a nurse in Sacramento, and she said it is the hospital’s responsibility to keep a patient such as this until they can find a place for them. Why did this hospital Fail my friend?!

1 /5 celeste martinez: Horrible, nurses talk about other patients in front of other patients arnt you there to help us? All they do is drug u up and want u to participate in groups wich is coloring or word searches most of the time in order for u to get out u dont get therapy dont get actual help at all.

2 /5 New Nebula: Nurses were fine, but dear god are the doctors miserable to deal with. Theres also no therapy if hospitalized, so dont expect recovery. Their job is to stop you from killing yourself, not make you *not* want to kill yourself.

1 /5 Morgan Rose: This facility has failed my mother as well as refused her quality mental health care. We have been met with nothing but negligence and a lack of exhibiting proactive mental health care. Instead this mental health hospital is just medicating and ignoring their duty to interact with patients. However, a combination of therapy, support, and at times medication, is needed for patients to have a chance at improving. From the facilities website, “ Patients receive care of mental conditions from experienced psychiatrists.” This is untrue, and the psychiatric staff does not see or value these patients as humans. My mom is so sick, and she desperately wants help. We desperately want help getting my mother the care she deserves. The quality care that every individual who is admitted deserves. The staff does not understand that they are not meeting their legal and ethical duties. Dr. Daneshavar (license number A116728) in particular is not complying with the ethical codes of his profession and releasing false information about a very common drug used for bipolar patients. In order to treat people suffering from mental illness, competence is critical. He is certified by the ABPN (ID: 178119) and their professionalism requirements are, “Professionalism forms the basis of medicine’s contract with society. The ABPN is concerned with those aspects of professionalism that are demonstrated through a physician’s clinical competence, commitment to lifelong learning and professional improvement, interpersonal skills, and ethical understanding and behavior.” He has demonstrated that he does not meet the listed criteria. Behaviors and actions of his make it clear he has no bedside manner or compassion for his patients. He lacks morality and will not listen to our concerns due to his distorted view of his own professional “success”, and a high opinion of his own capabilities. While his arrogance cannot be reported as an ethical violation on any board, it shows his character and intentions. As someone who is educated in the field of psychology and psychiatric care, it was alarming to find out just how harmful and dangerous his behavior and lack of competence are. Giving patients false information about a medication and reactions is also an ethical violation. He is a professional and caring for some of the most vulnerable people in our community, yet he is dismissive, rude, pompous, blames the patients, and gives completely untrue information that even someone who didn’t know much about this field could easily access a medical journal to show how harmful his misinformation is. There are many more staff members who have shown negligence and lack of competence. The amount of employees this facility has that are in this profession for the right reasons are few and far between, but they are appreciated by families like ours. I will not stop fighting, reporting negligence to each specialty board, and demanding answers for how a whole facility is able to fail so many. It is time to question why their readmission rates are so unbelievably high. Why is the focus not on rehabilitation? Our community and patients suffering from mental illnesses deserve better.