Adventist Health Hospital Bakersfield, Went Downhill Fast: A Patient's Experience

                                                                                          Photo by 23ABC News

May 4, 2023 | Stefanie Daubert
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On Friday, April 28th, I went to Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield on Coffee Rd. I went to this location because a friend of mine, Dr. Artin Massihi, who starts a lot of the Urgent Care Locations always refers people to their different locations.

Upon arrival I was treated very well by the staff and doctor. The doctor though, knew I was to sick and should be seen at a hospital, based on my EKG and check x-ray, plus edema from CHF. He called an ambulance so I could be taken to Adventist Health Hospital in Bakersfield.

I knew it was a Friday night and would be busy, but I thought going by ambulance would help me to get in faster, I was very wrong about this,

As soon as I arrived at the hospital, I knew that there would be a problem. There were so many of us on gurneys from different ambulances, that I had around 30 people in front of me before I would be able to talk to a doctor. I started crying horrible because I was pain, and no one would help me, despite people walking by me hundreds of times seeing me crying, knowing I was in obvious pain.

Luckily there was an ambulance worker, who was not one one of my own, who took it upon himself to help me. He could see how swollen my feet were and how horrible pain my left foot was in. He brought me hot blankets to wrap by foot up in, propped my foot up, and gave me extra blankets to keep me warn in general. He was upset that I had been there for hours and not looked at, especially since I was there due to a very abnormal EKG that showed an arrythmia that was very bad, I was wondering why no one was doing an EKG to compare with the one from the urgent care.

When a doctor finally talked to me, Kevin Schmidt, DO, he told me I was there for a little feet swelling. I said no, I was there from an EKG that showed a possible heart attack. He could not find that report. My ambulance driver had it, but now it was lost. They finally did another EKG, which was still abnormal. They eventually moved my into a bed in the hallway, that every bed that was rolled by me hit my bed, causing me intense pain. I was so dehydrated because at this point I had been crying since I got there, which was 5 hours now.

I was told they were going to take me for a bunch of tests. I told them I was not going anywhere unless I got something for pain because I have been crying non-stop for hours. I kept getting told that my nurse would come see me, but she never came. Then another woman came by and was trying to wheel me away to go get my tests. i said no, that I could not move that I was in so much pain with the pain and swelling in my feet, and my chest pain.

A nurse finally came and gave me 4mg of morphine. After that, it was two hours later before they took me for my tests, so the medication was starting to wear off. I went for a chest x-ray, foot x-ray. and ultrasound to check for blood clots. That took everything out of me. I was still crying.

i finally got back to my bed and asked the nurse if I could have more pain meds because mine wore off and i was crying, She said that the doctor only gives the pain meds every 4 hours and she said i got my meds at 10pm. I got my meds at 9 pm, so the nurse lied. 

I sat there crying, sometimes whaling, so everyone knew I was in pain. A few hours later the doctor came by. He said I have quite an extensive medical history, He said he cant admit me based on all of the little things wrong. I told him in January I came to this hospital for the same group of "little things" and I was sent home. Three days later I was back, admitted to the ICU, and almost died from Sepsis, The doctor told me I had pneumonia once again, but he could not explain my swollen feet or why I could not walk. I asked him how I was going to walk out of here or take care of myself at home.

He gave me one more dose of pain meds so I could somewhat walk very slowly out of the hospital.
I told the doctor in a few days when all of these problems get worse, it is going o be bad for him because he is going to be responsible for sending me home, I said it will also be bad for me, because I will have to deal with a life threatening sickness again.

My conclusion about Adventist Health...you can go in by ambulance for a severe heart arrythmia, possible heart attack, and a few other problems listed on the EKG, and you are ignored, never hooked up to a heart monitor, 5 hours until receiving an EKG to compare it to the one from the urgent care facility, left in severe pain crying while no one cares,

I felt worthless, I did not feel like I received any care, I would have felt better staying in my bed at home and possible dying there, vs being treated like a second class citizen, while every inmate that i saw brought into the hospital was treated like a king, getting the biggest rooms and getting a nurse to respond to them any time they asked.

I do not know if it is due to the staffing shortage, but it was not just myself that I saw being treated badly.  No one in that emergency room was happy. I heard people yelling on the top of their lungs for their pain meds. I do not blame them. I am not a loud person, or I probably would have joined them.

Dr. Kevin Schmidt, DO, should either learn how to communicate with his patients, or take a vacation, because no one was happy with his care.

Stefanie Daubert/Editor and Writer/Conservative Christian News


   
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