St Joseph Regional Medical Center

The radiology department staff were professional, friendly and efficient. Also the same for the front desk staff and admissions.

DISCRIMINATION IN SERVICE. Took my mom to the emergency care, I kept asking for scopolamine patch, because she has used that before, to reduce her pain, but was not given, nurse said they don’t have many of those to give it to everyone. The receptionist was rude, came inside the room, asking for money, it’s not like I was going to run without paying.
After few days, my uncle came to the emergency care for the same reason, he was given Scopolamine patch, right away and he did not even ask for.
HORRIBLE TREATMENT!!!

Our daughter was born in 2016 and we had an amazing experience here, the nursing staff went above and beyond...we had a few concerns this round in 2018 and they were cleared up immediatly and we are looking forward to the same experience here in the next couple of weeks when baby is due. 💕 Thanks for your concern and care!

I visited the clinic on 6/8/18. The purpose of my visit was to establish a care team in the States with a medical oncologist as part of that team. I am receiving treatment outside of the States.

When I was checked in, I had my picture taken which was strange (no explanation). I was also asked to fill out a wellness form, despite having sent one in a couple of days earlier. I was told that this form was required at each visit... still strange. I was never asked or informed about the patient portal. I had to struggle to get my records and had to fill out a release form to get the records released to me. I’ve never had to do this at any other locations. Nobody has even offered to go over my results. Nobody even called me to give them to me… I had to call – and a nurse called me back and essentially told me everything was normal.

I recorded my visit with the doctor. I did this because I have had nothing but bad experiences with medical professionals since my cancer diagnosis.

He introduced himself and then immediately informed me he didn't agree with what I was doing (getting treatment in Mexico – despite the hospital providing both conventional and alternative treatments together). I had sent my information in weeks prior, and he was uneducated in what I was taking and notes this in his notes: “She has a long list of medications, which include all kinds of drugs which are a bit unusual to me.” It would have been simple for him to do a little research to see why.

He was combative and argumentative the entire time. He insisted on calling my doctor “Dr. Laetrile” even though I told him multiple times that they are not the same people. He expressed how important his reputation is to him, yet he’s willing to apply a false label to another doctor.

He sighed a lot and used language like, “I guess I’ll order these scans for you… I might as well do exam…” (paraphrasing, I can get the exact language since I recorded the meeting). He never once made us feel comfortable, heard, or understood. He came in with his own biases and harped on those throughout the entire visit.

Lastly, he got several things wrong in his report. First, he states, “For reasons that are not completely clear to me, she decided not to stay with Dr. Moline…” I told him exactly why. He didn’t listen.

Next, he cited the size of my tumor as 2.9cm. This was based on pathology, I believe. However, I had a lumpectomy and Dr. Contreras clearly states the tumor was 2.5cm.

Next, he stated “She gets occasional aches in her spine…” I said mid-back – likely due to digestion issues. If so, this is nerve related… but could be muscular. I never said spine.

Next, under Family History: “Her father died of lung cancer…” It was my mother. Then, “Her mother is living and had lymphoma…” It was my father. This is clearly documented in my family history that I filled out. And we clearly mentioned this in our recorded conversation.

Finally, he makes a note that “I did not know if they would be covered by insurance.” They being the CT and bone scans. Insurance had zero issues.

It’s frustrating to say the least that I spent an hour and a half to drive to Lewiston to be presented with a combative doctor who got several things wrong and didn’t listen to me. Cancer is one of the most difficult things that a person will go through and you, and your clinic, have made it harder. Shame on you. If you genuinely cared, your doctors (and front desk staff) would take the time to listen and research the approach an individual is taking. If our cookie cutter, conventional only treatments cured cancer 100% of the time people wouldn’t search for other methods. We, in the States, don’t have all the answers. And the lack of kindness, care, and humility (not to mention truthfulness and listening) is appalling. I’ve definitely made sure that everyone I know understands that if they get cancer NOT to go to St. Joseph’s – unless they just want to be another number.

This is why I now drive two hours to see a medical oncologist.

WARNING: do not let your loved one have a stomach surgery at this Hospital! It pains me to share my experience but I feel my obligation to do it to protect you the potential victims. I was overseas when I got a phone call that my father was in this Hospital. My relatives told me he had to have a stomach surgery or he would be dead the next day. It was a perforated ulcer. Before I had a chance to help in the decision they already perform the surgery and he had an incision that was over a foot long. They removed a good portion of his stomach. The surgeon was not experienced with these types of surgeries and she had to have another adviser help her in the matter. When I arrived at the hospital my mother told me everything that happened. I was involved in all of the meetings from there on out. The surgeon rarely visited my father. Scared the Daylights out of my mother. He was in a lot of pain for a long time but like the tough hard man that he was he fought through it. He was eventually released to a Rehabilitation Center Inn Post Falls Idaho. My father was not healing up properly from this surgery for obvious reasons. I consulted the gastronomic specialist in Post Falls Idaho. They informed me that everything that Saint Joseph Hospital did was unnecessary. It was a simple in and out procedure with a scope under the abdomen. My father would have only had a small incision below his waist line or they could have went in with a tool to repair the perforated ulcer. I was very upset at this report needless to say. His Rehabilitation kept declining. Finally I got a proclamation from Kootenai Health hospital that they had to go back in and fix what was wrong. When they did this, they claimed it was a success. However after the surgery the next day everything fell apart. My father was gone just a few days afterward. We have spent almost a year in mourning and missing my dad. I did not have Vengeance on my mind to report this on Google. I was upset and everything that happened but I was letting it go into the past. That is until my mother got a phone call the other day from her friend. This man's wife had a stomach surgery just recently at St Joseph's hospital and she died the same way my father did. So I am just warning everybody here do not, I repeat do not trust them with your loved one's life. ICU you was quite polite however no one else in the hospital was, especially the cafeteria. Those old women need to be fired. Let me know if you need further clarification.