Saddleback Medical Center

I recently underwent major surgery and was in excruciating pain, to the point where I required opioids. From day one, the hospital staff insisted on placing me in a shared room, but I made it clear that I needed a private space to recover due to the severity of my pain. By Day 3, I hadn’t slept at all and was calling the nurse every 2–3 hours for pain medication because the pain was unbearable.

That morning, the charge nurse informed me they couldn’t keep me in a private room and said I would either be transferred to a shared room or could choose to go home. When I mentioned wanting to leave, she warned that the doctor might not prescribe me pain medication if I did. This put me in a terrible position: either go home and manage my pain alone or move to a shared room, endure the lack of rest, and forgo IV pain meds in hopes of being discharged the next day with oral medication.

I felt forced into the second option. I was placed in a room with another patient who was constantly walking with her walker, talking, and calling for assistance, making it impossible for me to rest. Despite being in tears from the pain, I had to decline IV pain medication to ensure I could go home the next day and avoid staying in that disruptive environment any longer.

Since being discharged, I was referred to in-home care, but it has been two days, and no one has contacted me to schedule anything. I’ve called the hospital multiple times and have only been told to leave a voicemail.

This experience has left me feeling completely neglected and frustrated. The lack of compassion and care I received during such a critical time is unacceptable. I would strongly discourage anyone from staying at this facility.

Exelente servicio me atendieron muy bien

This review is specifically for the center itself. It bears no reflection on any specific department.

The parking situation is abysmal. Make sure to arrive at least 10 minutes for any appointment in the middle of the day because the parking lot is very full. If you get lucky, someone may be leaving that’s not terribly far from where you’re going (but don’t count on it).

Then make sure to arrive at least *another* 10 minutes in advance because you have to go through admitting to verify some of your information a couple of times. There’s one window for everyone to go to, and this time I was unlucky enough to be behind someone that had to sign a bunch of documents before I could start my check-in process.

I contrast that last paragraph with my experiences at Torrance Memorial Medical Center when I lived up there. I was able to walk directly to my appointment without any sort of admitting layer/time-suck.

Horrible this should be a minus star. I was admitted to the ER on two successive days and they told me that they don’t treat extreme pain. They called it chronic it was not chronic. I had to go to another emergency room at another hospital and they immediately admitted me and diagnosed the source of pain. And it was not chronic. To be kicked out of a hospital because I was complaining about pain and being told we don’t handle chronic pain when it was acute it put my life at risk. I cannot tell you how much pain and suffering this put me through.

I wish I knew where to start. I arrived by ambulance in insane amount of pain; so much debilitating pain that I wasn’t even able to scream or cry. I begged and pleaded for pain medication or any relief to no avail, however, I was degraded, demoralized, shouted at and slammed in the hospital bed for involuntary bodily shaking. Where was the ER doctor? no one knew, no one cared & I was discharged. I’m lost for words only despair.